Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1989
THAILAND
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with a strong executive
branch, an elected house of representatives, and an appointed
senate. The civilian bureaucracy and the military play strong
roles in political life. The monarch exerts strong informal
influence. The Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet are
subject to votes of confidence by the House, but need not be
elected members of Parliament. The present Government, a
six-party coalition headed by General (retired) Chatichai
Choonhavan, an elected member of Parliament, took office
following free national elections in July 1988.
Thailand's security services operate within a constitutional
framework reflecting the strong executive branch orientation
of the Government. They have wide-ranging powers which they
sometimes utilize in an uneven way. The Government does not
sanction human rights abuses by the security services and has
taken steps to ameliorate those abuses that do occur.
Residual Communist insurgent and Muslim separatist groups use
terrorism to advance their respective aims. The Government
has made notable progress in reducing the influence of these
groups, but sporadic low-level violence continues in the south.
An emerging, middle-income, developing country, Thailand has a
free enterprise economic system. Individual economic
interests and the right to hold private property are strongly
protected. While the industrial sector is expanding rapidly,
over 60 percent of the Thai people still live in the
countryside, and agriculture remains the main source of
livelihood.
Thailand's citizens enjoy a wide range of civil and political
liberties. Autonomous political parties, gatherings, and
associations are allowed. The domestic press practices
self-censorship, particularly in regard to the monarchy and
military, and occasionally receives official warnings about
reports unfavorable to the Government. Issues of the
international press are sometimes banned. Despite this, there
remains a wide measure of press freedom. Human rights
activists in Thailand are able to bring issues to the
attention of the Government and public, and they lobby
successfully for corrective action.
Over the years, Thailand has provided first asylum to over a
million persons fleeing the Indo-Chinese states. In 1989 it
recommitted itself to providing temporary refuge to all
Vietnamese and Lao asylum seekers. The Government also agreed
to initiate refugee screening for Vietnamese asylum seekers
which would ensure the integrity and fairness of final
decisions on the refugee status of each person. It also
agreed to permit the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) early access to all new arrivals and
continued access following the determination of their status.
Thailand undertook these commitments in June 1989 when it
endorsed the Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA) for
Indo-Chinese refugees in Geneva. Thailand also continues to
cooperate fully with the international community in providing
assistance to the more than 300,000 displaced Cambodians
located in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
Allegations of government involvement in political killings
are rare. In predominantly Muslim areas of south Thailand
where separatist groups are active, however, security forces
sometimes shoot first and ask questions later. On December
31, 1988, a contingent of Thai Marines mistakenly opened fire
on a group of Thai Muslim defense force volunteers in a
village in Narathiwat province, killing four of the
volunteers. The Government promised to discipline the Marines
if an investigation showed they had acted improperly, but by
year's end no results had been announced. While the results
of the investigation were not made public, members of the
Muslim community professed satisfaction with the Government's
response.
Communist insurgents and ethnic separatists continued to use
violence, including murder, in pursuit of their objectives.
Their targets have included low-level officials, as well as
police and security forces. In 1989 Muslim separatists
primarily attacked civilians, targeting places of
entertainment and businesses, often in support of extortion
efforts.
The number of journalists killed in rural areas has diminished
sharply in recent years. Nevertheless, a journalist was slain
in Samut Sakhon province in June. The press reported that
police believed the journalist may have been killed because of
his reporting on local business. In previous years, some
murdered journalists had exposed corruption or illegal
activity. Others apparently had engaged in blackmail or
extortion and were killed in retaliation.
In previou:. years, senior Thai officials have been quoted in
the press as acknowledging that police executions of habitual,
serious, criminal offenders without due process occasionally
occurs, particularly in southern Thailand, the area with the
nation's highest crime rate.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of abduction or kidnaping attributed to
government forces in 1989. Communist insurgents and Muslim
separatists sometimes use abduction of civilians and
government officials as a political weapon. In October a
Muslim separatist group kidnaped a public school teacher in
Yala province and held her until the Government released the
arrested wife of a separatist leader.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Thailand's criminal code forbids the use of cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment or punishment, and the Government
maintains that it is opposed to such treatment or punishment.
However, there also continued to be many credible reports of
police beatings of prisoners and detainees. A Thai human
rights organization announced in August that it had compiled
at least 132 instances of injury and 27 deaths between 1983
and 1988 as a result of police brutality, most often during
interrogations. In July the Bangkok police commissioner set
up a committee to investigate charges that two officers of the
juvenile welfare division had beaten a 14-year-old boy
arrested for sniffing paint thinner. Also in July, a man
filed a complaint alleging six policemen tortured him with an
electric baton following his arrest on fraud charges. In
August a Bangkok policeman was photographed by journalists
standing on the chest of a deranged man who had attempted
suicide by jumping off a house. The police suspended the
officer and launched an investigation into the conduct of two
others who were on the scene. Witnesses alleged the three
officers had been drinking before the incident.
