<p>The wife of abducted Thai human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit on Tuesday spoke to the United Nations about his continued disappearance, and presented a report on torture, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention and other serious abuses in southern Thailand. </p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Thanks to ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra&rsquo;s return from 18-month self-exile a week ago, several political ripples have been created, up to a level that concerns many including the elected premier Samak Sundaravej.</font> </p>

<p>Prachatai here presents <a href="http://chiranuch.googlepages.com/ICIDreporteng.pdf">an unofficial translation of the preliminary report of the Independent Committee for the Investigation, Study and Analysis of the Formulation and Implementation of the Narcotic Suppression Policy</a>. This body was set up by the Surayud Chulalond government to look into the so-called &lsquo;War on Drugs&#39; of the Thaksin Shinawatra administration in early 2003.</p>

<p>The Asian Human Rights Commission on Tuesday launched a blog campaign to raise debate on the appointment of new members to Thailand&#39;s national human rights body. </p>

<p>According to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Roadmap to Democracy, a Constitutional referendum will be held in May 2008 and Parliamentary Elections in 2010. However, the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) has serious doubts about the credibility of this political process.</p>

<p>On 25 February 2008, the Working Group on Justice for Peace, a local human rights organization headed by Ms. Angkana Neelaphaijit, together with the Cross-cultural Foundation, issued a statement demanding that the government reveal the truth regarding the death of civilians at the Tak Bai massacre.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Burma Partnership, stand against the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)&#39;s decision through its new constitution to exclude the pro-democratic leaders, particularly Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, from the 2010 election.</p>

<p>We would like to bring your attention to the possible extra-judicial executions, named as &quot;War on Drug&quot;, that that could arise in the near future in Thailand.</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">On 27 February, Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action message to its worldwide network of activists, asking for appeals to be sent to the Thai authorities over threats to human rights defender Angkhana Neelaphaijit.</p>

<p>The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned that despite calls from human rights defenders and organisations across Asia and around the world, still the justice ministry in Thailand has not reversed its decision to transfer responsibility for protection of witnesses in human rights cases under its control back to the police. If it does not reverse this decision before February 29, the lives of victims of torture, and relatives of people killed and disappeared by state officers will be at risk. </p>

<p><span><strong>Migrant Assistance Programme (MAP) Foundation </strong></span><span>issued a statement regarding the detention and the possible refoulement of migrant workers injured from a bomb explosion at a waste disposal site in Mae Sot municipality as reported by the media. </span></p>

<p><span>Assistant Professor Viengrat Netipo</span><span>, political science lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, is regarded as a veteran researcher on local politics. Recently, she has conducted field research on &quot;Decentralization and its effects on local power structures&quot;. Her target is the North and Northeast regions, since this is where the local power structure has clearly been developing and changing rapidly in recent times. </span></p>