human rights


Cambodia  / Southeast Asia  / Thailand
The Political Neglect of Thailand’s Deep South Cannot Continue 
Posted On January 20, 2026
In the Deep South provinces of Thailand, violence is commonplace in January. In this month in 2025, two border patrol officers were killed in Narathiwat when their truck hit an explosive device. Around the same time, nine village volunteers were injured when a bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded outside a police station in Pattani. It was on a January day in 2004 when a raid on the Fourth Development Battalion of the Royal Thai Army at Pileng Camp killed four soldiers and led to the capture of over 400 weapons.
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Thailand  / United States
Thai Royal Defamation Case Against American Academic Could Have Dire Consequences
April 28, 2025

Earlier this month, the prominent American academic Dr. Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Naresuan University in Phitsanulok, Thailand, was arrested on charges of insulting the Thai monarchy (lese-majeste). In addition to causing international headlines and earning a quick response from the U.S. State Department, the arrest represents a dangerous new development in Thailand’s usage of politically motivated charges to silence criticism and dissent, but has multiple and dire consequences for the 58-year-old Chambers.


Thailand  / United States
The Dangerous Implications of Paul Chambers’ Article 112 Arrest
April 14, 2025

Charges under Thailand’s strict lese-majeste law used to be rare, both for Thais and foreigners. When foreigners were charged, it made public headlines, and such was the case of a drunken Swiss man, who defaced the portraits of King Bhumibol (Rama IX) and Queen Sirikit on December 5, his birthday. On the same day, however he was not only given a reduced sentenced, but was pardoned by the King after offering an admission of guilt. A few years later, an Australian novelist was also charged a convicted for defaming the Crown Prince in his novel, but was pardoned seven months later. Public remorse and admissions of guilt were often keys to early release.


China  / Myanmar  / Southeast Asia  / Thailand
Thailand’s Cooperation With China on Cross-border Crime Comes at a Cost
February 25, 2025

During Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, one of the main topics of discussion was the proliferation of scam centers close to Thailand’s borders in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. Recently, under Chinese pressure, Thailand has initiated a number of measures to combat scam operators in eastern Myanmar, such as tightening visa rules and cutting electricity and fuel from Thailand into Myanmar. After her meeting with Xi, Paetongtarn agreed to “strengthen law enforcement cooperation with China” and take steps to address the crisis of cross-border crime, including online gambling and fraud.


Thailand
Making the Most of Paetongtarn’s Visit to Thailand’s Deep South
January 23, 2025

On January 14, two border patrol officers in Narathiwat province, in Thailand’s south, were killed when a homemade bomb detonated on their pickup truck on the way to Tua Ngo Border Patrol Police School where they worked. A day earlier, nine Thai police officers and village defense volunteers were injured when a bomb planted in a parked motorcycle exploded at a police station in Pattani. While the Malay-Muslim population of southern Thailand has become albeit uncomfortably normalized to flareups in violence, the two incidents made national headlines as they occurred just prior to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s visit to the southern provinces last week.


Japan  / Middle East  / Saudi Arabia
Human Rights Key as Tokyo and Riyadh Mark Bilateral Milestone
January 17, 2025

Recently, Japan’s Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Matsumoto Hisashi, went to Riyadh to visit to the Saudi Judo Federation in hopes of strengthening bilateral relations. He also met with Saudi officials to discuss opportunities under Riyadh’s “Vision 2030,” a restructuring and modernization of the Saudi economy under the leadership of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. For Riyadh, the strategy is of critical importance given its growing need for outside investment. Many countries are making a transition away from fossil fuels, thus reducing global oil demand.


India  / South Asia
India’s Hindu-Muslim Divide: Moderate Voices Needed
October 27, 2024

In the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, religious tensions boiled over this past September. In response to what Hindus claim was an attack on a local businessman by Muslims in the northern city of Shimla, protesters marched in the streets demanding the demolition of a mosque in the Sanjauli area of the city they claim was illegally constructed. Calls for the destructions of mosques across India are increasingly a part of tactics employed by right-wing Hindu nationalists after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) proclaimed victory in the Lok Sabha national election earlier this year.


Thailand  / United Nations
Thailand’s Bid for a Seat on the UN Human Rights Council is Poorly Timed
April 3, 2024

Thailand is currently bidding for the third time for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), with the election for a three-year term for 2025-2027 being held at the U.N. headquarters in New York in October. Like many countries with poor records on human rights, Thailand’s bid will come with a high level of scrutiny and international criticism. In 2023, Freedom House, a democracy barometer, noted that only 30 percent of the countries serving on the Council were “free,” as classified by its Freedom in the World annual report. The vast majority of members, 70 percent, were classified as “partly free” or “not free.” Thailand, with a revised ranking, would join the latter category if elected in October.


Thailand
The Self-Defeating Nature of Thailand’s ‘Soft Power’ Push
February 19, 2024

Thailand’s new government cannot get enough of “soft power.” It has become such a buzzword in the Kingdom that a Chiang Mai man on X (formerly Twitter) gasped at the extent of its use, mockingly noting, “My [mate’s] daughter won a Thai dancing competition in [Bangkok] and her school called it a soft power competition.” It’s easy to see the appeal of the idea, given the recent appearance of pop superstar Ed Sheeran posing with famed Thai chef Jay Fai and his after-concert visit to a tattoo shop for a traditional Sak Yant tattoo.


Cambodia  / Southeast Asia  / Thailand
Thai-Cambodian reset a symptom of a wider problem
February 11, 2024

On February 2, three political activists, including Lim Sokha, a senior member of the Candlelight Party, the once fledgling opposition party that was banned from participation in Cambodia’s sham July 2023 elections, were arrested in Thailand after seeking asylum and being granted refugee status. Fears were that the three outspoken activists, who planned to hold a protest during Hun Manet’s visit to Thailand on February 7, were rounded up because the two governments were working in concert to prevent “interference in Cambodian internal politics” on Thai soil.