Pro-rights lawyer Pawinee Chumsri won the Somchai Neelapaijit 2017 Award on Saturday in honour of her outstanding performance in protecting human rights. Pawinee served as a human rights lawyer at the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights which represented political defendants prosecuted, especially under the coup-installed regime in the Military Court. 

MEMBERS OF the public and civil society should take a greater role in speaking out against torture and forced disappearance victims who are mainly human rights defenders, and calling for laws to protect them, a symposium at the Somchai Neelapaijit Award ceremony heard yesterday.