The AI report released on Wednesday said human-rights infringements by the military and ill-treatment of victims in the legal system were top concerns in Thailand over the past year.

“[Thailand’s] military authorities extended their powers to excessively restrict rights and silence dissent in the name of security,” the report said. “The numbers of people harassed, prosecuted, imprisoned and arbitrarily detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights escalated sharply.”

The Foreign Ministry said the positive human-rights developments included Thailand’s leading role in hosting international meetings on irregular migration in the Indian Ocean and cracking down on networks of traffickers and officers complicit in the illegal activities.

They also included amendments to and the passage of 164 bills forwarded to the National Legislative Assembly for enactment.

The ministry said a number of human-rights-related laws had also been passed, such as the Gender Equality Act, the amendment to the 2008 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, and the Justice Fund Act.

On the issue of civil liberties, Thailand supports and highly values freedom of expression and human rights in accordance with international practices, the ministry said.

“The press can freely criticise the government,” it said. “Nevertheless, the government is obliged to maintain a minimal degree of restriction to uphold public order and prevent social divisiveness as the country is gradually undertaking the comprehensive reform towards social harmony and a strengthened and sustainable democracy.”

Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) chairman Meechai Ruchupan attested that no entity would hold superior power over elected governments.

“When an election takes place and the country has a government, the National Council for Peace and Order [NCPO] has to go,” he said yesterday after a constitution draft presentation at Debsirin School in Nonthaburi.

“Many are interpreting the [Cabinet’s] proposal as suggesting the inclusion of some extraordinary mechanisms that could overrule elected governments. But I do not see it that way. I see that the mechanisms mean prescribing conditions or rules for future governments to follow.”

In response Prime Minister GeneralPrayut Chan-o-cha’s desire for a five-year transitional period before a return to full democracy in order to create a political equilibrium, Meechai said that it was about completing the reform process.

“Transitory provisions will lay down clearly which reform agendas must be carried out and for what purposes and aims,” he said. “A timeframe will also be set as to when the reform must be completed. It will also stipulate if the reform is not pursued, punishment will follow.”

Conflict-solving mechanisms were included in the charter draft, he said. “It’s just that nobody has worked them out yet,” he said.

Meechai met Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam on Wednesday, when the latter noted that if drafters included transitory clauses they should have flexibility to grant exceptions to constitutional provisions during the transitional period, as suggested by the Cabinet.

The drafters had already made the transitory clauses flexible, Meechai said, adding that they would have to deliberate on how to adjust the draft to make it less harsh.

He confirmed that the National Legislative Assembly and National Reform Steering Assembly called for a junta-appointed Senate, but CDC had not dealt with related clauses yet and was still figuring out how to fulfil everyone’s wishes.

“We will see what we can do about it. But if we do not adjust it [as requested], there would be trouble. So, we will have to think about it,” Meechai said.

The CDC chairman did not respond when asked to react to fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s remark that the charter draft was something that could have been written in North Korea.

But he lamented that he was an ill-fated man to have to write a charter in such a difficult time.

However, he insisted that every country needed rules and expressed confidence Thailand would move in the right direction if the charter draft were enacted.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva called on the Cabinet to explain its call for an exception to the rule of enforcement as many people viewed this as an attempt by the junta to hold on to power.

Abhisit said that if the NCPO was afraid that post-election governments might abuse their power, there should be a preventative mechanism.

Constitution provisions to deal with political crisis

Eight mechanisms in the draft constitution aimed at preventing political problems worrying the government.

1 Empowering the Constitutional Court to have a final say in resolving the country’s crises or impasses.

2 Leaving a legal avenue for deputy Senate speaker or most senior senators to carry out the duties of Parliament president, when absent, to prevent a political vacuum so that Parliament can be convened to find solutions to crises,

3 Giving the Election Commission the power to jointly set an election date along with the government, or setting the date on its own during time of chaos.

4 Allowing the Senate to become independent of political camps by having indirect election of senators.

5 To prevent abuse of parliamentary majority by the government, MPs can seek a revision of proposed legislation by seeking constitutionality of the bill.

6 Allowing MPs to gather at least one-tenths of the total MPs to make the government answerable to Parliament on administrative issues without calling a vote. Opposition leaders can also request the Parliament president to convene a meeting to consider issues of importance.

7 Allowing ministry permanent secretaries to carry out the duties on behalf of ministers if the Cabinet resigns.

8 To prevent incidents such as “Bangkok Shutdown”, political rallies that violate the rights of others, peace and order and national security would be banned.

“Foreign media wait in a very long queue to interview Thaksin. So there is no need to hire public relations firms or lobbyists in order to have media interviews,” said Noppadon, who is acting as a spokesman for the ex-leader.

Noppadon, who served as foreign minister in a Thaksin proxy government, denied that Thaksin was seeking talks with the junta. He said Thaksin wanted all the parties involved in the political conflict to sit down and talk in order to end the long-drawn dispute.

“Thaksin did not set any conditions, particularly about the legal cases,” Noppadon said, adding that if Thaksin had done so, he would have been exposed.

