<p>The Thai authorities in northeastern Thailand have refused to meet villagers protesting against a plan to survey land ownership around a national park. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Civil society organisations have submitted a report to the UN urging the Thai junta to grant rights related to natural resources, public healthcare, and education to ethnic minorities.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Thailand's park officers arrested four villagers allegedly clearing plots of land in a protected area in northeastern Thailand.</p> <p>According to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lawyercenter2014/posts/832537740129415?notif_t=notify_me">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, eight officers from the Royal Forest Department (RFD) of the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum arrested four villagers from Kon San Sub-district while the villagers were clearing vegetation in Kok Yao protected area of the province.</p>

<p>The Thai authorities revealed a plan to reclaim over 715,066 rai of rubber plantations allegedly growing in protected areas to serve the Thai junta’s forest protection policy. &nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thairath.co.th/content/496826">Thairath News</a>, Nipon Chotiban, Director-General of Thailand’s Department of National Parks (DNP), told the media in early May that the DNP plans to reclaim over 715,066 rai (1,144 sq.km) of rubber farms which were allegedly planted in protected areas nationwide.</p>

<p>Sakon Nakhon Provincial Court has handed jail terms to four villagers accused of encroachment and is putting 29 others on trial on the same charge. &nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/lawyercenter2014/posts/817424194974103?notif_t=notify_me">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, the Provincial Court of Sakon Nakhon in Thailand’s Northeast, in January sentenced four villagers from Ban Chat Rabiap community in Phu Phan District to prison for encroaching on protected areas.</p>

<p>Thai military has dismissed the UN’s expression of concern and suggestion that Thai authorities should uphold human rights while solving land conflicts, saying that the information which claims that the military harassed villagers is false. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>BANGKOK (11 March 2015) -The United Nations Human Rights Office for South East Asia (OHCHR) is concerned that the rights of poor communities in maintaining access to land and livelihood are not being upheld and urges the Government to comply with its international human rights obligations in pursuing its land polices.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4add403e-c508-eba1-b50f-ac180db41f42">A people’s forum on reform pointed out that the junta uses martial law to silence people while plundering natural resources in communities nationwide against the will of the local people. &nbsp;</span></p>