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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports. Scroll to: _______________________________________________________________________ UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders Country visit: 19 May – 27 May 2003 Violence Against Students/Youth Groups: Officials indicated to the Special Representative that, after reaching the hotel, the protesters refused to remain in the place agreed upon with police and tried to approach the hotel using a truck to cross the police barrier. Officials reported that protesters used flag- poles as weapons and had small metal balls to throw at the police. Defenders, however, indicated to the Special Representative that it was the police who crossed the barrier and began hitting students in their way. Defenders denied they had weapons and said the metal bearings were fishing net weights still attached to nets in the back of a truck. Several defenders were injured, and one student reported that he was beaten and dragged away by the police who threatened to kill him. Some villagers and students were detained, with police reportedly failing to inform the arrested persons of the charges against them. Arrest warrants were issued against defenders and several of the protesters' vehicles were impounded. The Provincial Governor informed the Special Representative that at least 25 policemen were hurt. Despite accusations of police violence no police officer faced any form of disciplinary action. (Paragraph 44) On 7 December 2000, three democracy activists from Myanmar – Khaing Kaung Sann, Ko That Naing and Ko Hla Thein Tun - were reportedly arrested and deported to Myanmar where they were sentenced to 1' years' imprisonment. SWAN members report an increase in obstacles to their work in Thailand following their publication, on 19 June 2002, of "Licence to rape", a report on human rights violations in Myanmar. SWAN members report difficulty passing security checkpoints to reach the border between Thailand and Myanmar to gather information from refugees from Myanmar. SWAN offices have reportedly been placed under surveillance and, on 9 September 2002, security forces reportedly told SWAN members to close them down for a few months. On 2 July 2002, the police reportedly raided the office of the All-Arakan Student and Youth Congress in Chiang Mai. In August 2002, the police in the Songkhla district of Kanchanaburi reportedly arrested, and sent across the border to Myanmar, 31 people from Myanmar of whom several were democracy activists. On 10 December 2002, the police reportedly arrested 28 youths from Myanmar who were attending a workshop to mark Human Rights Day. The offices of the Mon Youth Progressive Organization in Kanchanaburi Province were reportedly raided by soldiers in December 2002 who then ordered that the office be closed. On the 18 May 2003, one day before the Special Representative's mission began, two defenders from Myanmar attempting to re-enter Thailand were refused entry and were deported to the Philippines. The Special Representative raised this case with senior Thai authorities and wishes to acknowledge their immediate efforts to investigate the case. She was informed that the refusal was based on irregularities found in the defenders' travel documents. (Paragraph 58) Jurin Rachapol was reportedly killed in January 2002 in Phuket after campaigning against the destruction, by a private-sector company, of mangrove swamps filled with nesting birds. Pitak Tonewuth, a leader of the Environment Conservation Student's Club of Ramkhamhaeng University and adviser to the Chompoo river basin villagers, was reportedly killed on 17 May 2001. Sompol Chanapol, leader of the Environmental Conservation Group of the Kratae river basin was reportedly killed in July 2001. Luechai Yarangsi, President of an environmental protection association in Lampang Province, was reportedly shot at. (Paragraph 67) _______________________________________________________________________
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.
Hina Jilani
(E/CN.4/2004/94/Add.1 )
Report published: 12 March 2004