We Appeal to International Community to Pressure Thai Military Junta to Immediately Stop Suppression of Social Activists and Return Sovereignty to Thai People
Assembly of the Poor is the nationwide network of grassroots people who are made poor by the negative impacts of the government’s policies in Thailand. From our struggles pressuring and demanding all Thai governments to solve the problems, we realize that democracy and human rights are the most important tools for us to protect our lives, our livelihood, our communities and our natural resources. Therefore, we continue to fight for democracy. We are aware that democratic system in Thailand was weak. But the absence of democracy is the most dreadful weakness.
The protracted anti-democracy protest since 2013 resulted in the martial law declaration and finally coup d’état in May 2014. The military coup maker toppled the democratically elected Prime Minister and her Cabinet. The coup d’état leader took the premiership and appointed his people to sit in the Constitution Drafting Committee, National Legislative Assembly and National Reform Council without any genuine participation of all Thai people. The military junta suppresses and violates human rights and freedom of people who oppose the coup d’état for the sake of political tranquility, even though its own interim constitution recognizes and respects human dignity, rights and freedom of Thai citizens.
In this dictatorial time, the state’s attempt to solve the existing problems that chronically afflicting the poor discontinues. Moreover, many new problems are rising. Many of them are created by the Coup d’état Maker’s orders related to forest, land, mining, etc. which are issued without allowing people to question or oppose. The military junta keeps exercising its power to suppress, threaten, frighten, summon, detain, arrest, keep under surveillance, track down, evict villagers from their farmland, and violate the right to assembly and the right of expression. It does not listen to the people’s demand to acknowledge the problems and solve them. It even sees villagers as trouble makers who cause social turmoil and deserve the forceful suppression.
These dictatorial actions make the Network of 12 People Organizations of the Northeast Region deny the sovereignty of the Coup Maker-cum-the Military Junta and deny participating in its fake national reform, as shown in its statement on 2nd November 2014. The denial is legitimate according to internationally accepted principles of human rights and freedom. In response to the statement, without regretting and repenting of its mistakes, the military junta sets off to summon 16 individuals and 12 organizations who signed the statement for detention on 4th November. The oppression against these signatories reveals not only its serious violation of human rights but also the lack of integrity to the sovereignty that it plundered from the previous government.
Assembly of the Poor sees that the oppression by the military junta is unacceptable. Hence we appeal to the international community including international civil society organizations, international and inter-governmental organizations and governments from all over the world to
Withdraw any cooperation, communication, business and trade, aid or support of any kinds to the military government of Thailand and to pressure it to immediately stop suppression and human rights violation against the 16 northeast activists and other people, and release all political prisoners.
Pressure the military government of Thailand to immediately return sovereignty to Thai people.
To express your solidarity with our struggle against dictatorship, you can sign on this statement and return to us or by sending name of your organization to aop_t@yahoo.com. Please send us your endorsement urgently on or before November 7, 2014.
In solidarity
Assembly of the Poor, Thailand
5 November 2014
