Reflections on Thai Civil Society Kepa, August 2015

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1 Reflections on Thai Civil Society Kepa, August 2015 In this series of papers, Kepa publishes reflections on the state of civil society in the countries in which it operates (Cambodia, Laos, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Tanzania,, Vietnam). These reflections, based on Kepa s own work with its partners, member organisations and their partners in the country, provide an overview and highlight some current issues and developments in the role of civil society. Civil society consists of many different actors from small informal activist groups to big institutionalised organisations. In these reflections, civil society organisation (CSO) is used as an overall concept to cover all these actors. The term NGO is used only if it specifically refers to registered, institutionalised non-governmental organisations, while CBO stands for communitybased organisation. INGO refers to international non-governmental organisations. Kepa in In the countries of the Mekong region (Cambodia, Laos,, Vietnam), Kepa operates from a regional office based in Bangkok. Kepa Mekong forms partnerships with civil society actors to support them in influencing development policy processes in the region. Partnerships are linked to Kepa s key policy themes: development cooperation, global economic policies and climate justice. In, Kepa has mainly been working on two issues: global economic policies and climate justice. Kepa has cooperated with Northeastern Foundation (NET) and Thai Climate Justice Working Group (TCJ), a coalition of CSOs currently hosted by Focus on the Global South. Our cooperation with NET is on climate mitigation and adaptation with a particular emphasis on energy planning and innovation, capacity building for rural farmers and grassroots engagement in national decision making; but NET also works on natural resources and corporate accountability. Our cooperation with TCJ is on climate mitigation effort sharing. TCJ debunks false solutions to climate change and monitors key officials meetings on climate change both in and at international level as well as voices the concerns of poor and marginalized groups in climate policy formulation. Kepa Mekong has supported several regional initiatives and networks, as many of the development challenges have common regional dimensions. Among them are ASEAN Civil Society Conference / ASEAN Peoples' Forum (ACSC/APF) and People's COP in Asia (started in 2013). These events have drawn wide participation from all Mekong countries including Myanmar. Historical background The emergence of modern CSOs in had its roots in the democracy movement, spearheaded by student activists, intellectuals and the middle class who fought against military

2 governments and injustice during the s. The first Thai CSO, Thai Rural Reconstruction Movement, was established in However, volunteer activism and CSOs started to grow only after the democratic uprising of the mid-1970s, and consolidated their position in the 1980s. During 1990s, through the process of economic development changing from rural and agricultural based economy to urban-industrialization, Thai CSOs have also changed their focus from rural development services to be advocacy and campaign movement against mega projects and social and environmental injustices. CSOs had a role in organising grassroots groups, particularly those people affected by governmental development projects, and they acted as adviser and supporters for the grassroots. In this period, CSOs received good recognition and considered as critical voice in challenging governmental policies and being important part in consolidating democracy, particularly through formation of the 1997 constitution, which was regarded as 'people s' constitution. Despite their diversity of sectors and issues, Thai CSOs generally had a similar stand on the development paradigm and a shared political understanding. However, this unified position was broken down after the 2006 coup and the emerged political fighting between country s two political poles: one representing anti-prime Minister Thanksin Shinawatara and another one anticoup and pro-thanksin. These two contrasting political orientations affected also Thai CSOs and they became fragmented, especially from 2006 until The division between Thai CSOs worsened further following another coup d'etat in May Beginning in October 2013, the country experienced country-wide protests demanding the resignation of the then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of Thaksin, and her government. Growingly violent with shootings, bomb attempts and grenades thrown at protesters, the Royal Thai Army staged a coup d'etat and declared Martial Law. General Prayuth Chan-ocha became the country's new prime minister and established a reform council with a mandate to carry out extensive national reforms and to approve a new constitution. However, there is no fixed time frame for all these works and the future of the country is largely uncertain. Roughly half of CSOs rejects the legitimacy of the military government and distances themselves from all of the processes let by it. The other half seeks to exert their voices in the processes as much as they can, believing that the cost of not participating in the processes is greater than doing. This is an overly generalized picture. A closer look reveals a much more sophisticated situation. Most CSOs do apparently engage in the process in one way or another directly or indirectly on selective few issues or all issues -- toward targeted authorities or all authorities. Main actors in Thai civil society The term civil society can be understood in several ways in. However, different kinds of NGOs are the main actors of civil society. Many of them are registered as foundations, but several of them also prefer to work as informal groups. Exact data of the total number of CSOs in is not available. It has been estimated that there are at least 20,000 organizations, but many CSOs have a very short life span, fading away as quickly as they surface.

