Commission seeks new approach as junta accused of violating communities’ rights

Of 488 complaints filed with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in recent months, more than 40 per cent deal with community abuses and allegations of unfair resource management. 

Commissioners who took office at the NHRC late last year have said they believe some orders by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) are among major causes of related problems. 

For example, implementation of the NCPO’s forest reclamation policy and related orders has resulted in residents being evicted from areas where there have lived for a long time, while their property and crops have been often destroyed. 

Tuenjai Deetes, an NHRC member focusing on communal rights, said that since a third batch of NHRC commissioners were sworn into office late last year, more than 200 of the 488 cases filed with the commission involve complaints about rights violations affecting communities and management of resources.

“We are trying to work more proactively by coordinating with relevant agencies to detect problems in laws and government policies and solve them in the first place,” Tuenjai said. 

“Moreover, we are going to closely monitor the authorities after we have provided suggestions in order to make sure that they comply with our suggestions. If not, we will find out why they did not.”

She said that previous suggestions to government had not been implemented in reality because agencies often work separately and in conflict with each other, which requires a different approach from the rights body to be effective.

The comments were made following the NHRC’s celebration of its 15th anniversary last Wednesday. 

She gave an example of improved cooperation by pointing to a memorandum of understanding the NHRC signed with the Agricultural Land Reform Office to inspect land laws and review NCPO orders that could violate communities’ land rights.

“This will let us know where the problems are, so we can suggest legal amendments or advise the NCPO to change how its orders are implemented,” she said.

 

Proactive measures for future

NHRC chairman What Tingsamitr agreed that the agency would take proactive measures in rights campaigns in the future, adding that the increasing number of cases filed with the commission showed previous problems had not been solved effectively.

“On the 15th anniversary of the NHRC, we are introducing new tools to settle conflicts regarding human rights violations through the negotiation process. With negotiation, it will be much quicker and easier to end conflicts. However, this approach will only be used on negotiable issues,” What said.

He said issues that are not negotiable included violations of children’s human rights, sexual harassment and human dignity. He added that most communal and natural resource management issues could be settled through talks, but both sides of a conflict needed to be willing to solve the problem by negotiating.

Tuenjai said it was not only the NHRC’s task to ensure human rights, but also the government’s duty to avoid violating people’s rights.

“From the problems that we have seen, authorities did not try to avoid impacts on people during the implementation of their policies and projects,” she said. “This lack of attention to people has been causing impacts on people and communities from the heart of our capital to villages in the forest.

“I suggest the government should review its own policies and implementation to ensure that people are included in development,” Tuenjai said. “The government has to change the mindset that it can win in conflicts with the people by law. It should instead respect the identities of communities before doing anything that will affect them.”