BKK POST,February 6, 1998. Human ri

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

February 6, 1998. Human rights are  a concern to all

              Hardly had the presses cooled than several of our neighbours
              were again in full cry against the annual US report on human
              rights. Beijing said the section on China could hurt US-China
              relations. Vietnam was indignant to be criticised in a report
              written in a country which still has racial discrimination and a high
              crime rate. Burma was outraged that Washington failed to
              understand how effective the country?s transition to democracy
              has been. 

              The cries of outrage from such countries have become
              predictable in the 20-plus years that the US State Department
              has been compiling them. It is tempting, in fact, to say that a
              country?s human rights problem is in direct proportion to its
              pretended paroxysm against the report. That wouldn?t be quite
              true, though. Some nations with horrendous records are smart
              enough Ñ or cynical enough Ñ to stay quiet when the annual
              report is released. 

              Nevertheless, the bluster against the State Department tome is
              almost as important as the book itself. A favourite cry of
              dictators is that criticism by foreigners is an intrusion into
              domestic affairs. This is nonsense of the first order. A military
              invasion such as Burma?s occupation of the Moei River island is
              an intrusion. But criticism is nothing more than a sign of concern.
              Criticism of Burma?s human rights violations, for example, is no
              more an intrusion into its domestic affairs than trading with
              Burma. 

              If truth be known, most academics and journalists have come to
              value the US human rights reports. The annual book has flaws,
              to be certain. For one thing, US law forbids the reports from
              carrying a section on the United States. For another, it is
              ruthlessly ethno-centric in many of its sections on racial
              discrimination, women?s rights and other areas. 

              The point is that the report is consistent, and uses the same
              standards for every nation. 

              This year?s report on Thailand is tough, and fair. It begins by
              summarising the worst human rights problems in the country last
              year. 

              According to the State Department, these are extrajudicial
              killings by police, lack of government transparency, and failure to
              close the economic gap between urban and rural people. The
              report says that violence against women and children, illegal and
              child labour and prostitution remain serious problems. 

              These are the issues that human rights advocates talked about
              last year. 

              The report discusses these and other issues in excruciating detail
              Ñ 7,200 words, or 10 times the length of this article. Nit-pickers
              can have their fill in places. The country is implicitly criticised for
              not having juries decide criminal trials, for example, an obvious
              American bias. But the lengthy report contains deep insight
              without a single major clanger. 

              One must wonder, again, about the noise from Rangoon, Hanoi
              and elsewhere. The dry, factual reports on the way things are
              done in each country contain no rhetoric, no direct criticism. The
              reader is left to draw his own conclusions. Burma?s leaders claim
              they are moving towards democracy. If so, a comparison of
              human rights during each of the past few years will help gauge
              the progress. 

              Burma is not alone in dealing with its human rights abuses by
              denial and stonewalling. But it is of particular concern to Thailand
              that it does so. Last week?s extremely tense standoff between
              Thai and Burmese forces at Tak province again exposed the
              dangers of dealing with a dictatorship that need not consult its
              people. The annual US human rights reports are a good measure
              of rights around the world and here at home.