According to Noppadon, Thaksin sincerely wanted to see reconciliation in Thailand.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva earlier said Thaksin has to rely on foreign media as a tool in his political campaign against the post-coup government.

“PR and lobbyist companies were hired. We have to admit that the Western world dislikes coups, so any viewpoint against it will have a better chance of getting media space,” Abhisit said.

He hailed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s clear stance that the relevant laws must be enforced in Thaksin’s case. “This has assured people that the NCPO has not changed its standpoint,” he said, referring to the ruling junta’s National Council for Peace and Order.

Thaksin has lived in self-exile overseas after he fled Thailand shortly before the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders in 2008 sentenced him to two years in jail for abuse of power.

Abhisit said yesterday that there were two main reasons why Thaksin has been on a media offensive at this time. First, it was because of legal cases against his family members, including his sister Yingluck and his son Panthongtae. Second, Thaksin’s criticism of the draft constitution coincided with a campaign against the charter by his supporters, including the red shirts’ United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship.

“The problems facing the country are complex,” Chavalit said in an opening letter to the public that was delivered during a press conference at his home yesterday. “If the NCPO does not sacrifice by relinquishing its power fast, it would be difficult to eradicate the problems.”

About 10 security officials monitored the event, which they did not record.

The letter was addressed to “Thais who love their country”.

In it, he said since the NCPO had taken power it had diffused political conflicts at one level but led the country into deeper conflicts and economic distress.

He said the charter draft by the Constitution Drafting Commission led by Meechai Ruchupan had met with opposition from many sectors of society because the content was not democratic, even though the draft was being revised before being voted on in a public referendum.

“My personal experience in resolving internal conflicts has made me believe that it is an uphill task for the NCPO to accomplish this mission,” he said. “I learnt that a team led by the United Nation assistant secretary-general came to Thailand yesterday [Wednesday] to monitor the Thai political situation. They expect democracy to return to Thailand.”

Chavalit reiterated that the junta must hold a general election this year and allow an elected government to run the country.

He said Meechai must not write the charter draft the way the junta wanted in order to ensure the best constitution possible was delivered so it would not be voted down like the previous charter draft.

He called on the military to not interfere with the public’s decision on the charter.

Miroslav Jenca, assistant to the UN secretary general (political division) and Luc Stevens, UN Development Programme coordinator met Yingluck, the party’s acting leader Police Lt General Viroj Pao-in, acting secretary general Phumtham Wechayachai and former foreign minister Surapong Tovichukchaikul at the party’s headquarters.

The UN representatives told the former PM whose government was toppled by a military coup in 2014 that the international community was concerned over political setback in Thailand and wanted to see quick restoration of democracy, a party official said.

Yongyuth’s committee is responsible for developing mechanisms to drive a 20-year national strategy, including the draft bill.

The new committee was proposed with 25 members, including “a prime minister” at the time the law takes effect. It is widely speculated that this would be PrayutChan-o-cha, providing the law’s promulgation time frame follows the referendum.

The committee’s study report containing the draft bill was approved by the NRSA last week with 164 votes along with some recommendations given from the meeting.

Yongyuth said yesterday at a press briefing that the report had been revisited accordingly, and submitted to the government via the NRSA chairman.

His committee had agreed to specify in the draft bill that the strategy and its goals must be revisited every five years, compared with the previous vague terms of “possibly reassessed every five years”.

In the case of differing opinions between the national strategy committee and Parliament, a joint panel must be set up to find a resolution first, the draft bill stipulates. And if the issue persisted, the strategy should be carried out in accordance with Parliament’s decisions, he said.

In addition, a new clause concerning public participation in every process of the strategy development had been added.

However, the committee did not confirm whether it had touched upon the composition of the committee, or if its authority was deemed to overrule future governments – as viewed by some political observers.

Other crucial points still maintained in the draft included whether the strategy committee still had power to follow up, scrutinise, and assess the government’s performances. If any government action did cause severe damage to the country, the committee would forward its notices to the Senate for further action. If government officials were involved, the committee would notify the Cabinet, or the National Anti-Corruption Commission, in case of corruption.

Yongyuth noted that the report and the bill did not include a detailed strategy plan. Rather, it only stated the regulations and the bigger picture of the bill. The real plan, he added, would be developed by the national strategy committee.

“And it’s up to the government whether it would take our study and preparation for use or not,” he said.

ALLEGED human-rights infringements by the military and claims of ill-treatment of victims in the legal system were Amnesty International’s top concerns in Thailand over the past year, AI said in its annual report yesterday.

“[Thailand’s] military authorities extended their powers to excessively restrict rights and silence dissent in the name of security,” the report said. “The numbers of people harassed, prosecuted, imprisoned and arbitrarily detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights escalated sharply.”

The country’s political transition plans were also delayed, the report says, along with increasing arrests and prosecutions under the lese majeste law.

