A Study on Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Abstract

The term “Human Rights Defenders” is a term that people in Thai society have frequently heard but may not yet be familiar with its meaning and hence, have different opinions on the term.  This article is a synopsis of the research entitled “Protection of human rights defenders” which aims to study the situation of issues that human rights defenders in Thailand are encountering and to develop recommendations for the protection of human rights defenders in Thailand (study only under the context of Business and Human Rights principles). This research is qualitative research, using relevant literature review methods and in-depth interviews through Zoom platform (due to the obstacles arising from COVID-19 pandemic). The key finding of the research presented is that human rights defenders are defined differently by various organizations. Hence, this research agrees with these different definitions and defines human rights defenders as “persons working to promote and defend human rights either working alone or with others”.  Human rights defender is not a profession but the status or social role of a person or group of people who may be villagers, farmers, lawyers, journalists, activists, artists and etc., Human rights defenders are those who are forefront in defense of the public interest or are taking action for common interests on various human rights issues such as civil rights, political rights, economic rights, and socio-cultural rights.  In some cases, human rights defenders may work specifically on the rights of specific individuals/groups such as child rights, women rights, indigenous rights, LGBTQ rights, migrant rights and so on.   But these actions for public interest put human rights defenders at risk of various types of harassment, including intimidation, various kinds of threats, killing, and disappearance, unjust termination of employment and utilizing administrative and judicial action as a tool for harassment (Administrative and Judicial harassment).  Today, Thai state is in the process of attempting to initiate the policy level to recognize the role of human rights defenders. There was an amendment to Criminal Procedure Code Section 161/1. There was an effort to amend the definition of “witness” under the Witness Protection Act 2003 to cover the protection of human rights defenders. However, at the same time, the State Non-Judicial Mechanism has failed to serve as an effective mechanism, especially, when the Human Rights Commission interprets it as limiting its role in investigating cross-border violations by Thai legal entities, etc. This research recommends five items that the Thai state together with relevant agencies should implement for the protection of human rights defenders.  First, meaning and the role of human rights defenders should be accepted and recognized by relevant government agencies, personnel in the justice system, the private sector, civil society as well as the public. Second, government agencies should play an important role in capacity building and strengthening  human rights defenders.   Third, mechanisms to protect and assist human rights defenders should be developed in partnership with the private sector and civil society.  Fourth, it is required to set measures to mitigate and prevent potential risks to human rights defenders. Finally, driving the business sector to achieve the Business and Human Rights principles.