Human rights advocates charge that offending policemen often
try to cover up abuses by offering payoffs to victims or their
families. Nevertheless, charges of police misconduct appear
freely in the press, and victims, often assisted by human
rights activists, have successfully won redress for documented
abuses in the courts. However, few police or security
officials are ever convicted for such abuses, and even when
convictions occur penalties are so light that they do not
serve as an effective deterrent.
In recent years, international attention has focused on
reports of torture, murder, and rape of Khmer residing in
displaced persons camps by Thai paramilitary forces charged
with providing security for the camps. Since the formation of
the Displaced Persons Protective Unit (DPPU) by the Government
in June 1988, violent incidents and abuse by security forces
have been "virtually eliminated" according to the
International Committee of the Red Cross.
The major complaints by camp residents about degrading and
abusive treatment now concern acts committed by Khmer against
other Khmer. The principal camp where such violations have
been reported is Site Two, where more than 140,000 Khmer
reside at close quarters. Up to 90 incidents of violence were
reported monthly in the Khmer camps in 1989, resulting in
fewer than 10 deaths per month. Suicide attempts also remain
relatively high.
The civilian population in camps controlled by the forces of
Democratic Kampuchea (DK) are another area of concern. While
conditions in the U.N. -assisted camps under DK control are not
markedly worse than those in other U.N . -assisted camps along
the border, thousands of civilians live in areas inaccessible
to the international community. Forced movement of the
population is relatively frequent, often resulting in exposure
to military risks such as shellings and land mines.
Discipline in Khmer Rouge camps is alleged to be harsh and
excessive by many voluntary and international agencies who
have interviewed former camp residents.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Thailand's criminal and civil codes follow Western European
models, and the rights of suspects are similar to those in
Western Europe. Except in cases of crimes in progress, arrest
warrants generally are required, and specific charges must be
brought against those detained within a limited time period.
There is a functioning bail system. Reports of arbitrary
arrest are infrequent.
A small number of Communist insurgents and Muslim separatists
remain detained without trial by order of the Prime Minister
under martial law provisions. Although these provisions were
eased significantly in 1984 and most of those originally
detained under these provisions have since been released, some
20 remain in detention. Currently, the only legal basis for
arrest and detention without specific charges for long periods
(up to 480 days) is the Ant i -Communist Activities Act. No
arrests under this Act were made in 1989, and the Cabinet
voted to consider repealing the Act and replacing it with a
new internal security law. Additionally, the Government
dropped 3 cases involving 12 persons arrested in 1984, 1986,
and 1987 under the provisions of an amnesty law passed by the
Parliament in July.
Thailand does not use exile for political control. With
regard to forced or compulsory labor, see Section 6.c.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution grants citizens the presumption of innocence
and access to courts or administrative bodies to seek
redress. Suspects can be denied the right to legal counsel
during the pretrial or investigative period of their cases,
but before trial they have access to a lawyer of their own
choosing.
The legal system provides for trial by judges rather than
jury. Cases are heard by a panel of judges on the basis of
specific charges, usually well documented. Persons tried in
both military and ordinary criminal courts enjoy a broad range
of legal rights, including the right to counsel both in the
trial and appellate stages, but a serioi;s flaw in providing
due process rights is the lack of appeal from decisions of a
military court. Since 1984, the jurisdiction of military
courts has been limited to cases involving military
personnel. Most prisoners benefit from periodic amnesties
reducing the length of sentences, and any prisoner may apply
for a royal pardon. The courts are relatively independent of
external pressures. There have been allegations, however, of
government and private influence on certain cases, often those
involving narcotics. A pilot government program to provide
free legal advice to the poor continues. Most free legal aid,
however, comes from private groups, including the Lawyer's
Association and the Women Lav/yers' Association.
In 1988 eight persons, allegedly involved in printing and/or
distributing defamatory leaflets, were arrested for defaming
the royal family (lese majeste) . Three of the eight were
convicted and sentenced in November 1988; two to 3 1/2 years
and one to 4 1/2 years. As the trials were held in camera,
details are not available. No arrests for defaming the
monarchy occurred in 1989.
Twenty to 30 persons originally detained under the
Ant i -Communist Activities Act but later convicted of criminal
offenses did not come under the terms of the 1989 amnesty and
remain imprisoned. The Government disputes human right
advocates' categorization of all of these persons as political
prisoners, pointing out that some were convicted of such
charges as robbery and murder. Human rights groups maintain
that at least some of these prisoners were tried on trumped up
charges. Eighteen to 20 Muslim separatists remained *
imprisoned in 1989 on charges including extortion, unlawful
weapons possession, and murder. Some of them face consecutive
sentences totaling 200 to 300 years. Human rights advocates
note that such long sentences violate Thai legal norms.
