NAME-AND-SHAME STRATEGY USED IN DRUG WAR

BAN PA-KWOW (Thailand) - The authorities have a new weapon in their
war on drugs in the Golden Triangle area: a secret ballot that
residents can use to shame suspected users and pushers.

Informers in these small, close-knit communities are encouraged to
tell on friends, relatives and neighbours.

The secret forums were introduced in Chiang Rai province, about 640 km
north of Bangkok, last October.

So far, 340 of 1,510 villages have held these forums.

Though the gatherings do not follow court-like procedures, it is
assumed that the opinion of a majority of villagers is a safeguard
against score-settling and malicious finger-pointing.

Those exposed would have to reform or be shunned.

The threat of social sanctions is the latest weapon in a widening war
on drugs, especially methamphetamine, which has been declared
Thailand's public enemy No 1.

But the inform-on-your-neighbour strategy worries some
Thais.

Said leading civil liberties lawyer Thongbai Thongpao: 'To humiliate
publicly, disgrace and shame people is against human rights and the law.

'This kind of measure will lead to social conflict with people in the
village, making enemies of each other.'

However, the authorities said the methamphetamines, being smuggled
with impunity from neighbouring Myanmar, have become such a problem
that tough measures are needed.