“Thai authorities have arrested, prosecuted, monitored and intimidated underage protesters for participating in unprecedented mass protests”, Amnesty International said today, calling for the charges to be dropped and harassment aimed at deterring them from joining the protests to end.
Compared to previous waves of protests in Thailand, an extraordinary number of participants were high school students under the age of 18 calling for educational, political, economic and social reforms to what they viewed as a rigidly conservative, paternalistic system. LGBTI and indigenous children, as well as members of other ethnic minority groups, also played an important role.
To date, almost 300 people under the age of 18 have been tried on criminal charges, and some could face years in prison after being charged with sedition or insulting the monarchy. It is the first time that lese majesty cases against minors have been opened in Thailand. Most were accused of violating rules on mass public gatherings contained in the emergency decree issued in relation to the pandemic and which has since been revoked.
“Minors with their whole lives ahead of them now face dire consequences just for participating in peaceful protests”, said Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, Thailand researcher at Amnesty International. “Thailand has a legal obligation to guarantee the right of minors to freedom of peaceful assembly, but instead exercising that right is costing the protesters dearly, who could spend decades behind bars.”
damaging tactics
Amnesty International has documented various tactics used to suppress the right to protest. Authorities routinely supervised or surveilled underage pro-democracy protesters; directly intimidating those from minority ethnic groups for participating in public gatherings; and asking unnecessary and intrusive questions in background checks, such as whether the person had a same-sex relationship.
Chompoo*, a 13-year-old protester from Bangkok, told Amnesty International that she has been followed by the authorities since she began her activism in March 2022. A 16-year-old LGBTI activist was also followed by the authorities to his home and school, which affected his mental health, as he began to suffer from panic attacks, insomnia and other symptoms of stress due to continuous surveillance.
In some cases, the authorities misused their powers under the Child Protection Act to unreasonably prevent minors from participating in protests. Anna, a Bangkok-based student activist who advocates for education reform, said police and officials from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the main agency responsible for child protection, dragged her and her children out of a restaurant. friends because the authorities feared that they were going to protest at the Democracy Monument, before which members of the royal family were going to pass.
Amnesty International has also documented that the authorities put pressure on parents to discourage their sons and daughters from participating in the protests or prevent their participation. This caused family tensions which, in two cases documented by Amnesty International, led to domestic violence against the minors.
“When my family found out about my involvement in the protest movement, we started arguing a lot,” said Satapat, who participated in the pro-democracy protests in 2020 when she was 17 and a high school student in the southern city of Pattani. “Then my parents started using physical violence and putting pressure on me by confiscating my daily allowance and my mobile phone. I had to run away from home and went to live with a friend.”
“In addition to the charges, some of these people could face the additional punishment of being disowned by their own parents or mistreated by their own parents due to pressure from the authorities,” Tatiyakaroonwong added.
hostile environment
Amnesty International has been closely assessing security conditions at protests since 2020. Concern intensified in 2021, following increased police repression and escalating violence at protest sites.
Three young protesters, aged 14, 15 and 16 at the time, were shot, allegedly by private individuals, outside the Din Daeng police station in Bangkok on August 16, 2021.
One of them, 15-year-old Warit Somnoi, was shot in the neck, remained in a coma for several months and later died of his injuries. After his death, the prosecution repeatedly asked the police for a series of evidence, which the police did not present, causing a long delay in the investigation. Finally, the prosecution indicted a private citizen for murder, but no trial has yet taken place.
Amnesty International also spoke to a human rights lawyer who has represented several clients under the age of 18 and who described ill-treatment by police officers, including the use of restraints and beatings during arrests, and the use of rubber bullets during the repression of the protests.
Authorities reportedly used cable ties to restrain a 12-year-old person during a police crackdown on an anti-government protest near Bangkok’s Din Daeng junction on July 13, 2021. Sainam, another protester who was 17 at the time date, he said he had been fired at by rubber bullets at a protest in Bangkok.
“After I was shot, I tried to run away, but the riot police closed in on me from the front and from behind. They grabbed me and made me fall. Then I remember that they kicked me and used something hard—like a stick or a gun—to hit me. They searched my whole body, tied me up with cable ties and kept kicking me,” he said, adding that he was only able to see the doctor the next morning after he was released.
Amnesty International calls on the Thai government to drop all criminal proceedings against minors who were peacefully protesting; end all forms of intimidation and surveillance; and repeal or amend laws used to limit the right to protest of minors to ensure that they are consistent with international human rights law and standards.
“Whether it’s to get into university or apply for a job, many of these people are now starting the next stage of their lives. Our message to the Thai authorities is simple: Stop holding them back and allow them to exercise their rights freely,” Tatiyakaroonwong concluded.
*For security reasons the full name has been withheld.