KINGDOM'S GLOBAL IMAGE STARTING TO SUFFER: MAGAZINE

The government's anti-drug campaign, in which more than 1,100 drug suspects
have been killed, is raising eyebrows across the globe, according to the
Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review magazine.

An article appearing in the edition dated March 13 says that US Ambassador
Darryl Johnson had expressed his concerns privately to Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra and that representatives from other countries had also
addressed the issue.

"The European Union is also drafting a letter of concern", the magazine
quoted EU diplomats as saying.

"Thailand's image as a country with a good human rights record is starting
to suffer. The rule of law is under serious threat," said a Bangkok-based
European diplomat.

The article, by Shawn W Crispin and Michael Vatikiotis, said the matter had
also caught the attention UN rapporteur for extra-judicial executions Asma
Jahangir, who issued a statement voicing "deep concern" over how the
government was pursuing its war on drugs.

The article also quoted a senior American diplomat as saying US law
prohibited Washington from doing business with countries whose governments
were found to have sanctioned extra-judicial killings.

The US provides training to Thai counter-narcotics officers and also is
looking to the Thai police for help in its global war on terrorism.

Any suggestion that Thai police could be involved in extra-judicial killings
would reflect badly on Washington and possibly affect bilateral aid,
according to the article.

Thaksin has stood firm on the anti-drug campaign, saying he did not care
about reports that the US could cut its financial and technical assistance
to Thailand if the killings were not properly investigated, the Far East
Economic Review said.

The magazine also said the French Embassy had upgraded its Thailand travel
advisory due to perceived greater risks as a result of the war on drugs.

It advised its citizens to "exercise greater vigilance and caution" in
Thailand. "First the Bali bombing, then Iraq, now the war on drugs," says
Marcel Schneider, the Bangkok-based general manager of Diethelm Travel, a
Swiss travel company.

"The idea that the campaign could be leading to human-rights abuses is
casting another cloud over Thai tourism."

Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Itti Ditbanjong said that the French
Embassy's travel advisory would not affect Thai tourism or the country's
image on human rights.