In 2025, efforts in Thailand to strengthen democratic governance after military rule were disrupted by political instability. The new government of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has done little to address past and ongoing human rights violations.
Political Instability and New Election
On August 29, the Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra for an alleged ethical breach over a leaked telephone call, during which she appeared to appease Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen amid border tensions.
The new government of Prime Minister Anutin of the royalist Bhumjaithai Party took office in September. While assuring that Thailand is committed to promoting and protecting human rights for all, little has been done by the government to end repression and improve respect for fundamental freedoms. A new election was scheduled for February 8, 2026.
Restrictions on Freedoms of Expression and Peaceful Assembly
Expression of critical and dissenting opinions remains restricted in Thailand. Since the military coup in 2014, at least 1,986 people have been prosecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including at least 284 people who faced lese majesté (insulting the monarchy) charges.
Making critical or offensive comments about the monarchy is also a serious criminal offense under section 14 of the Computer-Related Crime Act. Thai authorities have also used sedition charges to prosecute over 150 democracy activists and dissidents.
Prime Minister Anutin has opposed efforts to reform section 112 of the Criminal Code regarding lese majesté offenses, including those proposed by the opposition parties and civil society groups. In July, parliament rejected the People’s Amnesty Bill, which sought pardon those charged with lese majesté.
On April 8, leading Thai studies scholar Paul Chambers was detained for a day on lese majesté and cybercrime charges related to an academic seminar about the monarchy and the military. Thai authorities revoked his visa and had him expelled from Naresuan University. Chambers subsequently left Thailand.
Prominent human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa faces 14 royal defamation cases related to speeches and online commentary calling for reforms of the monarchy. All of his bail applications have been denied. In August 2024, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for his immediate release.
On September 5, the Court of Appeals sentenced prominent democracy activist Aekachai Hongkangwan to more than 21 years in prison on the charge of “committing an act of violence against the Queen’s liberty” for participating in a democracy rally in October 2020.
At least 1,469 people believed to be involved in 2020 democracy rallies were still being prosecuted at time of writing for violating Covid-19 containment measures adopted by the Emergency Decree, even though that decree was lifted in October 2022.
Under pressure from the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok, the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center in August removed works about Beijing’s erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong, as well as mistreatment of Uyghur and Tibetan ethnic minorities.
Enforced Disappearance and Torture
Thailand is a state party to international conventions against torture and enforced disappearance.
Numerous allegations of police and military personnel torturing ethnic Malay Muslims in custody during counterinsurgency operations in the southern border provinces remain unaddressed. There are credible reports of torture used as a form of punishment of military conscripts. On May 27, the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases in Rayong province found two army instructors guilty in the death of Pvt. Worapratch Phadmasakul and sentenced them to 15 and 20 years in prison, respectively. Eleven senior conscripts face 10-year prison terms for assisting the crime. These are the first convictions under Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, which took effect in February 2023.
None of the outstanding enforced disappearance cases have been resolved, including those of nine exiled Thai dissidents who were abducted in neighboring countries in recent years in the context of “transnational repression.”
Human Rights Defenders
The government has failed to fulfill its obligations to ensure human rights defenders can carry out their work in a safe and enabling environment, with defenders and other civil society activists at times facing lethal violence and enforced disappearance. Coverups have blocked efforts to pursue justice, even in high-profile cases such as those of ethnic Lahu activist Chaiyaphum Pasae, ethnic Karen activist Porlajee Rakchongchareon, and Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit.
Thai authorities have failed to protect activists and whistleblowers from vexatious or retaliatory lawsuits by state agencies and private companies. While some reforms were introduced in June to curb retaliatory legal actions against individuals who allege corruption, Thailand has yet to repeal criminal defamation laws and enact effective measures against the use of strategic litigation to silence public criticism.
On September 10, the public prosecutor in Nonthaburi province indicted prominent environmentalist Witoon Lianchamroon and the BioThai Foundation for criminal defamation. The case was brought by Charoen Pokphand Foods following an academic forum in 2024 alleging the company’s fish farms were responsible for environmental harms caused by the spread of an invasive fish species, Blackchin Tilapia.
On November 11, the United Nations human rights experts expressed concerns about reports of death threats and online attacks against Senator Angkhana Neelapaijit, a former national human rights commissioner, and Human Rights Watch advisor Sunai Phasuk as a result of their comments regarding possible international humanitarian law violations in the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict.