Fourteen members of a self-styled "revolutionary council" were
arrested in 1989 under sedition charges after they published
documents announcing the dissolution of the Parliament and the
establishment of a "revolutionary" regime. At preliminary
hearings in July, all 14 pleaded not guilty. Only two of the
members of the group succeeded in raising funds for bail. As
of December, the other 10 remained in jail.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence
Thai society is essentially an open one where membership in
political organizations is voluntary, and the police function
is seldom abused for security or political purposes. The
unmonitored exchange of ideas generally is permitted, although
those espousing leftist or controversial views are probably
watched by the security services. Thai law requires that
police possess a search warrant prior to entering a home
without the owner's consent. There are allegations that
officers sometimes endorse warrants in advance and then allow
their noncommissioned subordinates to apply them as needed.
Sections of the Anti-Communist Activities Act allow officials
involved in specifically designated "Communist suppression
operations" to conduct searches without warrants, but these
powers have been used sparingly.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution affirms citizens' rights to free speech and a
free press, but there are laws which restrict those rights.
The principal legal restrictions on these freedoms are
prohibitions against insulting or defaming the King, Queen,
heir apparent, or Regent (lese majeste), advocating a
Communist system of government, or publishing materials which
threaten national security or insult religion. Thai citizens
enjoy substantial freedom of speech in other respects, and the
Government permits criticism of its policies. However,
criticism is not entirely without risks, and prominent critics
occasionally have been the targets of violence by mysterious
assailants.
Television and radio stations are licensed by the Government
and operated by the Government, the army, and private entities
as commercial enterprises. Although the Government's
Broadcasting Directing Board in theory reviews all television
programs prior to broadcast, in practice most programs are not
prescreened, and stations present a range of viewpoints. In
September 1989, however, the Board decided not to allow
broadcast of a feature program on the Vietnam, war on the
grounds that the program supported the ideology of the
Communist Vietnamese Government and would be beneficial for
Thai Communists. Radio stations are required to carry a
government-produced newscast four times daily but are free to
originate other news and commentary. Opinions critical of
government positions have been broadcast but, in general,
controversial issues are treated cautiously, if at all.
While international publications generally circulated freely,
in November the Government briefly banned sale and
distribution of "The Asian Wall Street Journal" for having
published an article deemed insulting to Thailand's senior
Buddhist monk. The ban, which was lifted following an appeal
by the Journal's editor, came under the 1941 Press Law
empowering the chief of police to prohibit the import of
printed matter dangerous to public order and morals. Earlier,
the Government used the same law to ban temporarily import of
the South China Morning Post for reporting an alleged coup
plot. The police also considered but in the end rejected
taking action against the Hong Kong based weekly magazine The
Far Eastern Economic Review for an article allegedly
implicating government tourism officials in promoting
prostitution. The privately owned Thai press presented a wide
range of political and social commentary. Technical
publications and pamphlets, including those of academics,
circulate freely, and the latter present viewpoints ranging
from the non-Communist left to the ultraright. Foreign and
domestic books normally are not censored, unless they are
critical of the royal family or the monarchy. However, in
March the police special branch announced it would take steps
to halt the sale of the controversial novel "The Satanic
Verses," following rallies by Thai Muslims demanding such a
ban. The police later raided several bookstores and arrested
the owner of a store found selling the book. Similarly, the
Interior Ministry ordered the seizure of the August edition of
Bangkok magazine which bore a cover photograph satirizing a
Buddhist monk. The police warned the publisher not to publish
anything insulting to religion or he would face legal action.
Additionally, some 219 publications, many of them treatises on
Chinese communism, remained banned under an executive order
dating from the martial law period.
The press continues to operate under the restrictions imposed
by the Press Law of 1941 and remnants of past martial law
orders. It practices self -censorship and is particularly
cautious about criticism of the military or monarchy. Current
legislation permits the Government to close newspapers and
revoke the licenses of editors of newspapers which publish
stories deemed to be libelous or contrary to national security
interests. In 1987 the Government closed one newspaper, which
resumed publication within a few weeks; in 1988 and 1989 none
were closed. Nevertheless, on several occasions in 1989, the
police warned the press not to print stories on controversial
subjects. Additionally, the army and some cabinet members
more frequently invoked existing restrictive laws to issue
warnings to publications printing critical articles.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution ensures the rights of assembly and
association. In practice, these rights are exercised freely
by politicians, students, labor, and other interest groups
without government interference. All associations, including
labor unions, must be registered by the Government. The
Government, however, does not use the withholding of
registration to inhibit freedom of association for any
groups. Permits are not required for assembly.
For a discussion of freedom of association as it applies to
labor unions, see Section 6. a.
c. Freedom of Religion
Freedom of religion is generally practiced throughout Thailand
and protected by law and custom. Theravada Buddhism, the de
facto state religion, has had an abiding and profound
influence on Thai culture and history, and most Thai practice
it. The King is required by the Constitution to profess the
Buddhist faith and practice Buddhism. Nonetheless, ThailandTHAILANP
is a secular society with church and state clearly separate.
