<p>The authorities in Isan, Thailand’s northeast, have fired a Deputy Village Head because he allowed a human rights rally to take place.</p> <p>Phanthep Saokoson, District Chief of Chum Phae District of Khon Kaen Province, on 1 July 2016 summoned Charun Saeram, the 57-year-old Deputy Village Head of Sam Pak Nam Village in the district, to his office and informed him that he had been removed from his position, <a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=859">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported</a>.</p>

<p>UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson has expressed &nbsp;the recent reports of restrictions on the freedoms of expression and assembly in Thailand ahead of the referendum on the draft constitution to be held on 7 August.&nbsp;<br /><br />The Deputy Secretary-General met H.E. Mr. Virasakdi Futrakul, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Thailand, in New York on June 29. See a readout from their meeting at&nbsp;<a href="http://ow.ly/6vA1301XIFW" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/6vA1301XIFW</a><br /></p>

<div>On 23 June 2016, students and a group of labor union board members campaigned around the Bang Phli Industrial Estate to disseminate information about the draft constitution and urge people to exercise their right to vote in the referendum. But soldiers and police interrupted and stopped them. They were arrested and accused of violating Head of the NCPO Order No. 3/2558 [2015] and the Referendum Act of B.E. 2559 [2016]. </div>

<div>We are concerned by the arrests of 13 activists in Thailand who were detained for defying a military order banning political gatherings of five or more people. Eight of those arrested on June 23 in Bang Plee Industrial Area in Samut Prakarn Province, south of Bangkok, were students affiliated with the New Democracy Movement (NDM). The three others were labour rights activists. At the time of their arrest, they were distributing leaflets related to the upcoming referendum on the draft Constitution. </div>

<p>Well that was a right farce last Wednesday in Geneva, eh?&nbsp; Talk about a dialogue of the deaf.</p> <p>I am of course referring to Thailand’s starring role in the latest episode in the UPR saga of the UNHRC.&nbsp;</p> <p>And for those who don’t follow the arcane acronyms of international human rights (so how the hell did you get to this website?), let me explain that it was Thailand’s turn to sit in the naughty chair and face a barrage of questions and recommendations about how to improve its human rights record.</p>

<div>Thai human rights are in free fall; the ruling junta perceives human rights as a threat to national security. NCPO Order No. 13/2016 is the junta’s attempt to establish a full military regime, says Sunai Phasuk, advisor to Human Rights Watch Thailand.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div> <div>An environmentalist has been given a one-year suspended jail term because of a Facebook post criticising a coal ash project.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div> <div>On Thursday, 17 March 2016, Nakhon Si Thammarat Provincial Court sentenced Kumpol Jittanang, a marine environmentalist and coordinator of the Disaster Management Centre, Nakhon Si Thammarat, to one year in jail after finding him guilty of defaming an academic. The court also fined him 40,000 baht, iLaw <a href="http://freedom.ilaw.or.th/case/705#progress_of_case">reported</a>. </div>

<div>In pursuance to the violence in the Cho-airong Hospital on 13 March 2016, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Public Health, Dr Sophon Mekthon said that the siege by the insurgents did not last so long and none of the health personnel was harmed, though damages have been inflicted on property including computers, desks, doors, etc. All medical personnel, nurses and doctors, are fine as well as the patients. High ranking officers will be dispatched there to inspect the situation and will report more information to the Ministry later. </div>

<p>The Thai criminal court has accepted another defamation case against Andy hall, a well-known advocate for migrant worker rights, who is accused of defaming a canned fruit company.</p> <p>On Monday morning, 24 July 2015, Bangkok’s Southern Criminal Court accepted a criminal defamation case against Andy Hall, a well-known human rights defender who advocates migrant worker rights, who is also accused of offenses under&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/117">Article 14 of the 2007 Computer Crime Act</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.hrw.org/thailand">Thailand</a>’s national assembly should reject the nominees for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), whose selection process did not meet international standards, Human Rights Watch said today. Upcoming revisions to the Thai constitution should ensure that the NHRC is credible, independent, and accountable, and that its commissioners are chosen in a transparent manner, open to public scrutiny and broad-based participation.</p>

<div>JAKARTA, 8 July 2015 – ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) today called on the Cambodian government to abandon its proposed Law on Associations and Non-governmental Organizations (LANGO), arguing that the ruling party has pursued a fundamentally undemocratic course in attempting to secure the passage of a law that threatens freedom of association and expression in Cambodia.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“Barring major revisions, this law constitutes a clear threat to the fundamental rights of all Cambodians, in direct violation of Cambodia’s obligations under the International Cov </div>

<div>The police have forced Human Rights Watch to cancel a press conference launching a report about an ethnic minority persecuted by the Vietnamese government, claiming the content is sensitive to bilateral ties and a threat to national security.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The event was to take place at 10.30 am on 26 June at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Around ten uniformed police officers and eight plainclothes officers arrived at the FCCT, taking unsolicited pictures of attendees before releasing an official statement on the forced cancella </div>