UN rights chief calls on Thailand’s coup leaders to restore basic freedoms

Voicing concern over new restrictions on basic human rights in Thailand after last week’s coup, including free assembly and expression, the top United Nations rights official today called on the country’s new leaders to ensure fundamental freedoms and reinstate disbanded rights bodies.

“The forcible and unconstitutional replacement of Thailand’s freely-elected Government on 19 September, the establishment of martial law, the abolition of the 1997 Constitution, the dissolution of Parliament and the Cabinet as well as the disbanding of the Constitutional Court, have raised important human rights concerns,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said in a statement.

She called on the leaders of the Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM) to ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and reinstate the country’s human rights commission.

“The various decrees issued by the CDRM restrict a number of basic human rights, such as the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention,” Ms. Arbour said, urging the new authorities to restore the maximum exercise of such rights.

Expressing concern over the disbanding of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), she recalled that Thailand is party to a number of international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. She urged the CDRM to take all necessary measures to ensure that the country’s international obligations are respected and to reinstate the NHRC.