The Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF) has postponed the launch of a book on the disappearance of Thai activist in exile Wanchalearm Satsaksit after the executive board of a partner organisation expressed concern about publicly discussing Wanchalearm and managers of the launch venue banned content on the grounds that the venue has to remain ‘politically neutral.’

A vinyl banner with Wanchalearm's picture (center), which was later removed from the event.

The book, The Price of Truth: Sitanun Satsaksit’s search for her brother and the road towards the end of enforced disappearance, was previously scheduled to be launched on Thursday (5 August) at the Alliance Française Bangkok at an event titled Justice has no Boundary: Uniting Against Enforced Disappearance and Confronting Transnational Repression.

However, on Thursday morning CrCF announced that the event had been postponed. In a statement, the Foundation explained that it was pressured into removing content about missing Thai activists from the exhibition and panel discussion. This included a vinyl banner containing Wanchalearm’s story and picture, as well as his red Hawaiian shirt and glasses, items that Sitanun brought to the exhibition. A video clip about enforced disappearances in Thailand was also reportedly prohibited from being screened.

CrCF was reportedly informed by Alliance Française that the organisation was politically neutral and would not allow them to use its venue to exhibit content about cases relating to Thai missing persons.

The day before the event, CrCF and its partner organisations informed Alliance Française of the materials that would be exhibited, including speaker presentations, and video clips. The organisation’s management later contacted them to explain that, although discussion of human rights often involve “sensitive issues,” the venue wanted to make sure that its space remained neutral and accessible to all. Towards that end, it told CrCF and its partners that discussions and exhibitions about Wanchalearm would not be allowed.

CrCF said it was also informed the night before the event that the executive board of a partner organization, a body with links to a national security agency, expressed concern about publicly discussing Wanchalearm’s disappearance.

Prakaidao Pruksakasemsuk, CrCF’s programme officer, told Prachatai that Alliance Française was earlier informed of the issues organisers planned to discuss. She added that event was carefully planned with the help of academics, and was not just about Wanchalearm but rather transnational enforced disappearance victims who were often political refugees.

According to Prakaidao, the organizers explained to Alliance Française management that human right advocacy and politics cannot be separated. She expressed surprise that they prohibited discussion of Wanchalearm but were willing to allow discussions of other disappeared Thai exiles, like Siam Theerawut or Surachai Danwattananusorn, and the abduction of Cambodian activists in Thailand.

Prakaidao said that CrCF decided to postpone the launch until December after they were told to remove content about Wanchalearm and a coordinator from one of their partner organisations called at 23.00 the night before the event to say that they needed to seriously reconsider whether to discuss Wanchalearm's disappearance because they were warned by their executive board to be careful about the book launch. The coordinator told Prakaidao that this was the first time the board interfered with an event.

An Alliance Française officer told Prachatai that they were following an organisational protocol that prohibits getting involved in politics or religious differences. The officer also claimed that they were unaware Wanchalearm’s disappearance would be discussed during the event and that they thought it was about international victims of enforced disappearance. They claimed that they only learned about the book launch the day of the event, when they told CrCF that events about Thai politics were not allowed in its public exhibition space.

Asked if they were aware that the victims of enforced disappearance to be discussed during the event were all involved with politics, the officer said that they thought enforced disappearance was a human rights issue. The officer insisted that the Alliance Française was not aware that the content of the exhibition would be about politics, but thought instead that it would be a memorial for the disappeared.

In its statement, CRCF said that the attempt to interfere and censor discussion of a serious human rights violation like enforced disappearance is an unacceptable violation of freedom of expression which violates international standards. CrCF called on Alliance Française to review its protocol to ensure that it remains professional and transparent so that other organisations will not be damaged. It also asked for a clarification of why discussions of Wanchalearm’s case were prohibited on political grounds when the matter was instead about human rights and human security.

CrCF further called on its partner organisation to review its protocols and determine whether it is sufficiently independent to effectively promote human rights without being dominated by threats from other organisations. The national security agency involved in the interference was also asked to explain why it was trying to censor discussions of Wanchalearm.