AI Thailand’s chairman Chamnan Chanruang said civilians were brought before military courts and charged with offences against internal security, “the security of monarchy” and infringement of orders issued by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

The Bangkok Military Court also summarily dismissed a number of legal petitions questioning its jurisdiction over civilians and seeking a ruling on the incompatibility of the use of military courts with the Kingdom’s international human-rights obligations, Chamnan said during a release of the report at a Bangkok hotel.

Such incompatibility was seen in charges against and detention of activists of the New Democracy Movement and the Resistant Citizen groups, who carried out separate peaceful public protests against the junta government, he said.

The charges followed the NCPO order 3/2015, he said, authorising military officers arbitrarily to detain individuals and censor a variety of media, and criminalised public political meetings of five or more people.

The abuses also occurred in the form of the opening of a temporary military detention facility for civilian detainees in September, and the deaths of two detainees in custody in October and November, he said.

A draft bill criminalising torture and enforced disappearance was put before the National Legislative Assembly but had made no further progress since last year, he said.

Amnesty claimed human-rights abuses included continuation of the armed conflict in the predominantly Muslim region in the deep South, with civilians being targets of attacks suspected to have been carried out by armed groups, he said.

There were also restrictions on freedom of expression towards citizens and journalists. Two journalists from the online news site Phuketwan were acquitted of defamation charges after a long court battle with the Navy, which had sued them for publicising a Reuters article exposing official involvement in human trafficking, he said.

Regarding abuses against refugees’ and migrants’ rights, he said Thai authorities deported 109 people of Turkic origin to China, where they were at risk of convictions, and prohibited Muslim Rohingya passengers from landing in the Kingdom. They were also slow to set up search and rescue operations for boats in distress, he said.

To counter its concerns, AI urged the Thai government to alleviate restrictions against peaceful commentators and human-right defenders. It said it must also amend the lese majeste law by abolishing clauses allowing parties to appeal against one another over charges, AI said.

The government must also unconditionally dismiss charges against any party merely exercising its right of expression, the AI report said.

The international non-governmental organisation urged Thai authorities to adopt an independent investigative process and pass the draft bill criminalising torture and enforced disappearance, in accordance with international human-rights laws.

In regards to conflicts in southern Thailand, there must be an efficient investigative process – together with detainees’ ensured access to their lawyers and relatives, including a successful search for long-disappeared lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit.

AI urged the government to respect a principle on non-refoulement and ratify the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. It urged the government officially to abstain from using the death penalty, despite its practical dormancy in the Kingdom since 2009, it said.

AI’s annual report was handed to and acknowledged by a representative from the Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Organisations at the end of the launching event.

The authorities are upset over reports from foreign media about political developments in Thailand, and particularly about the role of the monarchy, he said.

Commenting on the new rule, the BBC’s Southeast Asia Correspondent, Jonathan Head, said foreign journalists who applied for a visa to work in Thailand would be asked about their political attitude – and notably, their thoughts about the Thai monarchy.

These “inappropriate” questions and “tougher” practices have been applied as part of validating applicants’ qualification for a media visa (M visa), he said.

Moreover, some journalists who were working in the country for decades have been rejected when seeking to renew their M visa, and have been asked to apply instead for a business visa (B visa), Head said, adding that the grace period was too short for them to apply for an alternative visa.

According to the guidelines issued on February 18 and which will be effective from March 21, those journalists whose M visas are due to expire before the effective date, are given a four-month grace period, while there is a three-month grace period for those whose M visas expire from March 21 onwards.

It is impossible for rejected journalists to apply for an alternative visa within the specific grace period the authorities have laid down, he stressed.

Even though representatives of foreign journalists in Thailand had a dialogue with the authorities and asked them to extend the grace period, the request was rejected, according to Head.

“We will try to get information [on foreign journalists affected] as far as we are able to do so, in order to see how things go with the new guidelines,” the BBC correspondent said.

It is very strange that the government issued these guidelines, he said, adding that they are unclear and confusing as they do not clarify what criteria are used to consider whether a journalist is qualified or eligible for an M visa.

If the government intended to reduce the number of journalists who do not contribute to society in their work, the criteria should not focus on the content of the work, he said.

They are being deemed as fake journalists because they do not write anything on critical issues, and especially on politics, he said.

Don said the new regulation had been issued to “regulate” working journalists in Thailand and get rid of “unreal” journalists.

The government has no intention of limiting freedom of the press, he said, adding that Thailand is the freest media society in the region.

Only 10 per cent of 500 foreign media representatives would be affected by the regulation, since they cannot identify their organisations, the minister said.

“If they can identify their media organisations properly, we will extend their journalist visas,” he stressed.

Head argued, however, that many media organisations used freelancers for their coverage, rather than having their own correspondents in Thailand.

Nirmal Ghosh, president of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, also voiced concern over the restrictions in the revised guidelines.

“It affects foreign media personnel in terms of their professional and personal life, even though the government confirmed that the guidelines did not attempt to curb media freedom,” Ghosh said.

“Lawrence Osborne, a British photographer, is an obvious case with regard to the revised guidelines. He had been working here for years, but his application was rejected,” the club’s president told The Nation.