UN expresses human rights concerns over Thailand

UN expresses human rights concerns over Thailand

The United Nations Human Rights Office for South-East Asia (OHCHR) on Wednesday expressed "serious concern" about increasing human rights restrictions in Thailand.

Pawinee Chumsri of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights complains against a military ban on its planned human rights discussion in Bangkok on Tuesday - EPA

The UN statement said it "is seriously  concerned  about  increasing restrictions on human rights defenders in exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and expression in Thailand".

The regional office was responding to the 3rd Cavalry Battalion in Bangkok's order that the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights organisation cancel a planned forum on Tuesday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. t

 its event to present human rights situations after the May 22 coup by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). The session was planned at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand in Bangkok Tuesday afternoon.

The planned discussion was on the human rights situation in Thailand in the wake of the May 22 coup.

"The cancellation of this event adds to other incidents indicating a deteriorating environment for human rights defenders in the country," the OHCHR stated.

It cited Amnesty International Thailand was  invited in August to a police station and requested to cancel their planned public events to campaign for the protection of civilians in Gaza.

In the same month, it also stated, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, a prominent human rights defender and the director of the Cross Cultural Foundation, was summoned by the police for a defamation complaint filed by the army in response to allegations she raised of torture in one case in the South.

"OHCHR  has  raised concerns directly with the government and reiterates its call to the government to comply with its international human rights obligations," the OHCHR stated.

It said Thailand had ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.

Further, as a member of the United Nations, it should respect the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which provided that everyone had the right to conduct human rights work and discuss and bring public attention to human rights situations, the OHCHR said.

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