Court rules in favour of National Parks Dept in Kaeng Krachan encroachment case
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The Administrative Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department in a case filed by members of the Karen ethnic minority, but the department was ordered to compensate the six Karen plaintiffs for dama
The six Karen from Ban Bangkloi Bon in Phetchaburi’s Kaeng Krachan district had sued the department and the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, accusing the defendants of violating their plaintiffs’ rights by burning their homes and forcing them to relocate from their land in Kaeng Krachan National Park.
The six plaintiffs were led by the 105-year-old spiritual leader of the Karen community in Ban Bangkloi Bon, Ko-i Mimi, who stated that he was forced to leave his home on ancestral land by Kaeng Krachan National Park officers and that the people’s houses were burned down.
The court ruled that the defendants did not violate the plaintiffs’ rights as the Karen had encroached into primary forest in the national park area to open up new land for expanding their community and farmland.
This action was seen by the court as against the law, and therefore the park officers had the right to force the forest encroachers away, according to Article 22 of the National Park Act.
However, the court stated that as the officers did not move the plaintiffs’ belongings from their houses before burning them down, this action was a violation of the plaintiffs’ rights, so the court ordered the National Parks Department to compensate the plaintiffs with Bt10,000 each for the loss of their belongings.
Meanwhile, the court dismissed the plaintiffs’ demand that they be allowed to live on the disputed land.
