DEEP SOUTH
Militants 'abuse children's rights'
Officials with weapons including an assault rifle confiscated from an Islamic boarding school in Pattani’s Yarang district yesterday.
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Attacks on schools and teachers prevent freedom of education, says watchdog
Militants' attacks on teachers and schools in the restive South are terrorising the population and preventing children from enjoying their right to an education, a London-based rights group said yesterday. More than 1,000 state-run schools in the deep South closed down on Monday because of fears for teachers' safety. But after a meeting with the Southern Border Province Administrative Centre on Tuesday, all schools agreed to resume their operations next Monday, according to Wicharn Athikaphan, president of the Southern Teachers Federation. The group called for sufficient guards to ensure teachers' safety. Separatist insurgents have killed five teachers and injured at least two since the beginning of the new school term on November 1. They have also set 10 schools on fire as security forces have struggled unsuccessfully to protect schools, teachers and students. Last Friday, armed insurgents shot and burned to death Non Chaisuwan, a 48-year-old teacher, in front of terrified staff and students at Ban Bang Kao School in Pattani's Sai Buri district. "Insurgents have launched attacks on teachers and schools as symbols of the state and to terrorise the local population," said Brad Adams, director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch. "Such attacks are not just grave crimes; they are serious human rights abuses that also undermine the right to freedom of education of children in the South," he said in a statement. Attacks on educators in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat have become common over the past two years by separatist insurgents, believed to be Malay Muslims seeking greater control of a region where they make up most of the population. Many ethnic Thai Buddhist teachers have been shot in their classrooms and at their lodgings. Human Rights Watch said militants from the youth wing (pemuda) and guerrilla units (Runda Kumpulan Kecil or RKK) of the National Revolution Front-Coordinate (Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Koordinasi or BRN-C) target schools because they are considered to be a symbol of government authority and the Buddhist-Thai culture. A new generation of village-based militants — often referred to as fighters or pejuang— is attempting to divide society on ethnic and religious lines, it said.
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