Thai lawyers' centre wins award from French embassy
The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights Centre, which offers assistance to people prosecuted by the military junta, thanked the French Embassy yesterday for a human rights prize to be awarded to them next week.
Yaowalak Anuphan, chief of the centre, said she believed the honour sent a signal to both the human rights community in Thailand and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) about the importance of civil rights.
“Our group has no status and the award will help support the centre to carry out our challenging work,” she told The Nation.
The award, the first in Thailand by the embassy, will be presented at the embassy today by Ambassador Thierry Viteau to commemorate the International Day of Human Rights.
“The defence and promotion of human rights is one of the top priorities of France as well as the European Union’s external action, be it for the universal abolition of the death penalty, the defines of women’s rights, the fight against all forms of discrimination, the fight against torture and enforced disappearances, the protection of children in armed conflicts, or the respect of freedom of gathering, freedom of speech and freedom of belief,” a statement released by the embassy on Monday said.
The centre has six full-time lawyers and eight part-time volunteer lawyers including 47-year-old Yaowalak.
The group was formed on May 24, two days after the coup, after some of its members saw the need to provide legal services to those facing the military regime as well as those charged under the lese majeste law. Their current caseload is 21, including 11 for lese majeste.
Yaowalak said she feels pessimistic about the human rights picture for the foreseeable future as summons and arrests are mounting even though it’s been more than six months since the putsch.
“The NCPO still uses military measures more than political measures. November was rather chaotic and more are being summoned.
“A man arrested for distributing leaflets [attacking the junta at Democracy Monument] was also charged after being detained for a week [under martial] law and accused of committing treason under Article 116 [of the Criminal Code],” she said.
Many suspects are being sent to the military court, where there is no access to the appeals or the Supreme Court, she added.
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