The 12th of March 2024 marks 20 years since the enforced disappearance of Thai Human Rights Lawyer, Somchai Neelapaijit. His fate is still unknown. Somchai went missing on the 12th of March 2004, only one day after he had publicly accused the police of torturing his clients. There were suspicions against 5 police officers but only one was convicted of a 3-year prison sentence in 2006, the other 4 were acquitted. In 2011, the Appeals Court acquitted all 5 officers. Since then, no one has been charged or convicted.
Since his disappearance, Somchai’s wife has been very active in calling for truth and justice. She reported his case to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance in 2005 and has faced several threats to her safety and reprisals since.
In 2015, Lawyers for Lawyers submitted a report for the Universal Periodic Review of Thailand to the United Nations Human Rights Council, which took place the following year. In 2017, Lawyers for Lawyers submitted another report for the ICCPR Review of Thailand to the UN Human Rights Committee. In both reports, Lawyers for Lawyers highlighted the failure of Thailand to guarantee effective access to legal services provided by an independent legal profession as set out in the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.
To mark 20 years since his disappearance, UN experts (comprised of Special Rapporteurs, independent experts, and working group members) called upon the Thai authorities to reveal the fate and whereabouts of Somchai, in compliance with international obligations. They urged Thai authorities to investigate the crime and to hold perpetrators criminally responsible. The experts also stated that the lack of information surrounding Somchai’s fate is a violation of his family member’s “absolute rights to truth and justice.” The experts emphasized that truth, justice, and redress regarding Somchai’s enforced disappearance “can and must” be achieved without further delay.
