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Re: Protests update
Poll shows Thais want to limit military’s power
Submitted by editor4 on Fri, 13/05/2016
A recent survey has shown that the majority of Thai people want the size and tasks of Thai military to be curtailed, and it should not have any other tasks, apart from protecting national sovereignty.
People Poll Thailand has published a result of the survey on ‘Public Opinion on Thai Military Reforms,’ revealing that more that 79 percent of the respondents think that Thai military size should be reduced, only 11.9 percent think that the size is already proper.... (read more)... http://prachatai.org/english/node/61...medium=twitter
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Re: Protests update
Junta’s representatives to UPR lie about military court: Human rights lawyers
Submitted by editor2 on Fri, 13/05/2016
After the Thai representatives to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) told other nations that the Thai military court only handles serious crimes, Thai human rights lawyers have come up with some facts to counter the lies about the military court.
The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) on Thursday, 12 May 2016, published a list of some of the facts about the Military Court which are contradictory to the Thai junta’s representative's statement to the inquiries from other UN member states about the issue at UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session held in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday.
Some of the facts about the Military Court from the TLHR are listed below: (read more).... http://prachatai.org/english/node/61...medium=twitter
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Re: Protests update
Thailand's Constitutional Referendum: A Hobson's Choice
A climate of fear all but ensures the upcoming vote will be far from an expression of popular will.
By Shawn W. Crispin
May 13, 2016
When Thailand votes on August 7 to pass or reject a new constitution, voters will head to the polls knowing that the country’s two dominant political parties are opposed to the military-sponsored draft’s content and spirit. While the ruling junta is actively promoting the draft charter’s hybrid vision of a military-guided democracy, punitive bans imposed on organized opposition, public debate, and free expression before the vote have engendered a climate of fear and raised doubts that the referendum will be a credible expression of the popular will.... (read more).... http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/thail...obsons-choice/
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Re: Protests update
Police press charges against human rights lawyer for defying their orders
Submitted by editor2 on Fri, 13/05/2016
Police officers have decided to press charges against a human rights lawyer representing anti-junta youth activists, accusing her of defying police orders.
According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), on Thursday, 12 May 2016, the prosecutor of Dusit District Court, Bangkok, informed Sirikan Charoensiri, TLHR lawyer, that police investigators have agreed to press charges against her under Articles 142 and 368 of the Criminal Code for propagating false accusations against investigating officers and disobeying police orders.... (read more)... http://prachatai.org/english/node/61...source=dlvr.it
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Re: Protests update
Diplomatic scene between Thai FM, US Amb over human rights statement
Submitted by editor4 on Fri, 13/05/2016
Thai Foreign Minister has been shamed when the US Ambassador has publicly confirmed that the statement expressing Washington’s “concerns” on Thailand’s human rights situation is real after the minister has recently claimed that the statement was not issued by the US Department of State....(read more)..
http://prachatai.org/english/node/6162
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Re: Protests update
Thailand's democracy in military custody
Thitinan Pongsudhirak
Director Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University
May 14, 2016
After an authoritarian lull of nearly two years following its 13th military coup in May 2014, Thailand's political ground is moving. But it is going in the wrong direction yet again, heading towards confrontation and turmoil between the military authorities and civilian forces rather than adjustment and compromise between established and emerging sources of power.... (read more)...
http://www.straitstimes.com/politics...y#main-content
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Re: Protests update
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Re: Protests update
“This UPR of Thailand has once again exposed to the world the ruthless repression of human rights by the ruling junta”, says Evelyn Balais-Serrano, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA. “The large number of recommendations made to Thailand, especially asking it to ensure the rights to the freedoms of expression and assembly and to protect human rights defenders, is a damning indictment by the international community of the dire human rights situation in the country.”
Thailand: Accept and Implement UPR Recommendations to End the Rapid Deterioration of Human Rights
(Geneva, 14 May 2016) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) calls on the Government of Thailand to take heed of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) recommendations to end the rapid deterioration of the human rights situation in the country and return to democratic civilian rule.
The UPR is a unique peer review process created by the UN Human Rights Council to periodically review the human rights records of all United Nations (UN) Member States. All 193 Member States of the UN are reviewed once every four and a half years on the basis of international human rights standards, and their human rights obligations and commitments.
This is the second time Thailand underwent its UPR. Its first review took place in October 2011 when it received a total of 183 recommendations, of which the Government accepted 134 and noted 49.... (read more)... http://www.forum-asia.org/?p=20699
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Re: Protests update
Pravit Rojanaphruk
14 May 2016
The Junta’s Attempted Monopoly on Patriotism
Failing rationally to defend the continued imposition of military rule and repression over Thailand, the junta and its supporters resort to character assassination to deal with opponents.
Those engaging foreign states and international bodies in trying to roll back repression at home are branded traitors.
Recently Maj. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, a military government spokesperson, said the 11 academics that petitioned the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on May 6 about deteriorating human rights conditions, urging the UN to intervene, are doing something akin to “opening the gate to a dangerous enemy”.... (read more).... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...te=06§ion=
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Re: Protests update
Thailand: Making Merit While Escaping the Law
Posted on May 13, 2016 By Our Correspondent Headline, Politics
In October of 1973, amid a storm of nationwide protest, Thanom Kittachikorn, the Thai field marshal who appointed himself the commander in chief of the army and ran a deeply repressive government from 1963, was forced to flee a student uprising.
For three years, he remained in exile in the United States, finally returning in 1976 in the robes of a novice monk,.... (read more)...
http://www.asiasentinel.com/politics...d-escaping-law