<p>(New York, October 16, 2014) – Leaders at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit should press&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hrw.org/thailand" target="_blank">Thailand</a>’s junta leader to improve human rights and restore democratic civilian rule, Human Rights Watch said today in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hrw.org/node/129929" target="_blank">letters</a>&nbsp;to ASEM foreign ministers. ASEM is an informal process that brings together the 28 European Union member states and 2 other European countries with 20 Asian countries.&nbsp;</p>

<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>The accounts of torture include electric shocks to the genitals, suffocation, continuous beatings all night, and detention in a hole in the ground, while the hole was being filled.&nbsp;</div> <div> </div>

<div>On 25 May 2014, three days after seizing the ruling power, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) issued the Announcement no. </div>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Since the coup d’état on 22 May, the junta has threatened and detained academics and students in many tertiary educational institutions. It even sent soldiers to storm on-going academic seminars and force them to stop. Despite the climate of fear, Thai academics are now protesting against the junta and the suppression of free speech by using a metal box. Yes, a metal box -- or ‘<em>Peep</em>’ in Thai.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>

<p>It doesn’t work.&nbsp; I’ve tried and tried, but it just doesn’t work.</p> <p>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *</p> <p>Excuse me, but could I have my fare back please?</p> <p>What?</p>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to express grave concern about the arrest, interrogation, and harassment of four academics and three students during a public lecture on 17 September 2014 at Thammasat University in Bangkok. This is the latest in a series of actions by the authorities in the four months since the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) overturned the civilian government in a coup on 22 May 2014. </div>

<div>21 September 2014</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Thursday 18 September 2014, military and police officers went into Thammasat University's Rangsit campus to force academics and students to stop running a panel discussion, titled "Democracy Class, Lesson 2: The Downfalls of Dictatorships Abroad". Three students were arrested along with the speakers and the moderator, including Professor Dr. Nithi Eowsriwong, Dr. Chaowarit Chaosaengrat, Dr. Janjira Sombatpoonsiri, and Dr. Prajak Kongkirati. </div>

<div> <div><strong>Thailand: Opposition Supporter 'Disappeared'</strong></div> <div>End Arbitrary Arrests, Secret Military Detention</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>9 September 2014</div> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The Thai government should immediately disclose the whereabouts of an opposition supporter arrested by soldiers in Bangkok on September 5, 2014, Human Rights Watch said today. </div>

<p>The captain of Thai industry was interested to see the results of Thailand’s education reform.&nbsp; Hearing that a fast-tracked ‘model student’ had applied for employment at his firm, he decided to conduct the interview himself.&nbsp;</p> <p>Thai businesses have long complained that the products of the Thai education system are virtually unemployable, lacking the skills necessary for the modern economy.&nbsp; The CEO was eager to see the results of the NCPO-inspired reform of the schooling system in developing the kind of graduates that the corporate sector required.</p>

<div> <div>Instead of throwing an ice bucket over one’s head, the challenge is to sing a song whose lyrics touch every free spirit.&nbsp;</div> <div> </div></div>