Responding to the remand in custody of a 15-year-old girl in Bangkok accused of violating lèse majesté law after taking part in a peaceful protest, Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, Thailand Researcher at Amnesty International, said:
“This situation is yet another disturbing reminder that Thai authorities continue to target children as they use lèse majesté law to suppress peaceful dissent. In addition, in the month of March alone, at least four protesters have been found guilty and new charges and indictments have been handed down under this law.”
“The recent cases demonstrate the drastic reduction of civic space for millions of people in Thailand, as the authorities have increasingly refused to tolerate peaceful dissent. Since the end of last year, peaceful protesters have been told guilty of lèse majeste simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression in online publications, participating in mock fashion shows and, most recently, selling online calendars featuring pictures of yellow ducks, a symbol of the protest movement.”
“The Thai authorities must drop all charges brought against people under laws that are not in accordance with international human rights law and standards. Likewise, they must refrain from arresting and holding people who demonstrate peacefully in pretrial detention.”
Additional information
None(whose full name is withheld for security reasons), 15 year old activist placed in pretrial detention this week, she joined a peaceful demonstration on October 14, 2022 calling for the removal of the lèse majesté law. The authorities issued an arrest warrant for her on 28 February 2023 and detained her at the Baan Pranee Child and Youth Training Center for Girls in Nakhon Pathom province.
Yok’s case is not an isolated event. On March 7, 2023, the Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced a boy to three years in prison for selling calendars through a Facebook page that authorities deemed to be in violation of lèse majesté law. The calendar contained cartoon illustrations of a yellow duck, a symbol of Thailand’s protest movement. In a different case, on March 13, 2023, the Chiang Mai Provincial Court found a Karen indigenous man guilty of lese majesty, sedition and violation of the Computer Crime Act for posting criticism of the monarchy on Facebook.
Since mass demonstrations broke out across Thailand in 2020, at least 1,895 people have been subject to various criminal charges for their participation in protests, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. Of these people, at least 237, including 18 minors, had been charged with crimes of lese majesty as of March 27, 2023.
The recent Amnesty International report “We Are Reclaiming Our Future” documents how children in Thailand face a variety of serious repercussions for participating in mass protests, including criminalization of their activities, intimidation and surveillance by authorities, as well as violent crackdowns on protests by the police.
The report called on the Thai authorities to drop all charges against minors who were peacefully protesting, end all forms of intimidation and surveillance, and reform laws used to limit the right of children to protest to ensure that these laws are consistent with international human rights law and standards.