United Nations. ISSUE. 6839-MDG_plus__a_case_study_of_Thailand. THAILAND: Human Rights at Risk as State of Emergency Declared. Under the Emergency Decree on Government Administration in a State of Emergency (2005), the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra decreed a State of Emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas on January 22, 2014. The Emergency Decree gives blanket powers to state actors to take a wide range of actions to resolve the State of Emergency, including making arrests, censoring the press, restricting movement and using armed force and will be in force for 60 days. The announcement of the Emergency Decree has come after over two months of protracted, contentious protests by the People’s Democratic Reform Council (PRDC) led by former deputy prime minister, Suthep Thaugsuban, against the government.
The goal of these protests has been to oust the current government and replace it with an appointed council. At times the protests have become violent, particularly against those perceived as government supporters or other critics. Thailand Homepage. 6839-MDG_plus__a_case_study_of_Thailand.pdf. Calls for Thai action against human rights abuses | Undercurrent News. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has published its investigation into human rights abuses in the Thai fishing industry, and has called for immediate action after finding evidence of human trafficking, torture and murder. EJF said the report gathered first-hand evidence, verified by independent third party sources, to draw a number of frightening conclusions, including the fact that 59% of people surveyed had witnessed the murder of a crewmember aboard a vessel.
“Not only was it a surprise just how bad the situation in Thailand was, it was also a surprise just how extensive it seems, and how this is a crime that is not operating under cover of darkness,” Steve Trent, executive director of EJF, told Undercurrent News. “My belief is there is a wide knowledge of what is going on within the industry in Thailand, within the enforcement agencies charged with protecting these people, and within society at large,” he said.
Damning evidence “The court process is ongoing,” said EJF. Human Rights Defenders in Thailand. The Violence in the South After a lull in separatist activity in the heavily Muslim southern provinces since the late 1980s, a new wave of violence began with a January 4, 2004 attack on an army depot. The January attack was followed by the announcement of martial law in the southern provinces and a wave of arrests, including the detainees who became Somchai’s clients. In August 2003, the Thai government adopted counterterrorism decrees that broadened the scope for the use of protracted detention without charge or trial. Another decree in July 2005 expanded the government’s authority to declare martial law and further undermined human rights protections of detainees. There is a real danger that the heavy-handed response to discontent in the south is only exacerbating dissatisfaction in the region and fueling more violence. World Report 2013: Thailand.
The government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, which won a landslide victory in July 2011 elections, has not yet addressed Thailand’s many serious human rights problems, including lack of accountability for the 2010 political violence, abuses in southern border provinces, free speech restrictions, and violations of refugee and migrant rights. Accountability for Political Violence At least 90 people died and more than 2,000 were injured during violent political confrontations from March to May 2010 as a result of unnecessary or excessive use of lethal force by Thai security forces, as well as attacks by armed elements operating in tandem with the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), known as the “Red Shirts.”
At the same time, the status of investigations into alleged crimes by UDD-linked “Black Shirt” militants remains unclear. The Yingluck government provided reparations to all those harmed by the 2010 violence. Freedom of Expression and the Media.