THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Rights groups against Thailand's race for UNSC seat

Rights groups against Thailand's race for UNSC seat

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) urged United Nations member countries to carefully consider Thailand's bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC) given the country's poor hum

In a statement released from its Geneva office, Forum-Asia said Thailand's candidacy for the term 2017-2018 is questionable given the deteriorating human rights situation under the military government in the country. In the statement, it said peace and security; development; and human rights are the three essential pillars of the United Nations (UN) and UNSC’s decisions on international peace and security will affect human rights. Yet in Thailand, after the coup in 2014, fundamental freedoms of the Thai people have been severely restricted under the military rule, it said. 
“The international community should not entertain the Thai military government’s lip service to human rights. If Thailand aspires to be a non-permanent member of the UNSC, Thailand must fulfil its international human rights obligations, particularly those under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Thailand is a state-party. It must improve the human rights situation at home and restore democracy,” says Evelyn Balais-Serrano, executive director of Forum-Asia.
The group calls on the UN General Assembly to carefully consider Thailand’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UNSC. If Thailand is successful with its candidature, the UNGA will be once again endorsing a non-democratic Government with a troubling human rights record, it said. 
Meanwhile, in a statement released by its New York office, HRW urged UN member countries to scrutinise the human rights records of both candidates from the Asia group - Thailand and Kazakhstan.
“The Security Council’s actions have global and lasting consequences, so UN member countries need to take their votes seriously,” said Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy. “With Thailand and Kazakhstan, that means questioning both their human rights records and promises.”
On Thailand, HRW highlighted the suppression of expression following the military coup in May 2014. It said that the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has regularly suppressed the views of persons who are openly critical of its policies and practices, arbitrarily arresting and prosecuting them, often in military courts. The junta has censored the media, increased surveillance of the Internet and online communications, and aggressively restricted free expression – including by abusing the draconian law against lese majeste (insulting the monarchy).
In Kazakhstan, the government in recent years has strengthened restrictions on freedom of association, speech, assembly, and religion. In response to planned peaceful protests in many cities in May 2016 over land rights issues, the police detained hundreds of people, including journalists and human rights monitors. Some activists linked to the protests face up to 15 years in prison on politically motivated charges.
“Debate happens in UN corridors in New York in a way that is not allowed in Kazakhstan itself,” Bolopion said. “The government has cracked down on various forms of peaceful dissent in recent years, setting a particularly poor record that any prospective Security Council member should be eager to cleanup.”
 
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