Thailand’s election to the United Nations Human Rights Council last week is sure to generate high expectations in the country.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra should respond by taking concrete steps toward realizing her pledge that the government will commit to “promoting and protecting human rights in the country and working closely with other countries to advance human rights at the international level.”
Thai authorities in recent years have prosecuted nearly 2,000 people for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful public assembly. The government should act upon the recommendations made during Thailand’s latestUniversal Periodic Review in 2022—the Human Rights Council’s assessment of a country’s human rights record—by reforming the lèse-majesté (insulting the monarchy) law, adopting a moratorium on prosecution and pretrial detention of monarchy critics, and quashing the convictions of those convicted.
In May, Thailand ratified the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Yet the unresolved enforced disappearance and killings of human rights defenders and other civil society activists remains a serious blot on Thailand’s human rights record.
The Thai government should also reverse the glaring lack of accountability for state-sponsored abuses. This can begin with prosecuting security personnel and government officials indicted in murder and other serious criminal charges related to the bloody dispersal of ethnic Malay Muslim protesters two decades ago in Narathiwat province which left 85 dead and several hundred injured. The 20-year statute of limitations ends on October 25, preventing legal action after this date.
In addition to creating an open and just society for Thai people, the Thai government should ensure that its promise to “protect all persons and groups” includes those fleeing war and persecution. Thai authorities need to immediately end the forced return of asylum seekers and refugees to countries where they are likely to face persecution; such as the case of Montagnard refugee Y Quynh Bdap, who is facing imminent extradition to Vietnam. Thailand should also ratify the UN Refugee Convention and enact a refugee law in line with international standards.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn needs to recognize that Thailand’s performance as a member of the Human Rights Council will be judged not by the promises it makes, but by Thailand’s accomplishments promoting respect for human rights at home and abroad.
