Major concerns include judicial intervention in politics, repression of free expression, and a mixed record in regard to refugees and asylum seekers.
“Prime Minister Anutin should take concrete measures to reverse Thailand’s backsliding on human rights,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW said yesterday (Feb 4).
“Successive Thai governments pledged to promote and protect human rights, yet repression and abuse continue unabated,” she added.
In the 529-page World Report 2026, its 36th edition, HRW reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Philippe Bolopion writes that breaking the authoritarian wave sweeping the world is the challenge of a generation. With the human rights system under unprecedented threat from the Trump administration and other global powers, Bolopion calls on rights-respecting democracies and civil society to build a strategic alliance to defend fundamental freedoms.
- After many years of military rule, Thailand’s elected governments have been short-lived due to judicial intervention. On Aug 29, 2025, the Constitutional Court dismissed then-Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, alleging her leaked telephone call with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, when both countries were at the brink of war, was an “ethical breach.”
- Thai authorities impose tight restrictions on critical speech: Almost 2,000 people face criminal prosecution for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful public assembly. Prime Minister Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party opposes proposals to reform lese majesté (insulting the monarchy) and grant amnesty to those charged with such offenses.
- Thai authorities arrested and forcibly returned asylum seekers and refugees to countries where they are likely to face persecution, in total disregard of concerns from the United Nations, foreign governments, and human rights groups. On Feb 27, 2025, the Paetongtarn government sent 40 Uyghur men to China.
- In a major positive step, starting from October 2025, Myanmar refugees living in camps along the border are allowed to work legally.
Thailand should use its membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council, starting in 2025, to promote human rights both at home and abroad, HRW said.
To read Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2026 chapter on Thailand, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026/country-chapters/thailand.
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Thailand, please visit: