OPINION

Lacking legal protection

Re: "Thailand deports 40 Uyghurs to China", (BP, Feb 27).

Prof Vitit Muntarbhorn wrote in his column on Feb 13 that returning to a country of origin should only be considered under conditions of safety and dignity and in consultation with the UNHCR -- the UN Refugee Agency.

External humanitarian actors should have access to assess the situation objectively. The new Thai anti-torture law also prohibits the return of people who are at risk, and this should take precedence over the uncertainties of immigration law.

The possibility of access to third countries should also be kept open if their safety can be ensured. His cautionary final sentence was: "Please, no transnational repression!"

Prof Vitit expressed enthusiasm about Thailand's election to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) and hoped it would improve the human rights situation in Thailand.

Despite Thailand's election to the HRC, human rights problems remain unresolved. These include the imprisonment of political dissidents, labour rights issues and the treatment of refugees.

These contradictions between hopes and reality show the election to the HRC does not automatically lead to improvements.

If Thailand's anti-torture law is undermined by older immigration laws, this is a serious problem.

It shows that despite progress in human rights and protection against torture, older laws and regulations still take precedence and hinder the implementation of newer, more progressive laws.

People seeking protection from torture and mistreatment in Thailand are still at risk and do not receive the necessary legal protection.

Why turn to drugs?

Re: "Govt issues 'super meth' pill warning", (BP, Feb 27).

The Paetongtarn government is right to have warned about the emergence of methamphetamine pills covered in crystal meth, also known as "frung fring" pills.

They are the latest market offering to meet the solid demand for such products. As both the sales of alcohol at 7-Eleven and regular reports of massive seizures of methamphetamine pills attest, Thais love drugs.

Given that drug users already know the well-publicised dangers of using drugs like meth and alcohol, it seems a bit redundant to keep harping on about it. People know that drugs are harmful. This knowledge does not stop the habitual use of those harmful products.

A more productive strategy might seek to discover why so many millions of Thais are so desperate to avoid perceiving the unfiltered reality of their daily lives that they are driven to see the world through drugged states of mind.

What is it about society that is driving millions of Thais to risk health, social, and serious legal problems to avoid intolerable sobriety?

If such questions can be answered with some accuracy, that might show a path to reducing the domestic demand for such harmful substances.

Suppliers, whether scrappy criminal gangs or major legal corporations, do not produce and distribute products for which there is no demand.

Just a suggestion: perhaps if the law and institutions ruling over their lives were seen as more just, more fair and reasonable, drug users might feel less need to be stoned, drunk, high quite so much.

Just not happening

Re: "Trump's tariffs could provide an upside", (Business, Feb 24),

Forgive me for being cynical or playing the devil's advocate here, but while Thailand may have a brief upside on auto part production simply because of current low total auto unit exports to America, if the businessmen who were quoted think such an advantage will go unnoticed in the event of growth, they need to ask themselves the question which President Trump asks all the time: "What's in it for the USA?"

If Thailand wants to escape the middle income trap, the only way is a total redo of the education system, equal access for all motivated Thai learners, increased government respect for foreign educators teaching here, as well as cultural changes which increase the value of an education in the broad eyes of Thai society as a whole.

Said with no malice, but I'm simply not seeing all of that any day soon.

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