APEC Letter

Below is the letter the Thai Red Shirts living abroad sent to all Member-Head of States of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on the occasions of their meetings in Japan on November 7-14, 2010 to protest the Thai government.

APEC's 21 Members are Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; The Republic of the Philippines; The Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States of America; and Viet Nam.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is an economic forum promoting the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investments, economic and technical cooperation.

,,,

Hon Naoto Kan

Prime Minister of Japan

Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
1-6-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8914, Japan.
Tel:
+81-3-5253-2111

3^rd November 2010

Hon Naoto Kan:

We are groups of Thais living in the democratic countries around the world.Our organisation’s principles are to see Thailand with a government chosen by the people according to generally accepted international democratic standards. We are writing to you because your country is sending representatives to the APEC meeting in Japan which will be held between the 7^th and 14^th November 2010 and the Thai regime will also be represented at this meeting.

We would like to draw your attention to the following facts about the Thai Government:

1. This Government has never been democratically elected by the people.

2. This Government was involved in the military repression of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators in April and May. It must take direct responsibility for the deaths of 91 people, including Japanese and Italian journalist. Thousands were also injured.

3. This Government is holding more than 200 political prisoners in jail without using the proper process of the law as recognised by democratic countries.

4. This Government has failed to show any responsibility for the events and it has refused to initiate a proper investigation into the events, despite repeated requests from many governments including the Government of Japan and numerous human rights organisations.

5. This Government has cooperated with those in the justice system who have destroyed the rule of law and created legal double standards.

For these reasons, “Thai Red Groups”, Democratic Thai citizens, the relatives and friends of all those who were killed, injured or imprisoned, wish to request that you seriously consider demanding the Thai Government

1. Free all the political prisoners, unconditionally.

2. Investigate and provide justice for each death and injury case.

3. Take responsibility for the families of those who were killed and injured.

4. Return freedom of rights to all Thai citizens by lifting-of the state of emergency law.

In case of the demands haven't been responded, we wish you to delaying the signing of any agreements or cooperating with Thailand’s illegitimate and brutal Government.

We hope you will consider our proposals in the spirit of democracy so that you can be part of the process of promoting democracy in Thailand. To help your consideration we are also sending a CD, provided by Mr. Conor Davis Purcell who was involved in the April and May events, with this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Thai Red Australia, Thai Red USA, Thai Red Sweden

Thai Red Japan, Thai Red Texas, Thai Red Chicago

Red New York, Thai Red LA, Thai Red Germany

Konthai UKm Thai Red Denmark