There are no restrictions on religious ceremonies, the
teaching of religion, or conversion from one religion to
another, but controversies occasionally arise.
In 1989 the Government moved against Santi Asoke, a
nonconformist Buddhist sect. Police arrested the founder of
the order, Rak Rakphong, also known as Photirak, in June, for
failing to comply with the Buddhist Sangha Supreme Council's
order to leave the monkhood. The charge against Photirak
under the Sangha Act, which sets forth the regulations of the
Buddhist hierarchy, carries a penalty of 6 months in jail or a
$40 fine. At year's end, hearings in the case were continuing
in a Bangkok court, although press coverage of the proceedings
was limited under a gag order.
In August Photirak was also charged with 79 counts of inciting
his followers to violate Article 208 of the Criminal Code by
representing themselves falsely as monks even though they were
not legally ordained. The 79 followers were also detained for
falsely dressing as monks before being released on bail. This
offense is punishable by a maximum of I year in jail or an $80
fine. On September 8, in a preliminary hearing, public
prosecutors deemed the evidence insufficient to sustain the
charge.
Under applicable regulations, missionaries are permitted to
live and proselytize in Thailand, as has been the case for
more than a century. Thailand does restrict the number of
missionaries and places limited restrictions on their
activities, but foreign clergy in the country are permitted to
preach freely. There is no legal or organized discrimination
against, or persecution of, those affiliated with minority
religions, such as Christianity or Islam. Religious
publishing, regardless of faith, is allowed. As with private
associations, religious institutions are registered by the
Government. Most senior Thai officials and political leaders
are at least nominally Buddhist. Muslims living in the four
southern provinces, which have majority Muslim populations,
have the right to have civil law cases decided by Muslim
judges under Koranic law.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Longstanding restrictions on the travel and place of residence
of Chinese and Vietnamese aliens living in Thailand remained
in place in 1989. The right of citizens to change their
residence or workplace was unabridged. The only limitations
on travel of persons other than aliens and refugees were
restrictions on entry into certain rural areas believed by the
Government to be used as bases by Communist insurgents. Apart
from prohibiting direct travel between Thailand and Cambodia,
the Government did not restrict emigration or foreign travel,
except by government officials. Passport applications by
single Thai women and children under the age of 14 must be
approved by the Department of Public Welfare. In addition, a
1985 statute criticized by some women's rights advocates
requires that female passport applicants under age 36 sit
throi'gh a series of interviews regarding their employment
records and finances. These provisions are intended to
prevent the export of children for sale and women for purposes
of prostitution. The Government has not revoked citizenship
for political reasons.
Thailand is not a party to international legal instruments
regarding refugees and their basic rights. However, it has
acted in the spirit of those agreements by providing first
asylum to approximately 710,000 refugees from Laos, Cambodia,
and Vietnam since 1975, and by permitting the temporary
relocation of 350,000 Khmer, classed as displaced persons, on
its side of the Thai-Cambodian border.
In 1988 the Government severely restricted first asylum and
began to push off boats carrying Vietnamese asylum seekers.
The push-off policy, which was never uniformly enforced, ended
in April 1989 after the Government committed itself to restore
first asylum at the preparatory conference on Indo-Chinese
refugees in Kuala Lumpur, and then at the UN International
Conference on Indo-China refugees in Geneva in June. There
were no confirmed reports of Thai Government pushoffs between
April and the end of December.
Attacks on Vietnamese asylum seekers by Thai pirates in the
Gulf of Thailand resulted in a dramatic upsurge in the number
of deaths, rapes, abductions, and missing persons in 1989.
The Government arrested 14 suspected pirates in 1989. By
year's end, two had been convicted and sentenced to long
prison terms.
Following the civil disorders in Rangoon in 1988, 3,000 to
4,000 Burmese students fled to the Thai-Burma border area.
Although most students reside in camps on the Burmese side of
the border, some live on the Thai side and in Bangkok on a
permanent basis. Thailand's official policy is to consider
undocumented Burmese as illegal immigrants subject to
deportation.
In practice, the Government usually has provided refuge to the
students when they have crossed the border fleeing military
hostilities or probable persecution. The Government has on
occasion arrested students and workers as illegal immigrants,
taken them to the border, and directed them to return to
Burma. These repatriations generally have been only to areas
in Burma controlled by ethnic minority insurgent groups
hostile to the Rangoon regime. There have been no confirmed
reports of forced repatriation into the hands of the Burmese
military or civil authorities. Those repatriated often return
to Thailand once there is no longer a Thai government presence
in the border area.
In late 1988 and early 1989, the Government initiated a
program to repatriate voluntarily Burmese students.
