# This was an opinion of Seree Nonthasoot, Thailand's representative to the AICHR, that was published by the Bangkok Post.
To mark World Day Against the Death Penalty today, Thailand
and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
have reason to revisit and recommit efforts to abolishing capital
punishment.
Much work remains to be done.
Thailand, which has not executed anyone for seven years, and a few other
Asean countries with capital punishment continue to hand down the death
penalty on drug-related offences, which is unlikely to deter crime. It
is the ultimate denial of the right to life and a violation of
fundamental human rights.
Of
the world's 198 countries, 102 have legally abolished the death penalty
for all crimes. An additional 32 countries are abolitionist in practice
since they have not executed anyone in the last 10 years and
they have a policy or commitment not to carry out executions. Six
countries reserve the death sentence only for the most serious crimes of
culpable homicide and murders. Of
the 58 countries that have not abolished the death penalty, just 25
carried out executions in 2015. However, of those 25 exceptions, four
are member states of Asean. Thailand is not among them.
Though
the death penalty is still on our statutes, no one has been executed
since 2009. However, we still have prisoners sitting on death row and,
following a ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court in July, those on
death row may be held in shackles permanently.
Thailand is among
the first group of countries that voted in 1948 to adopt the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Article 3 of the UDHR states that "everyone
has the right to life, liberty and security of person", while Article 5
confirms that "no one shall be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment".
About half of those on
death row in Thailand and a few other Asean countries are convicted of
drug-related crimes. In accordance with Article 6 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Thailand is a
party, the death penalty should only be applicable in the case of the
most serious crimes. Drug offences hardly fall under that category. I
therefore support the initiative by the Thai Ministry of Justice to
embark on the reform of drug offences such as those related to
methamphetamine.
Crime determent has always been the rationale for
handing down the death penalty. Empirical data proves this wrong. For
example, drug use has been steadily on the rise in the region despite
the death penalty. This clearly indicates that capital punishment does
not work as a deterrent and it is time to reconsider it.
Studies
carried out in different countries paint a consistent picture. The
overwhelming majority of people who end up on death row are poor and not
well-educated. They cannot afford proper legal counsel. Many, such as
migrant workers, do not even understand the charges of which they are
accused.
Further, many
drug offenders are duped in the first place. They are executed for
crimes they were not even aware of committing, often without even
knowing the kingpins who planned their downfall. Once they are
prosecuted, drug barons can easily recruit other vulnerable groups who
are not aware of the grim fates they will be facing.
To tackle crime, we need to find ways to reduce it. Thailand's
National Human Rights Plan of Action (2014-2018) which outlines a plan
to abolish the death penalty is a promising step. It
suggests an opportunity and an obligation for civil society to work
harder to influence this movement and to do more to develop a regional
aversion to the taking of life by the state. But much needs to be done.
At the regional level, Asean governments have formally set the community on a bold and clear 10-year direction of being
"people-centred, people-oriented" as well as rule-based. What is
happening now seems to be the opposite. We are seeing thousands of
people in the region being summarily and extra-judicially executed for
allegedly being involved in drug crimes.
A lesson
from this alarming phenomenon is the dynamics of politics that can
equally lead to progress or regress. We cannot afford to be complacent;
even countries that have ratified the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR and
have thus committed themselves to abolishing the death penalty can
create fanciful ways to bypass that obligation and institute
state-instructed and inspired programmes to kill their own people.
I
welcome the recent formation of the Coalition on the Abolition of the
Death Penalty in Asean (CADPA) among like-minded persons and groups to
campaign for the end of the death penalty. CADPA has launched a campaign
called "End Crime, Not Life", aiming to raise public awareness of the
difficulties with the application of the death penalty and to focus on
improving criminal justice systems.
It is time for all of us to stand up
for a justice system that punishes offenders in a fair and appropriate
manner. The region's people-centred and people-oriented vision must be
underpinned by its drive towards abolishing the penalty.
# Seree Nonthasoot is Thailand's representative to the AICHR. This article expresses his personal views.
By Charles Hector
