(Bangkok) – Thailand’s new government should take concrete steps to make human rights a priority, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn is expected to take office on September 16, 2024.
“The Paetongtarn government needs to act quickly to address Thailand’s widespread human rights problems,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “To show a clean break from the country’s abusive past, the new government should end pervasive repression of free speech, quash abusive laws, and drop the cases against all those prosecuted for exercising their basic rights.”
Since the 2014 military coup, Thai authorities have imposed tight restrictions on critical and dissident opinions. Following pro-democracy protests that began in July 2020, almost 2,000 people have been prosecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful public assembly.
The authorities have in recent years prosecuted at least 272 people on charges of insulting the monarchy (lese majeste). Thai authorities have often held critics of the monarchy in pretrial detention for months without access to bail. On May 14, the anti-monarchy activist Netiporn Sanesangkhom, 28, died during pretrial detention on lese majeste charges.
During her election campaign in 2023, the Pheu Thai Party’s then-prime minister candidate Paetongtarn promised to use parliamentary channels to discuss preventing royal insult charges from being arbitrarily used as a political tool. The new government should reform the lese majeste law, adopt a moratorium on prosecution and pretrial detention under the current law, and adopt a proposal for a comprehensive amnesty, Human Rights Watch said.
The Paetongtarn government should also immediately dismiss all charges against those still being prosecuted for Covid-19 restriction offenses. The nationwide enforcement of emergency measures to control the spread of Covid-19 was lifted in October 2022, but Thai authorities are still prosecuting at least 1,469 people.
Despite the adoption of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights in 2019, Thai authorities have failed to protect rights defenders from reprisals by state agencies and private companies using strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP). The new government should immediately curb the abuse of the judicial system to harass and punish critics and whistleblowers.
Human rights defenders should be able to carry out their work in a safe and enabling environment, Human Rights Watch said. The killing and enforced disappearance of human rights defenders and other civil society activists is a serious blot on Thailand’s human rights record. Cover-ups have effectively blocked efforts to pursue justice, even in high-profile cases in the public interest; such as the ethnic Lahu activist Chaiyaphum Pa-sae, the ethnic Karen activist Porlajee Rakchongchareon, and the Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn should effectively take steps to end torture and enforced disappearance. The Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act became effective on February 22, 2023. But none of the outstanding cases of enforced disappearance, including nine exiled Thai dissidents who were abducted in neighboring countries during the previous government of Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha, have been resolved.
The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has raised concerns about enforced disappearances in the context of transnational transfers of dissidents between Thailand and neighboring countries.
Thai authorities in recent years have violated the international prohibition against refoulement by returning refugees and asylum seekers to countries where they are likely to face persecution. Thai authorities have forcibly returned asylum seekers and refugees from Bahrain, Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Türkiye, Vietnam, and other countries. This inhumane practice undermines Thailand’s reputation as a refuge for people fleeing war and persecution.
“Thailand’s new government has a chance to chart a new course on human rights and set a positive example for other countries in the region,” Sifton said. “Prime Minister Paetongtarn can demonstrate that her government is genuinely reform-minded by prioritizing human rights issues and ensuring that effective actions are promptly taken.”
