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<div>While Thailand last week was overwhelmed by mourning for the late King Bhumibol, other significant issues seem to have been overlooked, such as serious flooding, the arrest of a former lèse majesté convict and use of the junta’s absolute power.</div>
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<div>The year-long mourning for the late King Bhumibol has now ended and the Thai people are returning to normal, colourful life.
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<div>Migrant workers are uprooting themselves from Thailand in response to the junta's new migrant law that imposes huge fines for unregistered workers and their employers.</div>
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<div>On 3 July 2017, Jetn Sirathranont, a whip in the junta’s National Legislative Assembly, said that the Royal Decree on Managing the Work of Aliens, which went into effect on 23 June, will be <a href="https://prachatai.com/journal/2017/07/72239">submitted to the NLA</a> for final approval in the near future.</div>
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<div>In response to concerns that the new law will put an excessi
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<p dir="ltr">The Treasury Department has announced that it may ask Thailand’s junta leader to use his absolute power to amend laws that prevent investors from renting out lands in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to other businesses.</p>
<p>Chakkrit Parapuntakul, Director General of the Treasury Department, told media that the department recently received a letter from the Industrial Estate Authorities of Thailand (IEAT) about laws that obstruct investors from developing industrial estates in SEZs and from renting them out to other businesses.</p>
<p>The Thai junta leader has said that the notorious Section 44 of the Interim Charter, which gives the regime absolute power, is still necessary to comfort people.</p>
<p>The Thai junta leader issued an order to suspend public officials suspected of involvement in documents campaigning against the junta-sponsored draft constitution.</p>
<p>The website of the Royal Gazette on Tuesday, 26 July 2016, published <a href="http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2559/E/164/10.PDF">the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Head’s Order No. 44/2016</a>.</p>
<p>The order suspends any public officials and local public administrators allegedly involved in anti-draft constitution letters from their posts.</p>
<p>The Thai police have arrested a northerner suspected of sending thousands of anti-draft charter letters after the military detained his parents.</p>
<p>Police officers from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) on Saturday afternoon, 23 July 2016, arrested Wisarut Khunnitisan, 38, from a condominium in Bangkok and flew him to the northern province of Chiang Mai.</p>
By Kongpob Areerat |
<p dir="ltr">Local people are to be evicted in the name of development, as the Thai junta invokes its absolute power to clear land for the benefit of big businesses.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Thai academics have urged the UN to investigate human rights abuses as the Thai junta increases its crackdown on political dissidents ahead of the referendum on the draft constitution.</p>
<p>The<a href="https://web.facebook.com/BBCThai/posts/1769882346566131"> BBC Thai</a> reported that 12 academics from leading universities in Thailand on Thursday, 5 May 2016, submitted a letter to the UN, urging the UN human rights office to investigate the increasing violations and abuses of human rights done by the Thai authorities.</p>
<p>The Thai military has abducted 10 people in Bangkok and the northeastern province of Khon Kaen in the junta’s latest crackdown on political dissidents. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://twitter.com/KAO_VoiceTV21/status/725215022029279232">a reporter from Voice TV</a>, Col Winthai Suwaree, spokesperson of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said that the military on Wednesday morning, 27 April 2016, detained 10 people in total.</p>
<p>A group of progressive law scholars has denounced the draft constitution, saying it will only prolong the junta’s rule.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.prachatai.org/english/category/nitirat">Nitirat group</a>, an association of progressive law academics known for their advocacy against Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, on Thursday, 7 April 2016, issued a <a href="http://www.enlightened-jurists.org/blog/91">public statement </a>against the complete draft constitution written by the junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC).</p>
<p>UN’s human rights office has stated that people must be able to participate in the drafting process of the new constitution and that the new constitution should not provide impunity for the military government.</p>
By Human Rights Watch |
<p> <a href="http://hrw.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8%2c%3c1A1-%3eLCE593719%26SDG%3c90%3a.&RE=MC&RI=4432086&Preview=False&DistributionActionID=92817&Action=Follow+Link">Thailand’s</a> military junta tightened its grip on power and severely repressed fundamental rights in the past year, Human Rights Watch said today in its <a href="http://hrw.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8%2c%3c1A1-%3eLCE593719%26SDG%3c90%3a.&RE=MC&RI=4432086&Preview=False&DistributionActionID=92816&Action=Follow+Link">World Report 2016</a>.</p>