Approximately 160 students returned to Rangoon under Thai
military auspices. Some groups, including Amnesty
International and the ICRC, allege the returns were "less than
voluntary" and that the Government had pressured the students
to return to Rangoon. Some have alleged that a number of the
students who returned have disappeared and others have been
subject to human rights violations.
Lao asylum seekers in Thailand are screened by the UNHCR to
determine their eligibility for refugee status. The screening
program was revised following the 1989 International
Conference on Indo-Chinese refugees. Although there were
isolated reports of pushbacks of Lao asylum seekers by the
Government in 1989, there were fewer than in previous years.
Thailand is cooperating with UNHCR in a trilateral program
with Laos for the return of certain Lao asylum seekers.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
The Constitution provides a means for citizens peacefully to
change their government, and the political system has become
more open in the past 10 years. However, in practice there
are still impediments. The traditional military-bureaucratic
elite retains considerable influence and remains a
significant, possibly decisive, factor in determining who
governs Thailand. Constitutional processes are shallowly
rooted. Most politicians and political parties have little
contact with the population at the grass roots except during
election campaigns, and critics charge they more closely
reflect private business interests than the popular will.
Many Thais assume that the military, rather than abjuring
intervention in the political process, has simply chosen to
exert its influence from behind the scenes. In 1989 the
Government continued to exercise caution regarding policies
and actions of which the military would strongly disapprove.
Prime Minister Chatichai, himself a Member of Parliament and
the leader of the party which won the largest number of seats
in July 1988, is supported by parties holding roughly
three-fifths of the seats in the House. The appointed Senate
has limited legislative powers and is composed largely of
active duty and retired military and government officials. In
the 1988 national elections for the House, which were open and
free, 16 political parties fielded a record number of
candidates. The election resulted in the formation of a
six-party coalition Government. Opposition parties regularly
present opposing views both within the National Assembly and
in the mass media. The National Assembly almost invariably
has dissenting votes on legislation and procedural decisions.
Elections are based on universal suffrage for adults over the
age of 20, and are required by the Constitution at least once
every 4 years. The Government encourages voter turnout but
does not use either direct or indirect pressure to compel
voting. Voter turnout for both national and local elections
generally exceeds 50 percent, and in the 1988 Parliamentary
election reached a record 64 percent.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
The Government has responded to specific inquiries on human
rights matters from Amnesty International and the
International Commission of Jurists. With occasional
exceptions, it is generally willing to discuss human rights
problems with both domestic and international human rights
organizations. Also, human rights organizations of all kinds
are generally permitted to visit Thailand, meet with
appropriate government officials, and lobby for corrective
action.
Thai human rights organizations have had significant success
in recent years. They have, for example, successfully
encouraged the Government to tighten the discipline of police
and paramilitary forces fighting the Communist insurgency and
have brought pressure to alleviate widespread abuses in child
labor practices and in prisons. The number of nongovernmental
human rights organizations has increased. Local civil and
women's rights groups, active on a wide range of issues,
including combating prostitution and seeking improved
enforcement of labor laws, have devoted most of their efforts
to the promotion of women's rights and identifying and
correcting human rights violations.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Language, or Social Status
Thailand has made considerable progress, particularly
considering its limited resources, in accomplishing the
integration of its minorities. In 1988 the Government began a
comprehensive new plan for improving the living conditions of
hill tribes and providing more of them with the opportunity to
obtain citizenship and otherwise integrate into the
mainstream. Although much of the plan appears to move toward
integrating the hill tribes into Thai society while leaving
them physically in place, there are provisions for resettling
those living in restricted areas such as national forests.
Thai officials have stated that any such relocations would be
accomplished by persuasion rather than by force.
Ethnic Chinese, found throughout Thailand, with a
concentration in Bangkok, are relatively well assimilated, but
there is a tradition of popular resentment directed against
their trading and financial activities. This resentment has
never provoked violent perseution and is dissipating as the
Chinese are assimilated into Thai society.
Muslims are a significant minority and represent a majority in
Thailand's southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia. The
Government has put much effort into regionally targeted
development efforts and the creation of educational
opportunities in order to integrate Thai Muslims into Thai
society. However, Muslims continue to be underrepresented in
government service, the professions, and in higher education.
The community of Vietnamese which fled Indochina in the 1940 's
and 1950's to northeastern Thailand lives under a set of laws
and regulations restricting their movements, residences,
education, and occupation. Persons who travel illegally can
be imprisoned. Since 1980 these Vietnamese have been
forbidden to buy new cars. While some of these restrictions
are laxly enforced, the approximately 40,000 Vietnamese in
this category remain worried that their situation could change
for the worse. Those born in Vietnam have no chance of
obtaining Thai citizenship under existing laws, although their
children born in Thailand can do so in some cases if they pass
a background investigation. In December 1988, Prime Minister
Chatichai directed relevant government agencies to draft a law
providing for the naturalization of long-resident aliens and
their children. No draft has emerged to date, however, and
the law is likely to make slow progress through the
bureaucracy and Parliament. In the meantime, the continuation
of restrictions represents, in part, a conscious Thai policy
to discourage further emigration from Vietnam, and in part a
reaction to the belief that the Vietnamese represent a kind of
"fifth column" within Thailand, as it is widely believed that
many of these Vietnamese owe allegiance to the Communist
Government in Hanoi.
