<p>The&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.hrw.org/asia/laos&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1481855949437000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEh02e8dmnG2-4oiAoAD10BZIzIJg" href="https://www.hrw.org/asia/laos" target="_blank">Lao</a>&nbsp;government has made no progress accounting for civil society leader Sombath Somphone, who was forcibly disappeared on December 15, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today. Four years after he was stopped at a police checkpoint in the capital, Vientiane, the government needs to provide information on his fate or whereabouts.<br /></p>

<p>Since seizing power in a 2014 coup, Thailand’s military authorities have allowed a culture of torture and other ill-treatment to flourish across the country, with soldiers and policemen targeting suspected insurgents, political opponents, and individuals from the most vulnerable sections of society, a new report by Amnesty International said today.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Since 1991, 101 Thai citizens have been subjected to enforced disappearance. This has motivated a drive to draft a law against enforced disappearance to make accountable state officials and their supervisors if they are aware of the offence, to prohibit defamation prosecutions against complainants and to ensure that every minute is counted. Academics are concerned that the bill will be dropped or distorted and noted that Article 44 of the Interim Constitution alone can override any law against enforced disappearance because of its supra-constitutional power.</p> <p></p>

<p>Despite the fact that he disappeared 12 years ago in 2004, the name Somchai Neelapaijit, a renowned human rights lawyer, has appeared on the voter list for the draft charter referendum.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Thailand has a grim and poor record of torture and enforced disappearances, which even in the last 10-15 years has barely improved, regardless of the international treaties and agreements it has signed onto. Experts, though, believe that improvements are coming, hopefully sooner than later.</p>

<p>The&nbsp;<a href="http://hrw.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8-4682-%3eLCE593719%26SDG%3c90%3a.&amp;RE=MC&amp;RI=4432086&amp;Preview=False&amp;DistributionActionID=100095&amp;Action=Follow+Link">Thai</a>&nbsp;government should promptly act on pledges to make torture and enforced disappearance criminal offenses, Human Rights Watch said today.<br /></p>

<p>The former chief of a National Park has been appointed head of a new park protection unit despite the fact that he is the prime suspect in the enforced disappearance of a Karen rights activist.</p> <p>The&nbsp;<u>Daily News</u> reported on Tuesday, 3 May 2016, that Thanya Netithamkul, Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), announced that the Department recently established a new forest and wildlife protection unit called the Tiger Corps Operation Unit.</p>

<div> <div>The two-year-long investigation into a Karen activist’s disappearance has made no progress. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">Human rights advocacy groups urged the authorities to take actions against the prime suspects of the enforced disappearance of a Karen activist after two years of no progress. &nbsp;</p> <p>On Thursday, 7 April 2016, representatives of 22 human rights advocacy groups, such as Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), Network of Thailand’s Ethnic Minorities and Human Rights Lawyer Association (HRLA), submitted a joint statement on the enforced disappearance of Porlajee Rakchongcharoen, aka Billy, a Karen human and community rights activist, to the Department of National Parks (DNP).</p>

<p>Almost two years of after the disappearance of a Karen activist, the police have found several flaws in the testimony of national park officers and put up a 200,000 baht reward for information.</p> <p>Last Thursday, 14 January 2016, Angkhana Neelapaijit, Head of the Sub-Committee on Civil Rights of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), held a meeting to review progress in the case of the enforced disappearance of Porlajee Rakchongcharoen, aka Billy, a Karen human and community rights activist, who disappeared on 17 April 2014.</p>

<p>The military officers in northern Thailand have attempted to prevent a group of villagers from submitting a complaint to the provincial governor, saying that the act might breach the Public Assembly Act recently enacted. &nbsp;</p>