GENEVA – A group of United Nations independent experts today called on the Government of Thailand to establish the truth and hold criminally responsible the perpetrators of the disappearance of human rights defender Somchai Neelaphaijit. On the 10th anniversary of his disappearance, the experts said the investigations on the case remain inconclusive and warned that the authorities may close the legal proceedings. “Ten years after the disappearance of Somchai Neelaphaijit, his fate and whereabouts remain unknown,” the UN Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances said. “We appeal to the Thai Government to continue the investigations on the case, establish his fate and whereabouts, guarantee impartiality during the process, publish the results, and ensure that all perpetrators are held criminally responsible.” Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit, a human rights defender and senior member of two lawyers’ associations, was allegedly disappeared on 12 March 2004. It is believed that his disappearance is related to his work as a lawyer defending Muslim minorities in southern Thailand. The initial criminal prosecution against five police officers for robbery and coercion, in relation to his abduction, has resulted in their acquittal, though the final outcome is still pending at the Supreme... Continue reading →
Issue No. 2 of the Assembly and Association Briefing, the official newsletter of Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. In this issue: • Kiai makes official visit to Rwanda; calls for increased space for peaceful dissent • Kiai makes unofficial visit to Cambodia, calls on gov’t to lift ban on public assemblies • Freeassembly.net website updated with new ‘country invitation status’ page • Community of Democracies & UNSR launch new project on civil society’s right to access funding • UK lobbying bill threatens to ‘stain’ British democracy • World briefing: freedom of assembly & association in the news • Assembly & association rights: By the numbers • Plus, our new Flickr page, which allows anyone to download and reuse official photos from the UNSR mandate under a Creative Commons attribution license For a link to the newsletter, click on the image at right or click... Continue reading →
