<p>Although a growing number of MPs agree that there is a need to revoke many of the decrees issued by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military-led body which governed Thailand between the 2014 coup and the 2019 election, a vote in parliament after a week of discussion was overwhelmingly against pursuing proposed plans for changes.</p>

<div> <div>Pawinee Chumsri, a lawyer at Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, has won the 2017 Somchai Neelapaijit Award. Pawinee urged society to action, saying that, ‘If people don’t fight, lawyers really can’t achieve anything’.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 11 March 2017, the Somchai Neelapaijit Memorial Fund announced <a href="http://prachatai.org/journal/2017/03/70534">Pawinee Chumsri as the winner of its annual award</a>, commending an outstanding human rights advocate. </div></div>

<div><strong>FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights)</strong></div> <div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>and its member organizations in Thailand</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Union for Civil Liberty (UCL)</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>and</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Internet Law Reform Dialogue ( </strong></div></div>

<p>Former senators, human rights and election commissioners have pointed out that the laws regulating campaigns before the referendum to pass the junta-sponsored draft constitution ironically go against the junta’s Interim Charter.</p> <p>Jon Ungpakorn, a former senator and current director of iLaw, a human rights advocacy group, Kraisak Choonhavan, former senator, and Niran Pitakwatchara, former member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), on Tuesday, 10 May 2016, submitted a letter to Raksagecha Chaechai, Secretary-General of the Office of the Ombudsman.</p>

<div> <p>Prachatai on Friday celebrated, under martial law, its 10th anniversary as a non-profit alternative online media in Thailand.&nbsp;</p> <p>About 60 guests joined the event to celebrate its 10th anniversary on Friday night.&nbsp;</p> <p>The event was by invitation only and kept secret until Friday night for fear that the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) would force the cancellation of the event.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8629/16378606136_d51f788afa_z.jpg" /></p> </div>

<div> <div>The Appeal Court dismissed charges against 10 high-profile civil society workers, including Jon Ungpakorn, a former Senator and the founder of Prachatai, and Supinya Klangnarong, currently National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commissioner (NBTC), accused of instigating chaos and trespassing on the parliament compound in a 2007 protest against the military government led by Surayud Chulanont.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 12 December 2007, the ten allegedly trespassed onto the grounds of parliament during a rally against the 2007 National Legislative Assembly (NLA), appointed b </div></div>