<div>In May 2014 Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha stated that he wanted “to create an enabling environment that would facilitate the holding of elections” which “ will be free and fair, so that [it] can become a solid foundation for a complete Thai democracy”.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Unfortunately in practice the human rights situation in Thailand is moving in the opposite direction and every action by the military government seems to have the specific purpose of silencing dissent and eliminating any effective opposition. </div>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-989fc783-5c7a-e91a-7cc0-a37f984ee731">Community rights groups have urged the junta not to ignore community rights and to reconsider their forest protection policies after nearly 1,800 families, most of them in Thailand’s North and Northeast, have been severely affected.</span></p>