<div>Press Statement</div> <div>John Kirby&nbsp;</div> <div>Department Spokesperson</div> <div>Washington, DC</div> <div>July 9, 2015</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>We condemn Thailand’s forced deportation on July 9 of over 100 ethnic Uighurs to China, where they could face harsh treatment and a lack of due process. This action runs counter to Thailand’s international obligations as well as its long-standing practice of providing safe haven to vulnerable persons. </div>

<div>Thailand and Myanmar’s regulations systematically deny the rights to movement, health, and culture of the nomadic sea gypsy ethnic Moken people, according to a Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2015/06/25/stateless-sea">report </a>released this week.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The Moken people are one of the last hunter-gatherer groups in Southeast Asia. Approximately 3,000 Moken live in the Mergui Archipelago off the coast of Myanmar, while 800 live in Thailand, mainly in Ranong and surrounding islands. </div>

<div><em>Without an official language policy, Thailand’s many ethnolinguistic minorities cannot experience equality.</em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This past Saturday marked International Mother Language Day, and while it is not particularly celebrated in Thailand, there were a couple of academic seminars in Chiang Mai and at Mahidol University in Bangkok. </div>

<div>BANGKOK -- Southeast Asian lawmakers today called on Myanmar to scrap a package of discriminatory laws to be submitted for review by the parliament, saying they violate international human rights laws and threaten to destabilize the county in its transition to democracy.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“These laws are discriminatory in their very conception and should be scrapped,” said ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) Chairperson and Malaysian Member of Parliament Charles Santiago.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“Over the past three years under Myanmar’s military government we have </div>

<div>Six months after activist Pholachi Rakchongcharoen, also known as “Billy”, is believed to have been the victim of enforced disappearance in Kaengkrachan National Park, western Thailand, Amnesty International renews calls on authorities to establish the truth about his fate and whereabouts as a matter of urgency.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The organization also urges authorities to ensure all necessary measures are taken to ensure anyone suspected of responsibility for his suspected enforced disappearance is brought to justice.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>It is feared that Billy, 30, a Kare </div>

<p dir="ltr">After being threatened by the junta’s policy to reclaim National Park lands, Karen villagers who have been living in the forest for generations filed a complaint to the authorities to stop confiscating their land. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>Approximately 60 Karen tribe representatives from Mae Hong Son, the mountainous northern province, on Tuesday submitted a complaint to the Damrongtham Centre, an agency established by the Ministry of Interior to accept complaints, in Mae Hong Son provincial&nbsp;hall&nbsp;to request the junta to revise its forest protection policy.</p>

<div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The Thai military in the western province of Tak on Monday stopped a caravan of Lahu villagers travelling to Bangkok to complain to the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), according to Thairath.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Around noon on Monday, Gen Narongsak Sasang, deputy commander of security forces in Tak, led military and police to stop a caravan of 15 vans of ethnic minority Lahu from Tak’s Mae Sot District.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The military believed that the Lahu wanted to complain about the reclamation of their farm lands, under th </div></div>

<div>Burma Army operations against the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (a.k.a Shan State Army-North or SSA-N) in central Shan State since early October have caused widespread damage, loss of civilian lives, and further displacement of hundreds of villagers in Ke See township.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Between October 2-4, 2014, deploying a combined force of nine battalions with at least 2,000 troops, the Burma Army launched a renewed offensive against SSPP/SSA positions in Ke See. Hundreds of artillery shells (60, 81 and 120 mm) were fired, including at civilian targets. </div>

<div>Enforced disappearance has happened again and again in Thailand. The number of victims may be over 3,000. Still, no one has ever been held to account for these crimes. This story explores how the practice has become systematic and part of the 'culture' of the land of smiles.</div> <div> </div>