Thai immigration officials forcibly returned three Myanmar opposition activists to Myanmar, putting them at grave risk of persecution and other abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.

Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia strongly condemn the decision by the Thai authorities to hand-over three members of Myanmar opposition forces into the hands of junta allies.

Thailand’s election scheduled for 14 May 2023, will be held under political, constitutional, and legal frameworks that make a free and fair process nearly impossible, Human Rights Watch said today (6 April).

At today's (4 April) press conference, civil society organizations calls on political parties to recognise in their policies civil and political rights, and the rights of migrant workers, refugees, persons with disabilities, children, women, LGBTQi and ethnic groups in Thailand.

After a 15-year-old girl was detained pending trial on a royal defamation charge on Wednesday (29 March), Amnesty International notes how children continue to be targeted by the authorities for dissent and how recent use of the royal defamation law shows the shrinking of civic space in Thailand. They also called for the authorities to drop charges against activists and protesters and refrain from arrest and pre-trial detention of peaceful protesters.

The Thai authorities must not deport around 100 people from Myanmar, including children, interrogated after immigration and military officers raided apartment buildings in Mae Sot last week, allegedly to search for members of the anti-coup Civil Disobedience Movement and the People's Defence Force (PDF), said Amnesty International.

A new report by the CIVICUS Monitor rates civic space in Thailand as 'repressed,' as the royal defamation law continues to be used to criminalise dissent and spyware has been used against activists. Protesters were also prosecuted and faced excessive force while concerns remain about a restrictive NGO bill. 

Prosecutors in Thailand should immediately drop criminal defamation charges brought against three human rights defenders by Thammakaset Company for their support of other activists facing criminal charges, and the Thai government should repeal criminal defamation law and strengthen anti-SLAPP measures, said Human Rights Watch.

<p>Prison conditions in Thailand remained well below international standards in 2022, FIDH and the Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) said in their annual prison report released today (9 March).&nbsp;</p>

<p>A new short film by the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) explores challenges and abuses faced by migrant workers working on&nbsp;rose plantations in Thailand, including difficult working conditions and unfair wages.</p>