3 The Coordinating Committee on Rural Development (NGO-CORD, later renamed NGO-COD) and the Assembly of NGOs for the Protection and Conservation of Environment and Natural Resources (Env. NGOs) are two of the earliest and biggest established umbrella organisations of Thai NGOs. However, both have a rather loose structure and mandate in coordinating its members. Furthermore, besides its headquarters there are regional NGO-CODs in each region (North, Northeast, and South), and they may be independent from the central NGO-COD. Thai NGOs usually coordinates among themselves on the basis of a shared issue or by belonging to a network, usually informally set up one. Many NGOs in are working on health issues, such as HIV/Aids, health information and basic service provision at the community level, as well as national health policy advocacy. Another main group comprises environmental NGOs working on issues of natural resource management and community rights. Some work on pollution issues, protesting government plans to promote heavy and polluting industry, including coal-fired power plants. There are many groups working on agricultural issues. These NGOs promote sustainable or organic farming practices. They have urged the government to ban the importation of dangerous chemicals and to provide support to small-scale farmers. There are also NGOs working on human rights issues, such as ethnic minority rights, migrant labour rights, freedom of media and supporting people affected by the ongoing violence in three Southern provinces of the country. In addition to NGOs, people s organisations and grassroots movements are considered as other main actors of Thai civil society. Community-based organisations (CBOs) are known in as people s organisations. They are established at the grassroots level, run by community people and based on voluntarism. They often get support from NGOs, for example in terms of information sharing, consolidating community concern, media contact and capacity building. Some of the strongest people s organisations and their networks (e.g. the Assembly of the Poor or Fisher Folk network) have been able to influence national policy-making processes. Another group of civil society is made up of think tanks and academia. They are able to help other civil society actors to analyse issues of concern in a deeper and more systematic way. There are many of them. An example of them is the Drug Studies Group (composed of pharmacist and pharmaceutical lecturers) is a health specialist CSO monitoring drug related issues. There are also several environmental think tanks and Thai NGOs that have a long tradition of working with the academia, as well universities as research institutions. Government-civil society relations Despite a relatively open and free environment for civil society in, critical Thai CSOs have often faced hostile reactions from almost all Thai governments. With the political turbulence and extreme polarisation in the society, space of civil society has been somewhat limited. News coverage from 2006 until the 2011 elections was largely occupied by debates on political conflict, providing only limited space to raise other issues for public debate. The 2011 elections seemed to help to stabilise Thai political situation, to reduce tension among the colour-coded political groups and to return public space for other issues as well.

4 Under the administration of Yinluck Shinawatra from the Puea Thai party gigantic megaprojects generated a tremendous amount of debt, several groups of civil society, think tanks and media have voiced comments and criticism on the budget spending and populist policies. They warned about the risk of getting into high public debt, unsustainability and questioning impacts of these projects. However, the civil space has shrunk significantly after the Thai Army came into power in May 2014 with Martial Law declared over the country. All public gatherings are required to obtain prior permission from the Army. Although in practice this does not always apply to all types of public gatherings, a number of human rights and political activities have been ordered by the government to be cancelled sometimes in a threatening manner. Between May 2014 and January 2015, a total of 669 individuals have been arrested or summoned. Among these, 376 were arrested and 123 faced with criminal charge. Due to the restricted environment, many NGOs decided to remain silent and exercise self-censorship on such sensitive issues as freedom of speech and democratisation. Current issues and latest developments Environment and natural resource management have become increasingly critical issues as competition between industry and local communities over accessing and utilising the limited natural resources has been getting tenser. During these years, several activists and community leaders, who have been active and spoken out about destructive and suspicious investments, have ended up being killed. The legal procedures to condemn the responsible persons for these political murders have been very long, weak and doubtful. Furthermore, the Appeal Court of the country acquitted the previously convicted person who had ordered the killing of Charoean Wat-aksorn. He was a key leader of the Bor Nok movement fighting against the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Prachop Kirikhan province. The decision came as extremely bitter news for civil society. There is an urgent need for better protection, redress and remedy measures for Thai human rights defenders and environmentalists. Because Thai industry needs to have new cheap and abundant resources and labour, many big Thai corporations seek investments overseas, especially in the neighbouring countries. However, the investments of have led to human rights violations in several countries. Some Thai CSOs have started to criticise the role of Thai corporations and to demand responsibility for these cross-border investments. Networking between Thai and other Mekong region CSOs have been improved. Additionally, freedom of speech over the issue of Lese Majesty Law is still a problem and a real threat for the Thai civil society. Article 112 of this law says: "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years. Accused activists were jailed and some of them were sentenced for years in prison without the right to parole.

