Bangkok (VOA) —
Thailand this week lifted emergency rule in parts of its restive south, where an insurgency over the past two decades has claimed thousands of lives. Critics say the emergency measures have led to rampant human rights violations.
The Buddhist-majority country has imposed emergency rule in its three southernmost provinces since 2005, a year after a wave of violence by rebel groups erupted. Ethnic Muslim-Malays are the majority in the provinces in the southern region.
Emergency regulations imposed by the Thai government at the time allowed security forces to detain suspects without charge for up to 30 days and gave security personnel legal immunity from prosecution for any actions committed while on duty. The emergency regulations also give the government broad powers to censor news.
Martial law and the Internal Security Law, which also gives additional powers to security forces, were also imposed in the southern provinces.
In recent years, Thailand has lifted emergency decrees in 10 districts. Government spokesman Rudklao Intawong Suwankiri told VOA the government passed a resolution to lift the emergency decree in three more districts, one in each province, at a meeting Monday (16/10). He added that the government took this step because in recent years attacks in these areas had fallen sharply.
According to Deep South Watch, an independent research group, more than 7,300 people have been killed and 13,600 others injured in fighting since 2004. However, the number of violent incidents in the provinces in the last ten years has continued to decline, from 1,850 cases in in 2012 to 158 cases in 2022. (em/rd)