The status and role of women have improved steadily over the
past several years. With few exceptions, women have equal
legal rights, with specific guarantees of property and divorce
rights, and there are no allegations that these rights are
denied. Thai law, however, denies Thai nationality to
children born of alien fathers and Thai mothers, regardless of
place of birth. In March Prime Minister Chatichai approved
the establishment of a new body to promote women's rights, the
National Commission for the Promotion and Coordination of
Women" s Affairs .
Thai law contains prohibitions on both wife beating and child
abuse, and the Government has enunciated a policy emphasizing
ending physical abuse of women and children. Enforcement is
uneven, however. Human rights advocates point out that the
Thai legal system lacks any means to intervene short of
criminal prosecution of the abusive spouse or parent. Rules
of evidence often make prosecuting these cases difficult,
especially when the victims are children. For a combination
of these reasons and ingrained cultural attitudes, police are
frequently reluctant to pursue such cases. Women's and
children's rights groups actively and effectively assist
victims of abuse who come to their attention in pursuing legal
action. Reliable data on the extent of abuse of women and
children are not available. However, some critics believe
that wife beating is common.
Prostitution is a significant social problem in Thailand,
driven by a combination of longstanding cultural attitudes,
rural poverty, and the profits derived from the sex-based
component of the modern tourism industry. Despite periodic
well-publicized raids on brothels, overall enforcement of laws
prohibiting prostitution is lax, in part due to petty police
corruption. Children's rights advocates and the Government
differ on the number of minors engaged in prostitution, but
the official estimate is 30,000. Estimates of the total
number of women engaged in prostitution range up to 800,000.
Studies have shown that the majority of women engaged in
prostitution come from impoverished rural areas. In the case
of minors, the majority have been "sold" by their parents to
procurers or owners of brothels. Research by human rights
groups also suggests that most adults and minors engaged in
prostitution are not held against their will (although there
are such cases) and view the activity as a legitimate means of
improving the financial lot of their families. The social
stigma attached to money earned through prostitution has
decreased markedly in rural areas. Human rights advocates
also report that women engaged in prostitution are rarely
subjected to beatings or other violent mistreatment.
Women are well represented in the labor force and becoming
increasingly so in professional positions, particularly in the
commercial sector. According to the latest available Thai
government statistics, women accounted for almost 54 percent
of employment in trade, 47 percent in agriculture, 44 percent
in services, and 39 percent in industry. In general, women
are not barred legally from positions traditionally held by
men. However, women continue to be concentrated in
traditionally lower paid jobs, and there is a significant gap
in average salaries. No accurate statistics are available on
this gap, which appears to be narrowing. In rural areas, sex
stereotypes are more pronounced with respect to social roles.
These barriers are being modified as mass communications bring
different role models to even the most remote communities.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Labor Relations Act of 1975 affirmed the rights of
employees to form and join unions or employee associations of
their own choosing; decide on the constitutions and rules of
their associations and unions; formulate their views without
government or employer interference; confederate with other
unions; be protected against discrimination, dissolution,
suspension, or termination by any outside authority because of
union activities; and have employee representation in direct
negotiations with employers. No Thai law, including the 1975
Act, however, explicitly protects workers from discrimination
due to their participation in organizing new unions which have
not yet been registered.
The 1975 Act specifically withholds union rights from
government workers. Civil servants, therefore, may not
unionize, though they may and do form "employee associations,"
which are influential in determining salary scales, benefits,
and conditions of employment. All state enterprise workers
may unionize, except those at the Bank of Thailand and the
airports authority. The state enterprise sector is the
backbone of the labor movement in terms of the number of union
members and of the relative strength of its unions.
In addition to a prohibition on strikes in "essential
services" (defined to include ports, education,
transportation, fuel and energy, telecommunications,
hospitals, and waterworks), the right to strike is denied all
state enterprise workers. Nevertheless, strikes do occur in
the public sector and are usually tolerated by the
Government. In 1989 industrial peace prevailed in the state
enterprise sector, except for the ports, which saw work
stoppages in August and September to resist proposed
privatization of a new deep-sea port near Bangkok. Though
such strikes are prohibited, no action was taken against the
port unions. Another stoppage took place in June at the
Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, in protest of a
proposed change of board membership that also had strong
privatization implications. That stoppage ended when the
Government reconstituted the board of directors.