5 Funding for civil society actors CSO financing has been drying up in for several years, since many international donors withdrew from the country when it achieved middle-income country status. Many CSOs depend on external funding amounting around per cent of their budgets. They have lately faced difficulties to secure their financial sustainability and many of them have decided to close down. As critical CSOs have not received funding from the Thai government, public funding resources are not evenly distributed among the Thai CSOs. Public funding institutions such as the Thai Health Promotion Fund have been able to meet, to some extent, the financial needs of Thai CSOs. This fund was established after the enactment of the Thai Health Bill in 2001 and its revenue comes from tobacco and alcohol taxes. Because the funding is restricted to health only, some local CSOs have included health issues in their work in order to receive funding. In 2010, ten CSO pilot projects on climate change adaptation also received support from the fund. Fostering social enterprise is another strategy of Thai CSOs in order to achieve financial sustainability. For instance, the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), a major CSO, has operated restaurant and hotel chains to generate income. For small CSOs, however, such business ideas are difficult to implement. A weak and uncritical CSO community in would not be detrimental only to but to certain extent also to the other countries in the Mekong region. In the absence of a strong and critical civil society in the neighbouring countries, Thai CSOs have a key role in ensuring that the development actors policies in the region are kept under scrutiny. Role of INGOs Since is a middle-income country, INGOs present in the country generally target the most marginalised groups such as refugee or migrant populations, or collaborate with regional CSO networks. Major international NGOs such as Oxfam and Action Aid work towards strengthening the advocacy capacity of local CSOs. However, development organisations tend to use as their regional base and only operate minor programmes in the country. They mostly provide funding to their partners and maintain a low profile. is also a hub for several international research, watchdog and campaign NGOs, such as International Rivers, which is an expert on water management issues, or the Bank Information Centre, which monitors the policies and performance of multilateral development banks. These expert organisations have contributed greatly to local CSOs in the country by producing information, analysing policies and creating connections with other civil society groups in the North. As they possess in-depth expertise in specific sectors, they can consolidate local concerns and realities to tackle international policies. This kind of work done by foreign CSOs is generally appreciated by local CSOs and considered as an added value. The sharing of expertise is seen as one of the best practices in cooperation between local CSOs and INGOs. However, it must be done so that it ensures the participation of

6 local CSOs and that the working methods ensure that they receive the necessary expertise and know-how. Thai CSOs are careful of retaining their independence and their right to determine their own agenda. Finnish CSOs in In 2015, there were 13 Finnish CSOs and Finnish foundations supporting local Thai partners and implementing projects in. The Finnish CSOs either target the most marginalised groups in the country or support the various regional CSO networks based in. In addition to the national projects in, FIDA and SASK have regional programmes in which is one of the target countries. Name of Finnish CSO Name of project/thai partner(s) Number of projects in Sector(s) of work FIDA International Educational and coordination programme in Southeast Asia/ Full Gospel Churches of 1 Capacity building, tsunami reconstruction Finnish Refugee Council Karen Women s Organization, Karen Youth Organization 1 Burmese refugees Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland SASK International Transport Federation 1 Labour unions ABILIS Foundation Asia-Pacific Network for Independent Living Centres, the Foundation to Encourage the Potential of Disabled Persons, Association of Blind, Freedom Wheelchair 5 The disabled KIOS Foundation for Women 2 Gender equality and human rights protection for

7 Law and Rural Development - Forward grassroots and ethnic women Siemenpuu Foundation Foundation for Ecological Recovery, Focus on the Global South, Thai Working Group for Climate Justice 2 Energy & environment, climate change, buen vivir The Free Church Federation in Finland Karen Baptist Convention 1 Rehabilitation and education of the disabled people Interpedia Finnish Adoption Association Project L.I.F.E 1 Supporting the education of poor children Interpedia Finnish Adoption Association Halleluiah Dormitory 1 Supporting the education of minority children in Northern Plan Finland Foundation Plan International 1 Strengthening civil society to act for better child protection FELM Alliance Anti-Trafficking 1 : Supporting the victims of human trafficking Godfathers of Ban Mai Sawan home and Bethlehem home 1 Support of the pupil homes in Northern FinnWatch Empowering Burmese Migrant Workers/ Migrant Worker's Rights Network 1 Burmese migrant workers

Reflections on Myanmar Civil Society

Reflections on Myanmar Civil Society Kepa, March 2015 In this series of papers, Kepa publishes reflections on the state of civil society in the regions in which it operates (Mekong region and regions around