Human Rights in Thailand
PENNSYLVANIA STUDIES IN HUMAN RIGHTS
Bert B. Lockwood, Jr., Series Editor
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
HUMAN RIGHTS IN THAILAND
Don F. Selby
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2018 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Selby, Don, author.
Title: Human rights in Thailand / Don F. Selby.
Other titles: Pennsylvania studies in human rights.
Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, [2018] | Series: Pennsylvania studies in human rights | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017047292 | ISBN 9780812250220 (hardcover: alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Human rights—Social aspects—Thailand.
Classification: LCC JC599.T5 S37 2018 | DDC 323.09593—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017047292
For Mailan
Contents
Introduction. Emerging Human Rights in Thailand
Chapter 1. Experimenting with Fate
Chapter 2. Political Struggle and Human Rights
Chapter 3. Patronage, Face, Vulnerability: Articulations of Human Rights
Chapter 4. “Kat Mai Ploi”: Motherhood and Pursuits of Justice
Chapter 5. The Return of Coup Politics
List of Abbreviations
| CPT | Communist Party of Thailand |
| HSRO | Health System Reform Organization |
| IOM | International Organization for Migration |
| ISOC | Internal Security Operations Command |
| LPN | Labor Rights Promotion Network |
| LST | Law Society of Thailand |
| MAP | Medical Assistance Programs |
| MoPH | Ministry of Public Health |
| NCPO | National Council for Peace and Order |
| NHRC | National Human Rights Commission of Thailand |
| NPKC | National Peace Keeping Council |
| ONHRC | Office of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand |
| OTO | Office of the Ombudsman |
| PAD | People’s Alliance for Democracy |
| TACDB | Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma |
| TAG | Tsunami Action Group |
| UDD | United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship |
Timeline of Events
This timeline identifies moments in Thailand’s political history important to the emergence of human rights in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Its purpose is to help orient the reader for the study that follows, rather than to provide an exhaustive history of Thai politics.
1973
Student demonstrations in Bangkok against the military government force “The Three Tyrants,” Thanom Kittikachorn, Phraphat Charusatien, and Narong Kittikachorn, into exile, and democratic elections are restored.
1976
Students protest the return of Thanom and Phraphat, but the military and paramilitary groups violently suppress them and reinstall a military government.
1980–1982
General Prem Tinsulanonda becomes prime