In most of the private sector, 24-hour notice to management is
the only legally mandated prerequisite to a strike. However,
the Government has the authority "to restrict the right to
strike whenever a strike would affect national security or
cause severe negative repercussions for the population at
large." The Government used this provision to end one strike
in the banking sector in 1989. It was also used to end
lockouts in two large manufacturing enterprises, which in both
cases had been precipitated by failed strikes protesting
working conditions. This in fact represented a pattern for
industrial disputes in the private sector: strikes leading to
lockouts terminated by government intervention, often then
leading to labor court cases filed by labor demanding an award
of severance pay to those workers who cease their employment
in the affected enterprise.
Thai labor has organized slowly since basic worker rights were
affirmed. In 1989 about 12 percent of the industrial work
force (defined by the Government as those working in
"enterprises," which represents less than 10 percent of the
total labor force) was unionized. Union membership and power
is heavily concentrated in the state enterprise sector. A
cultural factor in the slow growth of organized labor is the
historically benign and paternalistic relationship of
employers to employees. A provision of Thai labor law
permitting the formation of labor unions with as few as 10
members also contributed to a high degree of f ractionalization
at both the union and confederation levels. This manifested
itself in a steady increase in the number of registered unions
to alm.ost 600, while overall union membership remained
virtually constant at around 300,000. Critics believe that
this promotes the company unions beholden to management and
thus is an infringement of the right of association.
The law effectively guarantees unionists security of their
person and protection of their property, and there were no
allegations that Thai unionists were particularly subject to
violent incidents related to their union activities.
Thai unions generally operate independently of the Government
and other outside organizations. However, unionists, along
with employers, are represented in a variety of tripartite
committees charged with formulating and implementing national
labor policy. Despite a history of voluntary association and
common cause between unionists and military elements, the
importance of such connections continues to decline as the
relative political strength and independence of unions rose.
Leaders of the main labor federations recognized that
f ractionalization weakened their impact and continued to
coordinate on such national issues as minimum wage,
privatization, social security, "temporary" labor abuse, and
health and safety issues. Thai unions have tended to be
apolitical, in part because the 1975 Act withholds certain
protections in cases of "political" activity.
Continuing an effort begun in 1988 when the Chatichai
Government came to power, unionists frequently express their
views to the Government on key issues. Increases in the
minimum wage and salary levels for civil servants and state
enterprise workers went into effect in early 1989 after
extensive union lobbying late in 1988. Strongly supported by
labor, Thailand's Social Security Law passed the House of
Representatives in July, and awaits Senate consideration in
the spring of 1990. A legislative initiative to create a
labor ministry failed to be introduced into the Parliament in
1989 due to disagreement about its eventual scope. Two more
prominent unionists were appointed to the Senate in 1989, but
no unionists serve in the more influential House of
Representatives.
Unions have maintained relations freely with the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the Asean Trade Union
Congress, and various national labor bodies, including those
of the United States, the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan,
and Israel. Thai unionists have also participated in meetings
and seminars sponsored by the World Federation of Trade Unions,
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO) repeatedly has alleged the existence
of severe limitations on the right of association in
Thailand. Among these have been restrictions on the right to
strike in the private sector, the prohibition of unionization
by civil servants, the prohibition of strikes in state
enterprises, the inadequate legal protection of union
activists against dismissal from their jobs, and the
requirement that union leaders also be full-time workers in
the plants or industries which they represent. The AFL-CIO
has also cited alleged widespread abuse of "temporary" labor
and reported abuses of child labor. The U.S. Government has
found that a basis for many of these allegations exists and
accordingly in 1989 continued to encourage the Thai Government
to improve worker rights.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
All Thai workers are guaranteed the right of collective
bargaining. The law prescribes procedures to ensure employee
participation in the determination of working conditions,
wages, and benefits. In recent years, such bargaining has
focused more on benefit packages and working conditions than
on wages. There were no instances of industrywide collective
bargaining agreements. Both labor and management usually seek
to resolve potential differences informally before turning to
formal collective bargaining. The 1975 Labor Relations Act
defined the mechanisms for such negotiations and for
conciliation and arbitration under government auspices in
cases under dispute. The conciliation and arbitration
procedures are mandatory for state enterprises.
A system of labor courts implemented in 1980 exercises
judicial review over most aspects of labor law. Workers may
also seek redress for their grievances from a tripartite labor
relations committee under the Ministry of Interior. The law
does not fully protect workers against antiunion
discrimination and retribution. The law requiring union
leaders also to work full time in the plants or industries
which they represent tends to make them vulnerable to employer
action in cases of conflict, especially as they have no
explicit protection against dismissal for union activities
prior to the formal registration of their union. The Thai
Court Law of 1980 prohibits "unfair dismissal," but Thai
courts have not been uniform in their interpretation of this
law.
Employers continued to have at their disposal significant
means to prevent the unionization of their enterprises.
