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Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on separatist insurgents operating in southern Thailand to immediately halt attacks on civilians and adhere to international humanitarian law, amid a surge in violence in the region.
The rights group’s statement on Thursday follows renewed reports of deadly assaults by armed separatist groups across the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and parts of Songkhla. These areas have long been the epicenter of a decades-old conflict, where more than 7,000 people — many of them civilians — have lost their lives since 2004.
The Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the most prominent separatist faction, publicly pledged in 2019 to refrain from targeting civilians in accordance with international law. However, HRW says that commitment has not been upheld in practice.
“The BRN took an unprecedented step by publicly pledging not to target civilians, after terrorizing people in Thailand’s deep south for more than two decades. But a pledge is not enough. The BRN needs to stop committing war crimes,” said Elaine Pearson, HRW’s Asia Director.
The conflict, rooted in the historical Malay Patani region annexed by Siam (modern-day Thailand), blends ethnic and religious tensions with long-standing grievances. Although the violence has ebbed and flowed over the decades, it intensified significantly in 2004, with the BRN playing a central role in the insurgency.
This latest appeal comes on the heels of other human rights concerns raised by HRW. In April, the group urged Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to prioritize human rights during her diplomatic visit to Cambodia. Earlier in January, HRW also criticized Thailand’s continued detention of 48 Uyghur men, calling on the government not to deport them to China, where they may face torture or enforced disappearance.
Excerpt from article by Harjaap Ahluwalia | Osgoode Hall Law School, CA
(Originally published by Jurist.com)
