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Sanit Maneesri and the environmental group EARTH have been watching the water and soil contamination in the small rural community of Nong Pawa in Rayong province go from bad to worse. But after years of waiting, justice is beginning to roll in.
Run by four women, and supported by donors from all walks of life, the Will of the People Fund has been bailing out hundreds of Thailand’s activists, human rights defenders, and government critics who would otherwise have ended up in prison.
Thai fishing communities gather in Bangkok this week to renew their call on the government to enforce regulations to protect juvenile fish.
On 23 - 24 September, the anti-coal mining group of Rak Ban Haeng celebrated the 12th anniversary of successfully stopping the development of a lignite mine next to their village in Ngao district of Lampang province. The event called ‘12 Years of Fighting the Mine’ was joined by several anti-mining groups, mainly from the Northeast region.
The ordeal of the Bang Kloi forest dwellers, a community of indigenous Karen that was forcefully evicted from its ancestral homeland in 2011, might soon continue in court. Following rumours of an imminent indictment of 29 community members for trespassing on national park land in 2021, Bang Kloi representatives petitioned the government to drop the case.
In a joint open letter, 71 organisations and community groups from Thailand and more than ten countries across Asia called on the Thai government to better protect women/human rights defenders from judicial harassment.
Today, on the International Day of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, HaRDstories would like to remember and honour those women/human rights defenders who were silenced and never seen again. We would also like to acknowledge the pain and suffering their families and loved ones endured.
Founded in 2011, Duay Jai is a local rights group supporting victims of arbitrary detention, rights violations and alleged torture by security personnel in the Deep South. Yureesa Sama, the organisation's secretary-general, works to provide mental health support to families affected and traumatised by the conflict.
In the forced disappearance case of human rights defender Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen, the Attorney General's Office on Monday indicted four national park officials accused of abducting and murdering the prominent activist in April 2014.
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