<p>Amnesty International calls on the Thai authorities to pass a law which includes definitions of torture and enforced disappearances in full accordance with international law and offers justice to victims, after the Thai parliament voted yesterday (16 September) to approve the first reading of a bill criminalizing torture and enforced disappearance.&nbsp;</p>

<p>A newly-launched book documents the ongoing case of Somsak Chuenchit and his 12-year effort to bring the police officers who tortured his son by beating and suffocating&nbsp;him with plastic bags during an interrogation.</p>

<p>Angelina Jolie and Amnesty International have joined forces to create a resource for children and young people to learn about their rights, with the publication of a new book which empowers teenagers to speak out against injustice.</p>

<p>The Thai authorities must urgently investigate the shooting of protesters in Bangkok that has left one child in a critical condition, Amnesty International said after confirming that three children were injured by live rounds of ammunition during a demonstration outside a police station on Monday.</p>

<p>The use of force to crack down on protests and arrests of protesters show that the state wants to suppress dissenters and create a climate of fears, says Amnesty International, who calls for the repeal of the Emergency Decree.&nbsp;</p>

<p>An Amnesty International staff member has been fined along with three other speakers and a panel moderator for taking part in a <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/9329">panel discussion on enforced disappearance</a> on 4 July 2021.</p>

<p>As Thailand battles its deadliest outbreak of Covid-19 since the pandemic began, Amnesty International calls on the Thai authorities to develop and implement an inclusive vaccine roll-out plan that prioritizes at-risk and marginalized individuals, with specific consideration given to groups that have faced historic discrimination, such as prisoners, refugees and undocumented migrant workers.</p>

<p>As Thai authorities imposed strict virus prevention measures in Bangkok and nine provinces from Monday, Amnesty International calls on authorities to use these restrictions solely to address worsening rates of Covid-19 infection and not to&nbsp;arbitrarily or disproportionately penalise individuals for peacefully exercising their rights.</p>

<p>Thai authorities have repeatedly deployed reckless and violent tactics to quell the country&rsquo;s burgeoning youth protest movement including beating demonstrators, firing chemicals from water cannons and shooting rubber bullets at close range, new research from Amnesty International reveals today.</p>

<p>A year after the disappearance of Thai activist <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/category/wanchalearm-satsaksit">Wanchalearm Satsaksit</a>, his family still waits for justice while official investigations seem to have stalled.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Today (20 May), Amnesty International Thailand and representatives of young people facing charges due to their political expression and their family gather to demand that the Thai authorities drop political charges against children and young people unde the age of 18 who were exercising their freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Amnesty International Thailand issued an open letter yesterday (11 May)&nbsp;to the Ministry of Justice and the President of the Supreme Court of Justice calling for urgent measures minimizing the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic in prisons across the country, as well as for unnecessary custody at all levels to be kept at a minimum.</p>