By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN human rights experts on Thursday have raised the alarm over the impending expiration of the statute of limitations on the 2004 Tak Bai killings in Thailand.
This statute could end efforts to hold Thai security officials accountable for their role in the deaths of 85 people during a violent crackdown on a protest in Narathiwat province 20 years ago.
The experts said that 7 people were killed initially when security forces opened fire, 78 more died during transport to a military camp under inhumane conditions, and seven people were forcibly disappeared during the incident.
The victims were predominantly from the Malay Muslim minority.
“We welcome the fact that two criminal cases are finally proceeding into this incident with arrest warrants issued against relevant current and former officials,” said the experts.
They warned that the statute’s imminent expiration on Friday would cut them short.
They emphasized that international law prohibits statutes of limitations for crimes like torture and enforced disappearances. In cases of forced disappearance, the statute can only apply once the fate and whereabouts of the victims are definitively established. “A failure to investigate and bring perpetrators to justice is itself a violation of Thailand’s human rights obligations,” an expert asserted.
They noted that families of the victims have waited two decades for justice.
The experts urged the Thai government to take immediate action to prevent delays in accountability and to uphold the rights of the victims’ families to truth, justice, and reparations.
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