A civil society organisation for marginalised communities in Thailand has urged the government to keep its promise to solve the problems faced by the country’s poor.

About 300 members of the People’s Movement for Just Society (P-Move), an organisation which is the voice of poor communities in Thailand, on Thursday morning gathered in front of Government House in Bangkok to submit to the authorities a statement called ‘Poor people’s suffering reaches its peak’.

About 300 P-Move members gather in front of Government House on 23 April 2015 to issue the group’s statement demanding that the junta keep its promise to help poor communities (Photos from P-Move)   

The organisation said in the statement that although the junta in January established a committee chaired by M.L. Panadda Diskul, the Prime Minister Office’s Minister, to look into the problems of marginalised communities as P-Move recommended, nothing was done to solve the problems.

The government promised in January to hold meetings to cooperate with the Land Bank Administration Institute (LBAI) and relevant agencies to obtain 167.9 million baht (about 5.2 million USD) to implement projects to procure land for poor communities and establish other sub-committees to solve other problems of the poor within one month, but no such actions were taken, said P-Move.

The statement pointed out that approximately 200,000 families from about 400 poor communities countrywide, who possess no title deeds to live in the areas, would continue to suffer if the government does not deliver on its promise.

P-Move’s statement also demanded that the junta should authorise the LBAI to allocate budget to procure land as soon as possible for at least six poor communities in the country as models for the project to help other marginalised communities.