Lack of Accountability for State-Sponsored Abuses
There has been little progress in criminal and civil cases alleging abuses and excessive use of force by riot police to disperse democracy rallies from 2020-2023.
Thai authorities have not prosecuted soldiers accused of wrongdoing in the killing and wounding of “Red Shirt” protesters and other people during the 2010 political confrontations. No military personnel or government officials from the administration of then-Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva have been prosecuted.
The Paetongtarn and Anutin governments have failed to investigate the more than 2,800 killings that accompanied then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s “war on drugs” in 2003.
Violence and Abuses in the Southern Border Provinces
The armed conflict in Thailand’s Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkhla provinces has resulted in more than 7,000 deaths since January 2004. Despite their pledge in May to respect international human rights and humanitarian law, insurgents from the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist movement have frequently carried out attacks on civilians. In June, Thai authorities intercepted attempts by insurgents to launch coordinated bomb attacks at popular tourist destinations in Phuket and Krabi provinces.
Thailand has not endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, while BRN has continued to recruit children for insurgent activities.
Border Clashes with Cambodia
Border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia from July 24-28 and December 8-27 killed and injured civilians, including children, and damaged civilian objects, medical facilities, and religious and cultural sites. Thailand accused Cambodia of committing an act of aggression and carrying out indiscriminate attacks with explosive weapons, including antipersonnel mines and multiple rocket launchers. Cambodia alleged that Thai airstrikes and artillery fire had damaged Ta Krabey Temple and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Preah Vihear Temple in Cambodia.Thailand used internationally prohibited cluster munitions.
A series of landmine incidents along the contested border seriously injured Thai soldiers. Thailand accused Cambodia of planting new mines, which Cambodia denied. Thailand and Cambodia have each ratified the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which comprehensively prohibits any production, transfer, stockpiling, or use of antipersonnel mines.
Thailand and Cambodia agreed to another ceasefire on December 27, which included the return of 18 Cambodian soldiers held as prisoners of war by the Thai military since July.
Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Migrant Workers
Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 protocol. Thai authorities treat refugees and asylum seekers as irregular migrants subject to harassment, extortion, arrest, and deportation, including more than four 4 million from Myanmar who have fled conflict and repression. The only way most Myanmar nationals can get legal status is as migrant workers, who are excluded from a recent Thai government action to provide protection to some refugees.
On November 28, Thai authorities forcibly returned to Vietnam the prominent Montagnard human rights and religious activist Y Quynh Bdap, putting him at risk of torture and other serious abuses. Bdap had been recognized as a refugee by the UN Refugee Agency.
On February 27, the Paetongtarn government sent 40 Uyghur men to China, where they could face torture, arbitrary detention, and long-term imprisonment. Their forced repatriation was condemned by UN agencies, foreign governments, and human rights groups. On March 14, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced restrictions on visas for Thai government officials who were responsible for, or complicit in, the forced return of the 40 Uyghurs to China.
After the murder of former Cambodian opposition parliamentarian Lim Kinya in Bangkok on January 7, many critics of the Cambodian government living in Thailand concluded that nowhere in the country was safe.
More than 100,000 Myanmar refugees living in Thailand in camps along the border for four decades lost access to essential food and medical aid due to US funding cuts on July 31, putting them at serious risk.
In a positive step, on August 26 the Paetongtarn government approved measures allowing Myanmar refugees to work legally. The new policy took effect October 1 and will enable refugees to apply for permission to leave the camps and receive work permits valid up to one year.
Thai authorities have refused to consider Lao, Hmong, Uyghurs, Rohingya, and North Koreans for refugee status under the National Screening Mechanism.
Several hundred Rohingya, including children, continue to be held in indefinite detention in squalid conditions in immigration detention centers across Thailand.
Hundreds of thousands of Cambodian workers left Thailand after border clashes between the two countries, fearing mistreatment and immigration raids. Dozens of Cambodian men have been arrested on spy charges. Ultranationalist groups have used social media to spread hate campaigns and identify Cambodian migrants for assault.
Migrant workers of all nationalities are barred by Thailand’s Labor Relations Act from organizing and establishing labor unions or serving as a government-recognized labor union leader.