E/CN.4/1992/52
page 83
obliged to deposit large sums of money and are not allowed to travel with
their entire family. This emigration policy has reportedly been conducive to
attempts to escape and it has been alleged that the persons who have been
caught were imprisoned without charge or trial and were subjected to torture
and ill-treatment.
It has been reported that a special branch of the secret police has the
exclusive task of monitoring the activities of the Jewish community. Identity
cards of the members of the Jewish community are said to be marked in blue and
contain the word Mousawi (Jew) while no such indications exist on the identity
cards of members of the Syrian Muslim and Christian communities.
According to the sources, members of the Jewish community do not have the
right to vote and cannot be candidates in any election. They are also said to
be barred from employment by the Government. Their right to inherit or
dispose of personal and real estate property is allegedly severely
restricted. In addition, the mail they receive from abroad is said to be
censored and their telephone calls monitored.
The Special Rapporteur has already referred to the problem of emigration
of members of the Syrian Jewish community in his report to the Commission on
Human Rights at its forty-sixth session (E/CN.4/1990/46)."
Thailand
69. In a communication sent on 1 November 1991 addressed to the Government of
Thailand, the following information was transmitted by the Special Rapporteur:
"Situation of the Hooppha Sawan Religious Land
According to the information received, the religious and lay residents of
the Hooppha Sawan Religious Land, reportedly a centre for Buddhist and
interreligious activities containing symbolic structures of all the major
religions of the world, were threatened and forcibly evicted from this property
and all their belongings were confiscated on 29 March 1991 on the orders of
the Governor of Ratchaburi province and officials of the Religious Affairs
Department. It has been reported that the headquarters of the International
Federation of Religions is located at the Hooppha Sawan Religious Land and
that both are under the patronage of the Jinnabuddho Memorial Foundation which
had been granted permission in June 1973 by the Fine Arts Department to use
the Tham Phra Archaeological Site in Рак Tho District, Ratchaburi province, to
establish the Hooppha Sawan Meditation Centre on that location.
It has been further reported that the Supreme Court had revoked the
licence for the operation of the International Federation of Religions and the
Jinnabuddho Memorial Foundation in July 1989 and ordered the cancellation of
their registration and cessation of all their operations in December 1981,
ruling that all their property become State property. Nevertheless,
Dr. Suchart Kosolkitiwong, Chairman of the Jinnabuddho Memorial Foundation and
President of the International Federation of Religions, and the Buddhist monks,
novices, nuns and laymen were authorized by the Governor of Ratchaburi province
and the District Officer of Рак Tho to remain on Hooppha Sawan Religious Land,
look after the property and continué with their religious activities while the
process of auditing the Foundation's property was taking place.