THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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‘We Walk’ NHRC complaint alleges intimidation

‘We Walk’ NHRC complaint alleges intimidation

“WE WALK” activists have asked the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to review alleged intimidation by law-enforcement officers during their long march to Khon Kaen championing social justic issues.

The activists from the People Go Network submitted the complaint about intimidation to the NHRC, stating that despite the Supreme Administrative Court’s recent protection order for the marchers, many participants still faced threatening behaviour that affected their work and families.
A representative of the network, Nimit Tian-udom, said marchers had faced scare tactics, including surprise visits to their homes and workplaces and intimidation of their family members, with security officials saying that their participation in the march was illegal despite the recent ruling.
The 450-kilometre march from Pathum Thani to Khon Kaen to campaign is focused on issues of state welfare, food security, communal rights and democracy.
“Even though the Supreme Administrative Court has issued a protection order for the marchers and ordered the police to facilitate our activities, our demonstration members have still been terrorised by officers, so we would like to ask the NHRC to inspect these behaviours,” Nimit said.
“We also want to ask security officers to stop these bad practices and contact protest leaders directly instead, if they found any issue about the campaign.”
In addition to the intimidation of marchers’ family members, he said two lawsuits regarding allegations of violating the National Council for Peace and Order’s ban on political gatherings had recently been filed against eight prominent members of the march and 10 supporters in Phayao.
“These actions are clearly intended to demoralise activists and cause them to be afraid to campaign on social issues,” Nimit said.
NHRC commissioner Angkana Neelapaijit accepted the petition from the People Go Network and promised to investigate the alleged rights violations and summon relevant officers to question them about the issue.
Another prominent member of the network, Eakachai Issarata, said the group would go to Royal Thai Police headquarters and the United Nations in Bangkok today to ask for further investigations of the intimidation perpetrated against the marchers.
Eakachai said his group was also planning further actions to campaign on their four main social issues and would return to the road for more demonstrations soon.
 

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