<p>Civil society calls on UN to Retain Myanmar&rsquo;s Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun&rsquo;s accreditation to the UN, amid fears Myanmar people could be &lsquo;robbed of their rightful voice&rsquo; by the military junta</p>

<p>The UN has concluded that the detention of two lèse majesté convicts who were each sentenced to more than two decades in jail is arbitrary. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://prachatai.org/journal/2017/10/73768">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights</a>&nbsp;on 19 October 2017 reported that the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has concluded that&nbsp;<a href="https://prachatai.org/english/node/5397">Sasiwimon S</a>. and&nbsp;<a href="https://prachatai.org/english/node/5170">Tiensutham S</a>., aka. Yai Daengduad, are detained arbitrarily.</p>

<p>UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson has expressed &nbsp;the recent reports of restrictions on the freedoms of expression and assembly in Thailand ahead of the referendum on the draft constitution to be held on 7 August.&nbsp;<br /><br />The Deputy Secretary-General met H.E. Mr. Virasakdi Futrakul, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Thailand, in New York on June 29. See a readout from their meeting at&nbsp;<a href="http://ow.ly/6vA1301XIFW" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/6vA1301XIFW</a><br /></p>

<p>After the Thai representatives to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) told other nations that Thai military courts only handle serious crimes involving civilians, Thai human rights lawyers have come up with some facts to counter the lies about the military courts.</p>

<p>The Thai government’s pledges to the United Nations Human Rights Council to respect human rights and restore democratic rule have been mostly meaningless, Human Rights Watch said today.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hrw.org/thailand">Thailand</a>&nbsp;appeared before the council for its second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva on May 11, 2016. The UPR is a UN examination of the human rights situation in each country.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Thai academics have urged the UN to investigate human rights abuses as the Thai junta increases its crackdown on political dissidents ahead of the referendum on the draft constitution.</p> <p>The<a href="https://web.facebook.com/BBCThai/posts/1769882346566131"> BBC Thai</a> reported that 12 academics from leading universities in Thailand on Thursday, 5 May 2016, submitted a letter to the UN, urging the UN human rights office to investigate the increasing violations and abuses of human rights done by the Thai authorities.</p>

<div> <div>11 August 2015</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Ravina Shamdasani</div> <div>Location: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Geneva</div> <div>Subjects: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Thailand / lèse-majesté</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div> <div>We are appalled by the shockingly disproportionate prison terms handed down over the past few months in lèse-majesté cases in Thailand. </div>

<div>Paris, 23 June 2015: Thailand should amend Article 112 of the Criminal Code (lèse-majesté), the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) said in its concluding observations released yesterday after its review of Thailand’s report on 4-5 June in Geneva.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The CESCR expressed concern over the “adverse effect of the excessive interpretation” of lèse-majesté on the enjoyment of the right of everyone to take part in cultural life. </div>

<p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Activists and landless villagers on Tuesday rallied to pressure the junta to stop land encroachment and evictions.</p> <p>On Tuesday, despite the fact that martial law is still in place, Four Regions Slum Network (FRSN) and People's Movement for a Just Society (P-Move) organized a rally in front of the UN Building in Bangkok on World Habitat Day and planned to move to Government House to submit a petition to the junta, although the military forbade the rally to move to Government House.</p>

<div>19 August 2014</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights : Ravina Shamdasani</strong></div> <div><strong>Location: Geneva</strong></div> <div><strong>Subject: Thailand</strong></div> <div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>We are seriously concerned about the prosecution and harsh sentencing of individuals in Thailand under the country's lèse majesté law. Such measures are adding to the larger pattern of increasing restrictions on freedom of expression in Thailand. </div>

<div> <div>05 August 2014</div> <div><strong>Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights </strong>: Ravina Shamdasani</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Location:</strong> Geneva</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Subject: </strong>Thailand</div> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>We have been very concerned by the methods of arrest and detention of politicians, activists, academics and journalists following the military coup in Thailand in May this year.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Since 22 May 2014, more than 700 individuals have been summoned and arreste </div>

<p>While Army Chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha called for all 9,000 insurgents and their supporters in the South to be brought to justice (not the same justice that he applies to security forces committing extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and, if rumours are true, a whole raft of run-of-the-mill crimes like drug-dealing, smuggling, and gun-running), his deputy, Gen Dapong Rattanasuwan, was expressing the real fears that keep the military top brass awake in their beds at night.</p>