Tailandia

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to education in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Children in the southern provinces recruited for insurgent activities and violence
• Children with disabilities or special needs
• People from low socio-economic backgrounds find it difficult to access quality education and higher education
• Young people campaigning for political issues may not be able to study abroad and may be summoned back to court
• People from remote provinces
• Ethnic minorities or immigrant groups without legal status or Thai nationality
• Children who are poor or homeless, particularly in Bangkok
• Refugees and asylum seekers do not have access to education, especially secondary and higher education, despite the ‘education for all’ policy

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to food in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• People across all groups may be affected by chemical contamination in food
• School students, particularly with concerns over the quality and quantity of food served in their school lunches
• Indigenous people, especially those engaged in agriculture in forest areas affected by the government's forest resource management policy, are at risk of losing their food security and the ability to get food that meets their cultural norms
• People who are poor or homeless, especially children and adults in Bangkok and urban areas
• Refugees and asylum seekers cannot access sufficient food due to a lack of adequate income, and some refugee families reportedly have only one meal per day

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to health in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Girls and women do not have access to accurate information about birth control, abortion, or reproductive healthcare
• Children cannot consult a psychiatrist or mental health professional without parental consent
• LGBTQIA+ people are not recognised by the state and do not have access to appropriate healthcare services
• Indigenous groups and stateless people are discriminated against in getting access to quality health services
• Everyone is at risk of Covid-19, especially people from low socio-economic backgrounds due to a lack of access to personal protective equipment
• People who are poor or homeless, especially children and adults in Bangkok
• People who are not government officials do not have access to adequate medication
• Refugees and asylum seekers are affected as few hospitals accept patients without legal documents; since they cannot work, they are unable to pay hospital bills, and have to rely on financial support from non-governmental organisations and free healthcare

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to housing in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• People living in coastal areas due to increased government management of coastal erosion
• Indigenous people living in forests are evicted when their ancestral lands were declared as national parks, especially the Chao Le people, as the state encouraged the private sector to take over their land
• People who are poor or homeless, especially children and adults in Bangkok
• Ethnic groups in the southern parts of Thailand
• Refugees and asylum seekers do not have access to adequate housing and are often at risk of eviction \

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to arbitrary or political arrest and detention by government agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Human rights defenders, especially women and political activists opposing dictatorial governance, are arrested and detained for long periods without bail
• Political dissidents, perceived critics of the monarchy, government, or military
• Youth activists and pro-democracy defenders such as the Talu Fah group or students from the Free Youth Group
• People suspected of lèse-majesté offences (insulting the monarchy) or who express their opinions against Section 112 which criminalises defamation or insult to the monarchy, are arrested, detained for long periods, and denied their fundamental right to bail
• Many people, including minors, are charged with lèse-majesté offences
• Protesters participating in peaceful assemblies and rallies, such as the ‘car mob’ protest, the protest at the Bangkok Remand Prison calling for the release of political prisoners, the People's Movement for a Just Society (P-Move), the Save Bang Kloy group rally, and ‘People Stop APEC 2022’ protest, were arrested, beaten with batons, and dispersed using rubber bullets and tear gas
• Refugees and asylum seekers, including children, are arrested and detained without any definite timeline in immigration detention centres with delays of several months in getting bail despite the Memorandum of Understanding on alternatives to detention
• Media workers and journalists are at particular risk of being charged under lèse-majesté and sedition laws or of being arrested or physically assaulted by police for their coverage of peaceful protests
• Drugs users and people suspected of drug-related crimes

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to disappearance by government agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Karen, Hmong, Lahu, Lisu, and Lua peoples
• Human rights defenders advocating for land rights
• People who are critical of Article 112 which protects the monarchy from criticism
• Political activists and people suspected of political violence
• Refugees and asylum seekers, especially refugees from Cambodia and Laos
• Enforcement of the Act on Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance, particularly articles 22 to 25, are continually delayed

Expert respondents did not provide any specific information about who is especially vulnerable to violations of this right.

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to extrajudicial execution by government agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Karen, Hmong, Lahu, Lisu, and Lua peoples, especially in the North
• Stateless people belonging to ethnic groups along the borders of Thailand are at risk; there are often no investigations, leading to the acquittal of perpetrators
• People suspected of ‘insurgency’, armed violence, or involvement with separatist terrorist groups in the southern border provinces, especially Malay Muslims
• Political dissidents who want to reform the law that protects and empowers the monarch (Article 112)
• Refugees in detention

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their rights to assembly and association by the government or its agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Any group protesting peacefully for their rights or against the government, especially youth activists and university students, are at risk of arrest and detention without bail
• Political dissidents and activists are threatened, arrested, and detained for assembling and protesting against the government, and are accused of using violence
• Police use excessive force and violence against protestors, who are beaten with batons, attacked by water cannons, and dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets
• Refugees and asylum seekers cannot enjoy their right to assembly and association due to their irregular status, and fear of arrest, detention, and deportation
• There are reports of at least 1,400 people being prosecuted, especially for participating in protests, under the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situation in March 2020 enacted to curb the spread of Covid-19. Many of these criminal cases have not been dropped even after the emergency measures were lifted in October 2022

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their rights to opinion and expression by government agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• All people are at risk of their right to opinion and expression being restricted or being prosecuted if they express a differing opinion or criticise the government, military, or monarchy
• Political dissidents, youth activists, and university students are threatened, arrested without access to bail, and subjected to violence for expressing their opinions and protesting peacefully for their progressive ideas
• Pro-democracy activists are criminalised for exercising their free speech under laws such as sedition, criminal defamation, lèse-majesté (insulting the monarchy) and the Computer Crime Act
• People in the Talu Fah Group, People's Group, and Thammasat Alliance Group
• People from ethnic groups who cannot prove their Thai nationality are disallowed from commenting on politics, and have no right to vote
• Human rights advocacy groups, especially those opposing government development projects that do not respect the rights of the community, are targeted and discriminated against by the state
• Refugees and asylum seekers cannot express their opinions publicly for fear of being arrested and detained due to their irregular status
• Non-profit and non-governmental organisation workers face an increasingly restricted space for their legitimate work due to many repressive laws
• The Operations of Not-for-Profit Organizations Bill was tabled and approved in principle in February 2021 to exercise further control on the working of civil society organisations, but the draft law was sent back for revisions after strong domestic and international opposition
• Media workers and journalists, especially those who cover protests and human rights issues