From akha@loxinfo.co.th Sun Feb 6 22:09:17 2000 Received: from mxu1.u.washington.edu (mxu1.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id WAA39436 for ; Sun, 6 Feb 2000 22:09:16 -0800 Received: from chmai.loxinfo.co.th (root@chmai.loxinfo.co.th [203.146.0.65]) by mxu1.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id WAA15079; Sun, 6 Feb 2000 22:09:14 -0800 Received: from loxinfo.co.th (p13-criHS1.N.loxinfo.net.th [203.146.34.13]) by chmai.loxinfo.co.th (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA09375; Mon, 7 Feb 2000 12:38:57 +0700 Message-ID: <389E5B5A.8A9B43E0@loxinfo.co.th> Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 12:42:51 +0700 From: Matthew McDaniel Reply-To: akha@chmai.loxinfo.co.th X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.6 (Macintosh; I; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: akha@loxinfo.co.th Subject: Commentary On Huuh Mah Akha (Huai Maak) Village Eviction Blocked Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit By Julia MacDonald trybe1@hotmail.com BREAKTHROUGH FOR HUMAN RIGHTS NORTHERN THAILAND The forced relocation of the Akha village Huuh Mah (thai pron : Huai Maak ) due to occur on Jan 30 2000, has been blocked. The unprecedented decision by Thai Military to cancel is suspected to have been influenced by humanitarian pressure via the Internet. The Royal Thai Army official in charge of moving the village, Colonel Sawat of Mae Fa Luang District Security Development Project, has gone on record to say that he will not relocate the village. This meeting occurred on Jan 27 in Hin Taek, Chiang Rai Province, when a new petition by all villagers against the move, was presented to the Colonel. The signing of this document had been witnessed that morning in the village, when the heads of 35 families representing around 200 people, lay their thumbprint in a last attempt to prevent what would be a gross human rights violation. Present as witnesses were Dr Cholthira Satyawadhna ; International Thai Studies program , Rangsit University, Bangkok, Independent human rights workers ; Julia McDonald (Australia) , Tony Martin (Britain) , Dan Kahn (United States), AFECT and Akha Heritage Foundation representatives, as well as press from The Nation, Bangkok, and a television crew from Italy. Acting as mediator was Athu Pochear, Director of AFECT (Association for Akha Education and Culture in Thailand) Chiang Rai. Receiving the signatures of the people of Huuh Mah at his army base, Colonel Sawat was willing to engage in lengthy discussion concerning the fate of the village. He said that if he did not move the village, he would no longer be responsible to protect it's security in the region, nor implement any Thai development projects concerning roads, electricity, health or education. He asked why did we concentrate on the plight of the Akha when Thai people such as himself were also poor. That perhaps, when this village was left on it's own without military protection, we might find some rich overseas donors to make up the difference. Strange ideas, when all that had ever been fought for were the basic human rights of an indigenous tribe who asked for help. The issue is not one of monetary wealth. The people of Huuh Mah Akha have flourished on their own for 80 years at this location. They are aware of technology but have designed other methods to sustain their lives. Some speak up to four languages. Elders look 20 years younger than they actually are. All are aware of their rights and only desire them to be recognised. It was an awe-struck moment when Colonel Sawat agreed to honor their wishes not to be relocated, because afterall "Thailand is a democracy". These wishes should never have gone through so much agony, just to be recognised as 'right'. However, it is unforgettable, actually honorable, that the Colonel allowed three generations of Akha to survive when he finally agreed to let the village of Huuh Mah remain where it is. Three days earlier, around 20 Akha elders from the village had gone to Chiang Rai to present their case at a meeting between Thai Military and the Forestry Department. They were turned away, forbidden to attend the meeting which was discussing their future. There might never have been such a meeting, had not so much heat been created via emails and faxes to Royal Thai Army Supreme Command HQ in Bangkok, and Offices of the Prime Minister, Mr Chan Leekpai. The village might not have had another chance to be heard, if foreigners had not been present pointing cameras at officials to encourage accountability. It is an incredible breakthrough for community rights - that electrical technology can help bring such situations into the open, and expose potential injustice to the international community. When Thai press were reluctant to cover such a story because 'it happens all the time' and criticism of the Military is unheard of, the Internet proved to be an invaluable tool. This village is geographically isolated. There are no official akha human rights groups in the country for them to turn to. They have no legal recourse because they are not recognised as citizens of Thailand nor displaced persons They are simply and discriminatingly referred to as the 'mountainpeople'. But in just three weeks of campaigning for the rights of this village via the net, and finally being face to face with the 'powers that be', we have witnessed history being written on a new page of humanity. It's an amazing lesson on how very possible it is to influence world events through the power of individuals' compassion. Human rights are universal, and the far reaches of the Internet are helping them be heard. There are still some loose ends which are being addressed. A day before the meeting, it was discovered that the 'Taiwanese charity' who donated money to the village, which was then used to build the new site, was in fact Rotary International. It is not yet known if their office in Taipei is aware that the villagers were against being forced to move to this extremely unsafe concentration camp look-alike. Perhaps their funding would be better spent on the original village, now that the army has disowned it. Apparently, Rotary might be under the impression that the villagers wanted to be relocated, due to a document they had been asked to sign last year - to accept the charity's donation. But somewhere in transit, a cover letter was attached to the signatures, stating that they represented the village's desire to move to the new site. Such distortion of the truth was unknown to the people of Huuh Mah Akha. This has now been rectified by their new petition, which has been stamped by Thai Military as an official legal document. The village of Huuh Mah Akha has returned to it's original peace without harassment. After staying with the villagers over the past three weeks to monitor and document the situation, we have been invited to return on a regular basis - and perhaps help ensure that this landmark outcome is permanent. It is hoped that the Royal Thai Army will keep it's word. Thankyou to all internationally who expressed support and contacted relevant Thai authorities. Every little bit helped. .