<p>The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) called on the Thai government, legislature and regulatory agencies to take steps to address deficiencies in the legal and regulatory framework governing economic development in Special Economic Zones and the Eastern Economic Corridor to improve transparency, protect communities and labourers&rsquo; human rights, and implement safeguards to mitigate the adverse impact of such development on the environment and human rights.</p>

<p>The junta leader has announced that the regime will use its absolute power to speed up development of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).</p> <p>On 24 October 2017, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, announced after the ministerial meeting that the government is preparing to invoke Section 44 of the Interim Constitution to speed up development of the EEC, according to the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tnamcot.com/view/59ef049ee3f8e40ae18e5014">Thai News Agency</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">After three years of the junta’s ‘returning happiness’ mission, the country’s poor and ethnic minorities are still suffering from the junta’s ‘return the forest’ policy while the junta opens up more land for investors and cuts environmental regulations for big business.</p> <p></p>

<p>Isaan villagers have won a landmark lawsuit which the Thai authorities filed against them for opposing the construction of one of the junta’s Special Economic Zones (SEZ).</p> <p>On 26 January 2017, the Provincial Court of Nakhon Phanom&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=3384">dismissed the lawsuit filed against 29 villagers&nbsp;</a>from Khok Phu Kratae and Phai Lom villages in At Samat Subdistrict of Mueang District in the province.</p>

<p dir="ltr">A government board has approved a series of special projects that come under the Eastern Economic Corridor Development initiative. 48 projects, valued at almost 7 billion baht collectively, will be executed across 60 years beginning from 2017.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Embattled villagers in northern Thailand facing an eviction order under the junta’s Special Economic Zone plan have taken the matter to court, saying authorities have illegally reclaimed their land for SEZ construction. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">On 1 November 2016, 60 representatives from Wang Takhian Village in Tha Sai Luat Subdistrict, Mae Sot District in the northern Tak Province filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and the Department of Lands to the Phitsanulok Province Administrative Court.</p>

<p dir="ltr">In a bid to lure investors, Thailand’s junta plans to evict some 300 citizens from their homes to construct a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the southern province of Songkhla. While the military’s development plans could boost a stalled economy, the country’s poor are paying the price.</p> <p></p>

<p>Civil society groups are urging the junta to halt construction of Special Economic Zone (SEZs) throughout the country, saying that the SEZ policy destroys local communities and the environment.</p>

<p>Villagers near Yangon, Myanmar, are traveling to Japan this week to meet with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and other Japanese investors of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) after engagement efforts in Myanmar have been met with very limited success.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The Treasury Department has announced that it may ask Thailand’s junta leader to use his absolute power to amend laws that prevent investors from renting out lands in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to other businesses.</p> <p>Chakkrit Parapuntakul, Director General of the Treasury Department, told media that the department recently received a letter from the Industrial Estate Authorities of Thailand (IEAT) about laws that obstruct investors from developing industrial estates in SEZs and from renting them out to other businesses.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Local people are to be evicted in the name of development, as the Thai junta invokes its absolute power to clear land for the benefit of big businesses.</p> <p></p>

<p>Villagers in northern Thailand facing eviction have denounced the seizure of land by the authorities for industries in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).</p> <p>About 70 representatives of villagers from Tha Sai Luat Subdistrict in Mae Sot District of the northern province of Tak and a local environmental group called Khon Mae Sot Rakthin on Tuesday, 22 March 2016, submitted a petition to Amonphan Suntharawiphat, a Land Department official for Mae Sot District of Tak.</p>