<p>A new report published by the human rights group ARTICLE 19 has found that the Thai government&rsquo;s treatment of pro-democracy protesters violated their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including by exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic to enact repressive emergency measures and using the royal defamation law against protesters.</p>

<p>A new Draft Act on Operations of Not-for-profit Organizations is raising huge concerns among civil society a due to its extensive powers of surveillance and control of the finances of a wide range of associations. The broad scope of this law threatens almost any kind of association in Thailand.</p>

<p>ARTICLE 19 calls for an end to the use of defamation law against crtics of the Prime Minister and for the Thai government to decriminalise defamation.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Section 112 of Thailand&rsquo;s Criminal Code, which criminalises defamation, insults, and threats to members of the monarchy, is fundamentally incompatible with the right to freedom of expression, said ARTICLE 19 in a&nbsp;briefing published today.</p>

<p>The Thai government has repeatedly violated the human rights of peaceful protesters during a crackdown on a vigorous and growing youth-led protest movement, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights and ARTICLE 19 said in a briefing released on Sunday (25 October 2020).&nbsp;</p>

<p>The&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://edit.hrw.org/asia/myanmar-burma&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599125955550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGbT1Kpp_30zhnvOCHOtpNTq8IFog" href="https://edit.hrw.org/asia/myanmar-burma" target="_blank">Myanmar</a>&nbsp;authorities should immediately drop the charge against the free-speech activist and poet Maung Saungkha, seven international human rights organizations said today (2 September).</p>

<p>The arrest of prominent human rights lawyer Arnon Nampha and at least one student activist signals a dangerous escalation in the Thai government&rsquo;s efforts to suppress a growing protest movement.</p>

<p>Emergency measures adopted to combat the COVID-19 pandemic have been repeatedly used by Thai authorities to target government critics and peaceful protesters, said ARTICLE 19.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.article19.org/resources/thailand-emergency-measures-threaten-human-rights/">ARTICLE 19</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/25/thailand-covid-19-clampdown-free-speech">Human Rights Watch (HRW)</a> have issued statements following the announcement of <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/8429">emergency measures</a> by the Thai government yesterday (26 March), raising concern over how these measures may threaten freedom of expression and access to information.</p>

<p>Following the <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/8375">dissolution</a> of the Future Forward Party (FFP) on Friday (21 February), several human rights organizations, along with the European Union External Action Service (EEAS) and the Embassy of the United States in Thailand, have spoken out against the Constitutional Court&rsquo;s decision to dissolve the popular opposition party, a decision which has been seen as damaging to the country&rsquo;s return to democracy and as disenfranchising a large number of voters.</p>

<p>ARTICLE 19, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), and Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister of Cambodia to protest the recent arrest of Mam Sonando, the director of Beehive Radio, a Cambodian independent radio station.</p>

<p>Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Dignity International, and Article 19 welcome the first official consultation between ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and civil society organisations (CSOs) on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD), which is due to take place in Kuala Lumpur on June 22, 2012 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.</p>