Amnesty highlights need for better protection for human rights defenders in ‘Brave’ campaign

Amnesty International on Tuesday launched its “Brave” campaign, which is being held internationally to raise concern over the protection of human rights activists, with the numbers showing that the freedom and safety of human rights defenders around the world has worsened.
Protection International in fact produced the shocking statistic that in the last two decades 59 human rights defenders in Thailand had been slain or vanished, and that the South and Northeast were the most dangerous regions of the country for human rights activists.
It also found that in the last 30 years there had been 90 cases of enforced disappearance of human rights activists in Thailand, but only nine of those cases had been solved.
Piyanut Kotsan, Amnesty International’s Thailand director, said it was important that the government protect human rights defenders, as they are truly brave individuals who stand up to fight for the rights of others and advocate a better world for everyone.
She explained that a human rights defender could be anyone who participated in the protection of and support for human rights at any level, without resorting to the use of hate or violence.
They could be journalists, lecturers or lawyers, or farmers and ordinary citizens, she said.
However, the agency is highlighting the fact that the safety and well-being of human rights activists both in Thailand and around the globe are today in greater danger, as it has found that such activists in 68 countries, including Thailand, were arrested last year as a result of their activities, and that 94 countries branded such people as criminals and a threat to national security.
According to Front Line Defenders, 281 people were killed worldwide last year because of their role in protecting human rights, up sharply from the 156 people that were slain in 2015.
“Amnesty International Thailand would like to express our concern over human rights activists’ protection through the ‘Brave’ campaign, to let all the people come out and protect our human rights defenders,” Piyanut said.
“Our history is full of the stories of ordinary people who fought for [human] rights, such as Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai, and Somchai Neelapaichit and Den Khamlae in Thailand, so we would like to invite all the people to stand up for and protect these people for a fairer society,” she added.
Amnesty International Thailand will hold an event titled “The Brave” at Lumpini Park in Bangkok next Tuesday to support the work of human rights activists.