A new report released by Nonviolence International Southeast Asia

Government should end the creation of armed civilian defense volunteer forces and the supply of firearms to civilians in Southern Thailand

The Royal Thai government’s strategy of expanding civilian volunteer forces and substituting and deregulating purchases of firearms by civilians to address the violent conflict in southern Thailand proves counter-productive as it leads to greater insecurity and ethnic polarization among the population, Nonviolence International SEA said in a new report released today. The report, “Rule by the Gun: Armed Civilians and Firearms Proliferation in Southern Thailand,” launched as part of the Global Week of Action against Gun Violence*, provides an assessment of the security situation in the four violence-stricken provinces of Southern Thailand and the impact of firearms proliferation among civilians.

While violence continues unabated, interviews with state officials brought to light that law enforcement and security responsibilities are now increasingly delegated to poorly trained and screened paramilitary and civilian defense volunteer forces. The report demonstrates that the government’s strategies to resolve the conflict have not led to a substantial decrease in violence. Instead, it further heightened resentment among the Malay Muslim population towards the Thai state and raised their feelings of injustice and discrimination. Thai Buddhists, on the other hand, perceive state officers as incapable of providing security which drives their demand for guns.

Looking at both the supply and demand side of arms proliferation, quantitative and qualitative research revealed some clear trends of how arms proliferation in Southern Thailand potentially prolongs, if not exacerbates, the conflict. In terms of supply, the Thai government has supplied small arms, particularly to local Buddhists and officials through three channels: distributing firearms to civilian forces, easing firearms regulations, and subsidizing gun purchases.

Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews showed ethno-religious differentiated perceptions, justifications and impacts boosting gun demand and proliferation. Thai Buddhists feel they are in need of arms for self-defense, due to ongoing victimization by alleged Malay Muslim insurgents, and for protection of the motherland, a result of their heightened sense of nationalism. For Malay Muslims, guns place them at greater risk and insecurity due to surveillance and assault of the Thai authorities who are suspicious of mass support for the insurgent groups and civilian defense volunteers constitute a threat to their security.

The state’s failure to provide law and order indiscriminately is evidently fueling a ‘security economy’ in which insecurity and arms proliferation is becoming a source of income and allegiance. The combination of supply and demand of firearms has given rise to a gun economy that ultimately sustains and proliferate the circulation of firearms. The report argues that the longer and more protracted the conflict becomes, the more the gun economy will take on a life of its own which potentially prolongs and exacerbates violence possibly rendering the situation uncontrollable.

Showing the mutual but differentiated sense of victimhood among the Thai Buddhist and Malay Muslim ethnic groups, the report provides enough evidence to show that the policy to arm civilians and to ease access to firearms can shift the momentum of the conflict to the communal level for two reasons: it breaks down social ties and intensifies ethnic polarization. Due to increased mistrust and suspicion, security previously based on social ties is now ensured by guns. As firearms supply and demand is segregated along ethno-religious lines, civilian armament is intensifying ethnic and religious polarization, possibly leading to communal violence. As Thai Buddhists are armed, Malay Muslim villagers hesitate to maintain relationships with their Buddhist neighbours. Thai Buddhists, too, fear that their contact with Muslim fellows can bring them harm. Moreover, feelings of injustice among Malay Muslims are amplified through discriminatory practices of firearms distributions and possession.

In light of these findings, Nonviolence International SEA calls on the government to:

1. Disarm and disband various militia groups, particularly armed civilian village defense groups and Buddhist vigilante groups.
2. Reform its security sector by improving professionalism, institutional capacity, rule of law and democratic governance.
3. Establish clearly defined mechanisms for accountability to reduce human rights violations and impunity among security officers.
4. Provide systematic and effective training and human rights education programs for security forces prior o deployment.
5. Consolidate security arrangements to include a clear command structure and strategy with independent civilian monitoring and mechanisms of checks and balances with a clear and firm mandate accompanied by enforceable legal powers to visit, interview and report on government agencies.
6. Build the capacity of police forces to protect the population, to investigate incidents of violence, and to professionalize their conduct.
7. End state subsidization of guns purchasing.
8. Tighten gun ownership and licensing regulations including ammunition.
9. Address the historical and contemporary grievances of the population to diminish justifications of violence.
10. Improve social ties by re-establishing nonviolent conflict resolution mechanisms.
11. Initiate dialogue and community organizing programs to re-establish social ties and generate mutual security responses.

* Each year advocates around the world use the Global Week of action Against Gun Violence to raise awareness, campaign for better gun laws and push for stronger regulation of the global arms trade. This year the Week of Action is 15-19 June 2009. Last year, the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) members in more than 60 countries highlighted the human cost of small arms proliferation and misuse and demanded governments to enact policies that put their citizens’ security first.

The report is available online at: www.nonviolenceinternational.net/seasia
(NOTE: We are experiencing some technical problems uploading the pdf file of the full report. If you want to avail of the full report please contact: seasia@nonviolenceinternational.net or +66 2 934 3289