On 14 April 2016 (Thai time) Mr. John Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States of America,announced a release of the 2015 edition of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices which is an annual report submitted to the Congress as mandated by the Foreign Assistance Act 1961.

 

The 2015 edition of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices is the 40th edition since its inception. It covers 195 countries in 6 continents. The Secretary’s preface summarises three most worrying trends on human rights situations which are (1) abuses of human rights, violations of international humanitarian law, and other criminal acts by non-state actors such as Da’esh, Boko Haram, al Shabaab, the Taliban and other transnational criminal organizations (2) weakening of existing democratic institutions, by some elected leaders, such as by taking steps to undermine judiciaries in an attempt to perpetuate their rule (3) Corruption. 

 

In the section on Thailand, the report refers to both progress and limitations of the situations in the same manner as it covers the other 190 countries. These include limits to freedom of assembly and political expression as well as judicial process under military courts. As for progress, the report records advancement made with regards to women rights, more stringent enforcement against corruption in comparison with situations in 2015. These include arrests of corrupt police officers, a case against former leader on rice pledging scheme, a case in Songkla against some police and military officers who are allegedly complicit in human trafficking of Rohinga minority, an investigation on alleged corruption regarding the construction of Rajabhakti Park. These cases demonstrate the seriousness of the government’s principles of indiscrimination and zero tolerance towards corruption. 

 

The report’s introduction specifically expresses concerns regarding human rights situations of almost 30 countries, four of which are ASEAN members. But Thailand was not mentioned in this section.

 

The report refers to some laws of Thailand that grant additional power to the authorities. As Thailand is undergoing special transitional period, these laws are aimed at increasing the efficacy of legal enforcement and to solving problems expeditiously in response to people’s expectation. The authorities use this power carefully and constructively. They rely mainly on ordinary laws and only resort to this additional power when necessary. It is evident that the government’s actions in the past has led to peace and public order within the society which is the fundamental foundation of stable and sustainable democracy.