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Bangkok, 20 October 2020 – Protection International is issuing an urgent call to the government of Thailand to act and prevent another killing of land rights defenders in Thailand and mitigate the serious death threats against the members of Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand (SPFT). These threats are due to the intense land disputes between communal peasant communities, multinational companies and State agencies.
The latest incident occurred in the early morning of 20 October 2020 in the SantiPattana Community. A man, believed to be a multinational mining company’s employee, pointed a firearm at the head of a member of the SantiPattana community, Mr. Dam Onmuang, in an attempt to kill him. However, the gunman drove away, as Mr. Onmuang luckily dodged the shot.
The perpetrator eventually surrendered himself at Bang Sawan Police Station, where Mr. Onmuang and members of the community went to report him for attempted homicide. The police are now trying to mediate the case between parties.
The SPFT, an umbrella organisation comprised of 5 communities living and farming public land that advocate for land reform and self-determination over natural resources, has repeatedly faced serious human rights violations: members have been murdered, attacked, threatened and criminalised.
The Southern Peasants Federation of Thailand (SPFT), officially formed in 2008, is an umbrella organisation comprised of five communities (Klongsai Pattana, Nam Daeng Pattana, Phoem Sap and Khao Mai in Chai Buri District, and Santi Pattana, all located in Phra Saeng District) that live and farm public land while advocating for land reform and self-determination over natural resources. The SPFT is also a member organisation of the People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-Move) which has advocated at the national level for community land and natural resources management by marginalised people in Thailand.
Currently, around 592 families are members of the SPFT, who are former landless peasants and workers who gathered in newly settled communities under the concept of Community Land Titles. The lands where the communities are situated is either owned by state agencies, such as the Agricultural Land Reform Office and the Royal Forest Department, or it has been unused for a long period of time, with titles claimed by the private sector, especially palm oil companies.
Over the past ten years, Women and Men Human Rights Defenders from the SPFT have been confronted with violence in many ways, including murder, forcible eviction, arbitrary arrests and detentions, property and crops destruction, intimidation, as well as judicial harassment. All communities reported receiving threats by unidentified armed groups, believed to be connected to palm oil companies, local influential groups or other business sectors.
Four members of Klong Sai Pattana Community (two of them women) lost their lives because of their struggle for land reform and self-determination over natural resources:
On 8 April 2016, gunshots fired by an unidentified man seriously injured Mr. Supoj Kansong. Many other SPFT leaders and prominent land rights defenders are still receiving death threats. Among them:
Ms. Natthaphan Saengthap, WHRD and a member of SPFT women’s committee and the Santi Pattana community committee. She is also a member of the sub-committee under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment established under the governmental committee to resolve issues concerning the People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-Move). She has regularly faced intimidation as a result of her role defending the community and standing up for land rights against the palm oil industry.
The SantiPattana community is one of five communities within the Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand who have fought for the right to land and settled as the "new community" in 2006 in an area that used to belong to the United Palm Oil Industry Public Company Limited. After the land concession by the palm oil plantation area expired, the SPFT seized the empty land in order to re-allocate usable space to landless farmers and labourers from the area.
Since then, local mafia groups connected with the companies have harassed the SantiPattana community members. The criminal court already issued a decision that the palm oil company has illegitimately obtained the land title in that area, but authorities refuse to take action against the company. In contrast, the civil court made a contradictory decision in favour of company and ordered 12 members of community to leave the land and pay compensations to the company. Currently, there is a case pending at the administrative court to review whether or not the land title originally issued to the company is illegal. Until then, there should be no legal action by any party against the community members.
However, on 13 September 2020, around noon, a group of men suspected to be involved with the local influential groups entered the community land managed by the SPFT and attempted to seize the land that belongs to the SantiPattana Community.
Representatives of the Santi Pattana Community requested to have peaceful negotiations with the group, who did not agree to negotiate. The group went ahead and constructed a hut in the area without consultation and consent. The encroachers have left the community while the construction remains built in the community’s land.
After the incident, there have been inquiries regarding Ms. Saengthap’s whereabouts. As recent as 2 October 2020, random men have been asking questions about Ms. Saengthap to her family members.
Mr. Pianrat Boonrit is a land rights defender involved in a dispute with the Thaibuanthong Oil Palm Company. He is currently sitting on the governmental committee to resolve issues pertaining to the People’s Movement for a Just Society as well as a subsequent sub-committee under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. On February 2015, he was detained, incommunicado, at Surat Thani Army central prison for three days following the military coup in 2014 for “attitude adjustment camp”.
Mr. Teeranet Chaisuwan, one of the SPFT steering committee members, was targeted due to his role in advocating for national land policies with the People’s Movement for a Just Society. He has joined Khlong SaiPattana Community in 2009 and he has been member of the SPFT executive committee since 2016. Currently, he is a member of the governmental committee to resolve issues pertaining to P-Move, as well as a subsequent sub-committee under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and the sub-committee on abandoned private land and public land use under the Ministry of Interior.
The Khlong Sai Pattana community is involved in a land dispute with oil palm plantations. A campaign of harassment and violence has been going on against members of the community since 2009, which led to the killing of four women human rights defenders.
On 10 October 2020, members of the SPFT told Mr. Chaisuwan that the police of the Chaiyaburi District, Surat Thani Province, have inquired about his whereabouts. The police, suspected to have links with the influential groups connected to the companies, asked where Mr. Chaisuwan and another member, Pianrat Boonrit, have been before 9 October 2020. The police also reportedly asked if Mr. Chaisuwan and SPFT members would join the pro-democracy protest in Bangkok in 14 October 2020. The same member also said that Mr. Chaisuwan and Pianrat should be very careful, as the gunmen have been monitoring them closely.
Mr. Pratheep Rakhanthong is a member of the SPFT Management Committee and a member of the Khlong Sai Pattana community. He is one of the high-profile members that has been receiving death threats for the past few years.
In 2015, a bounty of 300,000 Thai Baht (approximately €8600) was allegedly offered for the killing of Mr. Rakhanthong, as well as Mr. Supot Kansong and Mr. Chaisuwan. Mr. Chaisuwan has made a number of formal complaints to the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand regarding the situation of the Khlong Sai Pattana community. Mr. Kansong performs public awareness-raising and campaigning on social media regarding alleged human rights violations committed against the Khlong Sai Pattana community. On 8 April 2016, Mr Supoj Kansong was seriously injured outside Khong Sai Pattana community, Chai Buri district, Surat Thani province as a result of gunshots fired by an unidentified man.