Human rights groups have called on the Thai government to immediately accede to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) and to immediately lift the reservations made by Thailand under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

<div title="Page 1"> <div> <div> <div> <p>On the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) – marked on June 26 as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – Amnesty International (AI) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) welcome the commitments made by the Royal Thai Government to prevent torture and other ill-treatment and urge authorities to ensure no further delay in implementing these undertakings.</p> </div></div></div></div>

<div>The decision by the junta’s lawmakers to drop consideration of a bill on torture and enforced disappearance is largely seen as a major setback by civil society organisations and victims’ families who are calling for answers and justifications.&nbsp;</div> <div> </div>

<p>The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hrw.org/thailand">Thai</a>&nbsp;government should urgently take the final steps to ratify the international convention against enforced disappearance, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also end all delays in passing implementing legislation to criminalize torture and disappearances.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Thailand’s worsening human rights record will expose the military junta to further international embarrassment during a review by a United Nations (UN) human rights body, FIDH and its member organizations Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) and Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) said today.</p>

<div>A coalition of human rights organisations has condemned the junta’s suspension of a bill aimed at criminalising state enforced torture and disappearance, arguing the legal gap facilitates human rights abuses.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 1 March 2017, a coalition of human rights groups including Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, the Cross Cultural Foundation, and the Human Rights Lawyers Association released <a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=3618">a statement</a> expressing alarm that the military government is taking steps backwards in the criminalisation of state enforced torture and </div>

<p>After years of campaigning and lobbying by human rights groups, the junta-appointed lawmakers have dropped a bill to criminalise torture and enforced disappearance.</p>

<p>A criminal court is refusing to accept a lawsuit by the parents of a drug trafficking suspect who died in police custody until court fees are paid.</p> <p>On 27 February 2017, Southern Bangkok Criminal Court&nbsp;<a href="https://voicefromthais.wordpress.com/?s=%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99">ruled not to accept</a>&nbsp;a lawsuit against the Royal Thai Police (RTP) filed by Wasana and Phanom Koedkaeo, parents of Anan Koedkaeo, 34, a drug trafficking suspect who died in suspicious circumstances three days after being interrogated.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Parents of a suspect who died while in custody have filed a lawsuit against the Royal Thai Police,&nbsp;alleging that their son was tortured to death.</p>

<p>Police and public officials have prevented a press briefing by Amnesty International (AI) on a report about state-sponsored torture, saying that the AI speakers might be charged for not having work permits.</p> <p>On 28 September 2016, at Four Wings Hotel in Bangkok, Special Branch police officers and officials from the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare intervened in a press briefing on an AI report titled “Make Him Speak by Tomorrow: Torture and Other Ill-Treatment in Thailand”.</p>