<p>On 31 December 2019, the Constitutional Court of Thailand decided not to accept a <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/8284">petition</a> made by two LGBT couples and the Foundation for SOGI Rights and Justice (For-SOGI) on 22 November 2019, requesting the Court to rule whether the current Thai marriage law violates the 2017 Constitution.</p>

<p>On 25 December the Constitutional Court of Thailand accepted the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT)&rsquo;s request to rule on whether the Future Forward Party (FFP) violated Article 72 of the 2017 Organic Law on Political Parties by taking a loan from its leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and whether the party will be dissolved.</p>

<p>Yesterday (24 December), the Lop Buri Provincial Court sentenced former Voice TV reporter Suchanee Cloitre to two years in prison in a libel case filed against her by the Thammakaset Company.</p>

<p>A participant in the flashmob on Saturday has faced online attacks and was fired from her job at the television channel MONO29 after the right-wing media site TNews posted her picture and profile on its Facebook page.</p>

<p>The Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBF) and Greenpeace held a press briefing last Thursday (12 December) at the Heinrich Böll Foundation Southeast Asia office in Bangkok, in which representatives of the two organizations called for a new global convention on the plastic crisis and for a whole-cycle approach to managing plastic waste.</p>

<p>Bangkok : Thousands took to the streets in Bangkok&rsquo;s central shopping district on Saturday (14 December), a day after Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the Future Forward Party (FFP), called a protest.</p>

<p>A network of NGOs and activists issued an open letter on International Human Rights Day (10 December) calling for an end to sexual harassment and gender bias among social activists.</p>

<p>On Monday (9 December 2019), the Foreign Correspondents&rsquo; Club of Thailand (FCCT) issued a statement on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FCCThailand/posts/2627718833979717">Facebook page</a> that they have been asked by Lumpini Police Station to cancel a booking for a press conference for the &ldquo;Run Against Dictatorship&rdquo; event, organized by activist Tanawat Wongchai.</p>

<p>On Monday (2 December), the&nbsp;United Nations Development Programme&nbsp;(UNDP) launched a new study on attitudes towards LGBT people in Thailand, which found that while there is significant support for inclusive laws and policies, experiences of stigma, discrimination, violence, and exclusion remain persistent.</p>

<p>The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), along with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), and IndustriALL Global Unions, issued a letter last Wednesday (27 November) calling on the Thai government to address labour violations after the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced that Thailand&rsquo;s trade preferences under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) would be partially suspended on 25 April 2020.</p>

<p>Chulalongkorn University and the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Bangkok celebrated the 30th anniversary of the return of democracy to Czechoslovakia and the 25th anniversary of Czech revolutionary and statesman Václav Havel&rsquo;s visit to Chulalongkorn University with a concert on Saturday night (23 November) and a panel discussion on Monday (25 November).</p>