Page 21 - รายงานผลการประเมินสถานการณ์ด้านสิทธิมนุษยชนของประเทศไทย ปี 2562

คณะกรรมการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งชาติ
National Human Rights Commission of Thailand 20

Executive Summary

This assessment report on the human rights situation in the country is prepared according
to the duties and authorities provided in Section 247 (2) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of
Thailand B.E. 2560 and Section 26 (2) of the Organic Act on National Human Rights Commission
B.E. 2560. In preparing the report, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) compiled data
from human rights incidents that occurred in 2019, the private sector, civil society, the performances

of government agencies, and the works of NHRC itself. The NHRC also organized consultations with
various stakeholders and field visits for observation and documentation in some cases. The data was
analyzed against the rights recognized in the constitution, national laws and treaties to which
Thailand is a party and has obligations to comply, to assess the situation of rights in each area and
to develop recommendations. The situation assessment was divided into 4 areas according to the scope
of international human rights treaties and important human rights issues in the Thai context: 1) civil and
political rights; 2) economic, social and cultural rights; 3) human rights of specific groups; and
4) human rights issues of concern, which can be summarized as follows:
1. Important issues include access to justice, torture and

The situation
of civil and enforced disappearances, and freedom of expression and peaceful
political rights assembly.

In 2019, the government continued to promote access to
justice, in particular providing help to the accused or defendants
who do not have sufficient securities to secure temporary release
during the court proceedings. In addition, an amendment was
made to Section 161/1 of the Criminal Procedure Code to provide

protection to human rights defenders from lawsuits initiated in bad
faith or with distorted facts. The National Council for Peace and
Order (NCPO)’s Announcement on cases to be tried by Military Court
was revoked and pending cases are being transferred to the Court
of Justice. Efforts were made to solve the problem of overcrowded
prisons by establishing a committee to develop measures to reduce
congestion of inmates. However, there were still reports of lawsuits

against villagers and human rights activists. There were political
activists repeatedly assaulted without adequate progress regarding
the prosecution of perpetrators. And there were delays in transferring
cases from the Military Court to the Court of Justice.