Employees who were determined to have been dismissed
"unfairly" by the labor court were seldom reinstated.
Instead, there was a widespread reliance on severance pay as
compensation to resolve labor disputes. Additionally, the
common use of "temporary" or contract labor was also an
effective means of discouraging or preventing unionization.
An Interior Ministry announcement on temporary employment
issued in October sought to enhance labor protection and to
improve benefits for temporary workers by eliminating the
legal distinction between temporary and permanent workers. By
year's end, however, it was unclear what practical effect the
announcement would have, and many unionist were highly
critical of the change.
There are several special export processing zones (EPZ's) in
Thailand, with many more planned to stimulate further the
growth of export-oriented industry. No separate labor
legislation is applicable within the export processing zones,
where wages and working conditions in fact usually exceed
national norms. There are trade unions and collective
bargaining in Thai EPZ's.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The Constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor except
in the case of national emergency, war, or martial law. There
were no allegations of forced or compulsory labor in 1989.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
Child labor continued to be a source of considerable domestic
and foreign criticism in 1989, including from the AFL-CIO.
Foreign interest groups have focused heavily on the
exploitation of working children. Thai law prohibits the
employment of children under age 12, and limits their
employment between the ages of 12 and 15 to "light work."
Employment of children at night (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) is
prohibited. Complaints against Thailand alleged that Thai
standards are low and that ttieir enforcement is inadequate.
There was no substantial new evidence of the employment of
children under age 12 in 1989. However, there continued to be
strong anecdotal indications that children over age 12 were
employed in dangerous, unhealthful, or otherwise harmful
circumstances. Occasional fires or accidents involving
children working or living in factories and construction sites
have concentrated public attention on deficiencies.
Thai efforts to correct these problems again were hampered in
1989 by inadequate budget resources for inspection and
enforcement, and by low penalties and fines which did not
sufficiently deter potential violators. The Cabinet,
acknowledging the seriousness of child labor problems,
approved a threefold increase in manpower for the Department
of Labor division responsible for child labor issues.
Implementatation of the increase began in late 1989.
Additionally, large increases in manpower for general labor
inspection were also approved and funded. The Cabinet in June
also approved increasing the level of compulsory education
from 6 to 9 years, though implementation of this decision had
not begun by year's end.
A revision of Thai labor protection regulations applicable to
working children in the nonagricultural sector, approved in
principle by the Cabinet and expected in 1988, was still
pending in 1989. The key feature of the proposed revision was
an immediate increase in the minimum age to 13 and a long-term
increase to 15. In addition to improved inspection and
enforcement expected from the manpower increases noted above
and the increase in the level of compulsory education, the
Government, led personally by Prime Minister Chatichai,
initiated a broad campaign to sensitize the public to the
problems of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
Working conditions vary widely in Thailand. Medium and large
factories, which produce most of Thailand's export goods,
generally work 8-hour shifts under conditions which meet
international standards. Health and safety standards are
maintained voluntarily, minimum wages usually are exceeded,
children are not employed, and employees enjoy various
additional benefits. However, in Thailand's large informal
sector, which is susceptible to minimal inspection,
enforcement, and educational efforts by the Government,
internationally recognized health and safety standards are
generally little understood or upheld. As government health
and safety initiatives take firmer hold in larger enterprises,
the Government will need to develop special outreach programs
to bring both education and enforcement into the informal and
small enterprise sector. Government programs for industrial
safety have relied primarily on informational campaigns and
voluntary compliance. While the programs themselves have been
praised as among the best in the region, more resources are
required to meet health and safety challenges posed by rapid
industrialization. The national force of labor inspectors,
even after the increase approved in 1989 is fully implemen'-ed,
will remain inadequate to the task of investigating and
pursuing all potential violations under Thai law, especially
in the absence of complaints. Another impediment is the fact
that many businesses in violation of the law are often
unregistered, evade taxes, and operate outside the sphere of
government inspection and regulation. The cooperative rather
than coercive nature of Thai labor inspection and enforcement
practices is criticized by some observers as being ineffectual.
Unskilled laborers who pour into Bangkok from the far poorer
countryside often are willing to work at less than the minimum
wage ($3 per day in the Bangkok area, less in most other
provinces). In rural Thailand too, many workers are also
willing to work for less than the minimum wage. The
established minimum wage levels are adequate to provide
workers and their families a decent standard of living, given
Thailand's level of economic development. Government
officials continued to report that large groups of
laborers—estimated at about one-third of the total—received
less than the legal minimum wage, and to exhort labor
inspectors to enforce prescribed rates more effectively.
The Government has yet to give full legal effect to the
48-hour workweek. Commercial employees are not permitted to
exceed 54 hours per week; employees in industry 48 hours per
week; those in "dangerous" work 42 hours per week.
Transportation workers are restricted to no more than 8 hours
per day.
