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Human Rights Developments
Defending Human Rights
The Role of the International CommunityThailand continued to be a hub of regional human rights activism on a wide variety of issues, including the economic crisis. Thai academic institutions and large regional nongovernmental networks like the Asian Cultural Forum on Development (ACFOD) and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) sponsored a variety of NGO consultations, strategy meetings and human rights training courses for Asia-based activists during the year. Some Bangkok-based regional groups, such as the Alternative ASEAN Network, focused their efforts on supporting pro-democracy efforts, condemning abuses or influencing bilateral policies toward specific countries, such as Burma. Others used Thailand as a base for regional and global efforts on women’s human rights, trafficking in persons, migrant workers’ rights, or refugees. Thailand continued to be an important center for regional nongovernmental work on HIV/AIDS, child prostitution and child labor. In March, police attempted to restrict the participation of about one hundred international human rights advocates in a five-day seminar on East Timor in Bangkok, saying the foreign participants would violate Thai law if they spoke out against Indonesia. Chulalongkorn University withdrew its cosponsorship of the event after pressure from the authorities. The meeting proceeded under the watchful eye of immigration and Labor Ministry officials and police. Forum-Asia, one of the organizing groups, said immigration police had threatened to ban the second day of the seminar. Thailand’s own outspoken press and human rights community addressed many of the same issues as their regional colleagues. Activists continued to condemn the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) for social and environmental damage in the construction of theYadana gas pipeline. Prominent social critic Sulak Sivaraksa was arrested and then released on bail in connection with a protest against the pipeline in March. |
 Afghanistan Burma Cambodia China and Tibet India Indonesia and East Timor Japan Malaysia Pakistan Sri Lanka Thailand Vietnam  |
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