By Prachatai |
Bangkok’s central business district was adorned with rainbow on Sunday (31 May) as the city marked Pride month with the annual Bangkok Pride Parade, held now for the fifth year in a row.
By Prachatai |
The sex worker rights group Empower Foundation has formally proposed a bill to parliament repealing the 1996 anti-sex work law and outlining protection for sex workers.
By Prachatai |
The attendance of 9 Privy Councillors at a National Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Command meeting on 19 May has sparked an online debate after the main opposition People’s Party issued a statement raising concerns about the propriety of their attendance as it could seem like they are interfering in government affairs.
Highlight
By Yostorn Triyos |
A series of photographs and essay by Real Frame photographer Yostorn Triyos explores life in communities on the banks of the Salween River after the Covid-19 pandemic and the February 2021 Myanmar coup, such as Sop Moei and Mae Sam Laep where people continues to live in uncertainty amidst the war. Meanwhile, the Thai and Myanmar government's project to build 6 dams across the Salween River has been put on hold due to the pandemic and the war.
By Wanna Taemthong |
<p>Following the February 2021 coup in Myanmar and subsequent violence against protesters, a large number of people from Myanmar came to Thailand seeking safety and are now living as refugees in urban areas. Some came with valid visas, while some are undocumented, but all are unrecognised as refugees and unprotected under Thai law.</p>
<p>During the pandemic, Thai musicians and workers in the music industry faced unemployment as bars and entertainment venues were ordered to close. Many had to sell their instruments to keep themselves afloat, or make a living doing whatever else they could, while some left the industry altogether.</p><p>In "Unplugged: Music in Crisis," Thai musicians talk about their lives during and after the pandemic, and the future of creative economy in Thailand.</p>
By Anna Lawattanatrakul |
Between 10 April – 19 May 2010, 94 people were killed during the military crackdown on the Red Shirt protests and over a thousand were injured. Most of those killed were shot with live rounds in the head and torso, and many were shot several times. Despite several inquests ruling that the protesters were killed by military fire, none of the cases made it to court. Attempts to prosecute the officers involved were denied, with courts saying that they do not have jurisdiction
By Sheikh Mehzabin Chitra |
The landscape of international criminal law and regional diplomacy in Southeast Asia underwent a seismic shift in April 2026 after a coalition of Rohingya survivors and prominent Indonesian human rights defenders submitted a criminal file to the Indonesian Attorney General’s Office against Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hliang over alleged genocide of the Rohingya people.
By Sheikh Mehzabin Chitra |
In late January 2026, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded its hearings on the merits of the case filed against Myanmar by The Gambia over the mass atrocities committed against the Rohingya ethnic minority in Myanmar. What began as an urgent legal effort focused on provisional measures has gradually evolved into a comprehensive examination of state responsibility under international law, and its implications will have an impact on the lives of Rohingya refugees.
By Sheikh Mehzabin Chitra |
The decision to terminate the 2001 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU 2001) by the Thai Cabinet on 5 May 2026 signals a transformative shift toward militarized unilateralism in Southeast Asia, while rising nationalism has stalled military reform in Thailand.
By Sheikh Mehzabin Chitra |
The recent move by the National Anti-Corruption Commission to seek lifetime political bans for 44 opposition MPs, accused of a "gross ethics breach" simply for proposing to amend the royal defamation law, underscores how the boundaries of Thai politics are being redrawn in real-time. This investigation into lawmakers for their legislative actions serves as the latest flashpoint in a transformation of public discourse that has undergone a striking shift since 2019.
By Prachatai |
Thailand is set to introduce an amnesty bill for politically motivated cases aimed at unravelling two decades of political conflict, but this has fuelled another heated debate, particularly on royal defamation cases, which several political parties want excluded from amnesty.
By Prachatai |
Military conscription law in Cambodia has once again come under global media attention after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet stated that the Cabinet had approved a draft conscription law at the Peace Palace on 23 April 2026. All Cambodian citizens aged 18–25 will be required to serve in the military, while women may be recruited on a voluntary basis under the new law. A Thai activist calls it a threat to democracy.
By Zoe Chiang |
Nearly fifty years on, the 6 October 1976 Thammasat University Massacre is no longer a denied chapter of history. Commemoration events have expended since the 2020 youth movement, but even as the silence is broken, accountability remains to be found.
By Anna Lawattanatrakul |
Five years after abortion was legalised in Thailand, abortion access remains limited. As an answer to these constraints, the abortion rights group Tamtang Foundation has opened Tarntawan Clinic, aiming to find a friendlier way of providing abortion care and to widen access to abortion in Thailand.
By Don Pathan |
Formal peace talks between the Thai government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani (BRN) will resume in June 2026. This comes despite a recent spike in violence in the far South, which the insurgents are using to demand deeper political discussions to address their demands for “self-government”.
By Don Pathan |
The incoming government of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is finding out very quickly that conflict resolution for the Deep South is not so straightforward and that his quick-fix approach will not achieve the intended results given the complexity of the Deep South.
By Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal and Phumiyot Lapnarongchai |
The Designers of Mountain and Water: Alternative Landscapes for a Changing Climate at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design features the Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park in Bangkok as a model of climate resilence. Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal and Phumiyot Lapnarongchai write, however, that the narrative leaves out the lived experience of the local community in Sam Yan, who faces displacement due to development projects.
By Amnesty International |
Executions in 2025 soared to the highest figure recorded by Amnesty International since 1981, with 2,707 people executed across 17 countries, revealed the latest annual report from the human rights organization on the global use of the death penalty.
By Committee to Project Journalists |
The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Thai politician Suchart Chomklin to immediately drop his criminal defamation lawsuit against Kowit Phothisan, editor of the independent online outlet The Isaan Record, and on Thai authorities to strengthen protections against strategic lawsuits targeting journalists.
By FORUM-ASIA |
6 civil society groups have demanded the release of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and UN-recognised refugee Zhang Xinyan and called on the Thai authorities to refrain from deporting her to China, where she is at risk of arbitrary detention, limited legal protections, and an unfair trial.
Prudence Foundation, in partnership with Plan International, today marked the successful conclusion of the Comprehensive School Safety (CSS) Project with the official handover of the CSS Learning Platform (www.thaicssplatform)