By Austin Silvan |
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<p dir="ltr">At a seminar discussing the contents of the draft constitution in the upcoming referendum, political experts made clear that these updated legislation reduces democracy, and increases the junta’s control of future Thai politics.</p>
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By Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang |
<p dir="ltr">As Thailand approaches its monumental referendum, the potential for political conflict is high. What will happen after Sunday?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Thailand’s constitution-drafting process has come to the crucial point — the referendum on the draft charter on 7 August. All arms of Thailand’s authoritarian regime are working in unison to ensure that the referendum will go smoothly and coerce an acceptance of the draft from Thais.</p>
<div>At least four embassies in Bangkok have urged their citizens in Thailand to exercise caution during the August referendum, warning of possible protests. </div>
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<div><img alt="" src="//c2.staticflickr.com/2/1616/26029077930_a2edb8fec6_o.jpg" /></div>
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<div>According to Matichon Online, the Japanese Embassy announced that Japanese citizens in Thailand should be increasingly careful on the referendum date, 7 August.
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By Nidhi Eoseewong |
<p>In order to understand why the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), formal name of the Thai junta, chose to stipulate that the draft constitution be passed by a referendum, we must return to the first period after the coup.</p>
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By FIDH - Worldwide Human Rights Movement |
<p>hailand’s draft constitution and upcoming referendum are products of a repressive process that could lead to further political instability, FIDH and its member organization Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) said in a new report published today.</p>
<p>On 7 August 2016, Thai citizens will vote in a referendum that will decide whether the draft constitution backed by Thailand’s military junta, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), will become the country’s 20th charter since 1932.</p>
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<div>At least four universities in Thailand have complied with the junta’s censorship measures by prohibiting their students and lecturers from discussing the junta-sponsored draft charter and the August referendum. </div>
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<h2>Khon Kaen University bans public discussion of draft charter </h2>
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<div>On Saturday, 30 July 2016, Jirawat Sanitchon, Deputy Dean of Khon Kaen University’s Faculty of Agriculture, barred student activists from hosting ‘Talk for Freedom’, a public discussion on the draft charter to be held the following day, reasoning that the tal
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<div>With only a week to the draft charter referendum, Thailand’s statesmen have urged the junta to use its absolute power to enshrine coups d’état into the constitution, ironically adding that this amendment will prevent future coups.</div>
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<div><img alt="" src="//c2.staticflickr.com/8/7224/7065116651_f9f0b2ed82_o.jpg" /></div>
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<div>On Friday, 29 July 2016, Gen Saiyud Kerdphol, the Chairperson of Thailand’s Statesmen’s Group, proposed that the junta should amend the draft constitution, which
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<div>Voter lists for the August referendum face more epic and absurd struggles with dogs packs and a teenager who burned the list to repel mosquitoes. Meanwhile, some voters cannot check their names on the list due to excessively high security measures. </div>
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<h2>Dogs tear down voter lists</h2>
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<div>After suffering from kids, monkeys, and heavy rain last weekend, voter lists for the August charter draft referendum have been again spoiled for a series of absurd reasons.
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<div>Local authorities in the northeast of Thailand have accused an anti-dam activist of breaching the controversial Referendum Act after he criticized the draft charter on his Facebook three weeks ago.
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By Human Rights Watch |
<div>Drop Sedition Charges and End Repression Before August 7 Poll</div>
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<div>The military in Chiang Mai has summoned six people and accused them of sedition without court approval, alleging that they were involved with the letters containing material criticizing the junta’s draft charter. </div>
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<div>On Wednesday, 27 July 2016, Maj Gen Kosol Pratum summoned six people to a military camp in the northern province of Chiang Mai. The six are on the military’s list of ten people allegedly involved with the letter campaign against the junta-sponsored draft charter.
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By Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights |
<div><img alt="" src="http://newsfirst.lk/english/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/unhrc.jpg" /></div>
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<div>GENEVA (26 July 2016) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, today condemned the alarmingly high number of arrests and charges over public and social media expression brought under military orders and the Constitutional Referendum Act in Thailand.
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