Participants at the folk school discussed the links between torture and other gross abuses, including forced disappearances and killings. They discussed how in the Philippines all forms of abuse are commonly practiced, including through sexual assault. The police and army are systematically used to suppress popular movements, such as those for the rights of landless peasants. People who raise their voices in protest loud enough are either killed or imprisoned on fabricated charges. They have trouble obtaining lawyers, as fear of being killed, abducted or tortured has caused fewer advocates to take up human rights cases.

In Thailand also custodial torture is believed to be widespread and victims have no avenues to justice. The country has not ratified the Convention against Torture or made any law to give protection against the police or others accused of abuse. There are many other related problems, such as the absence of any effective witness and victim protection. Although an office for witness protection was recently established, it has only a handful of staff and is not yet able to function independently. Another problem is that despite the principle of presumption of innocence, poor persons brought by the police before courts in Thailand are generally treated as if they are already guilty. Even persons complaining that they have been tortured to extract a confession are not heard or understood by the courts, which routinely hand out very harsh sentences for minor offences. On the other hand, highly placed officials and politicians are almost always exempt from prosecution.

The participants widely explored and agreed upon the links between grave abuses and impunity in their countries. In Pakistan today government opponents are being slaughtered and the country is being driven to anarchy due in large part to the massive numbers of abductions and murders by state agents. Detainees are tortured in order to admit to being involved in ‘anti-national’ activities: no law exists to protect them against torture and the country has not joined the Convention against Torture. Although the number of such cases has escalated in the past two years, not a single perpetrator has ever been held to account. In many cases, the police have not even received or recorded complaints. Even if cases ever go to court, the judiciary is completely compliant with the government’s wishes, so the prospects for justice are naught.

Folk school participants also agreed that as custodial torture is a form of systemic violence by the state upon its own people, efforts to oppose it involve a fight against the authorities who stand behind it. This requires the ability to speak out loudly. Where freedom of expression is seriously curtailed or completely prohibited, addressing torture and concomitant abuses is all but impossible. The participants agreed that promotion and protection of human rights is constantly hindered by control over modes of communication and other means to restrict freedom of speech and greater awareness about the shocking realities afflicting countless millions throughout Asia.

In Bangladesh and the Philippines journalists are routinely targeted and killed by the police, army and people working on their behalf. In the Philippines alleged perpetrators escape even arrest or investigation; in Bangladesh, the executive-controlled courts have acquitted the accused. In Pakistan laws imposed by the military are used to stifle opposition. And in Thailand, criminal defamation is used widely and severely to silence dissent. The country’s leadership in general is intolerant of any kind of criticism. All this restricts the possibility in these countries to address grave abuses.

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