Feature

11 Mar 2024
People without a home and people without a place of shelter in Khon Kaen – many have to live lives in the public park surrounding Bueng Kaen Nakhon reservoir. Besides mutual encouragement among the homeless to resolve to fight for a life, Ban Home Saen Suk (Khon Kaen Homeless Commune) is a shelter that helps revive the potential of its members to get established to the point that they don’t have to go back to being homeless.
4 Mar 2024
In Khon Kaen's Nam Phong district, a natural marsh covering 600 rai of land which once served as a fishing area and water source for agriculture became a holding pond for factory wastewater discharge. It became so polluted between 1992 - 1998 that fish stocks began dying. Factories in the area have been repeatedly ordered to close, but they later reopened and the marsh remains polluted.
20 Feb 2024
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangkok's homeless population has been rising. With many of them elderly, advocates and experts now say raising the elderly pension is one solution. Meanwhile, imposing a wealth tax could help combat housing insecurity.
19 Feb 2024
The latest results of PISA have once again grabbed attention in Thailand after the performance of Thai students hit an unprecedented low over the two decades. Poor performance has persisted for generations and serves as just the visible tip of an iceberg where underlying problems are frozen. Topped with the passed largest allocation to Education Ministry, this raises doubts in society as to why the quality of Thai education continues to tread water.
16 Feb 2024
Many people with disabilities, especially those with spinal cord issues, suffer from pressure sores. Small abrasions can become infected, open wounds, which can make rehabilitation more difficult and make people with disabilities more dependent on others. Meanwile, securing welfare to cover the cost of medicine, rehabilitation and the use of medical facilities remains an issue.
8 Feb 2024
With at least 1,947 people facing prosecution for participating in the pro-democracy movement and 25 people detained pending trial or appeal, a network of civil society organisations is running a campaign to introduce to parliament an amnesty bill for pro-democracy activists and protesters, which they say is the first step towards reconciliation.
29 Jan 2024
The Thai government's plan for a carbon credit programme to achieve carbon neutrality has raised concerns among the civil society that it will lead to a new wave of conflict over land rights and that forest area will be handed over to the private sector.
16 Jan 2024
In August 2023, a network of civil society organizations launched the #ConforAll campaign for a referendum on constitutional amendments. After the network was told by the Election Commission that all signatures must be collected on paper, volunteers across the country launched their own campaigns to get people to sign the petition, gaining the ConforAll campaign 212,139 signatures within three days. For their effort in the campaign, Prachatai names these citizen volunteers our 2023 Persons of the Year.
26 Dec 2023
On 5 September 2014, five men were arrested and held in a military camp for questioning. Military officers claimed that they were the "Men in Black" firing war weapons on Tanao Road during the 10 April 2010 crackdown on Red Shirt protests. Although charges against them were later dismissed due to unreliable witness testimony, the men are still left in uncertainty as they have been indicted for terrorism and are to go on trial next year.
26 Dec 2023
Take a look back at the 14 May 2023 general election, now seen as a watershed event in Thai politics after the Move Forward party came out top of the poll and Pheu Thai polled second for the first time in its history. Many academics said that structural changes and and demands for a welfare state has become the new political normal. Meanwhile young working class voters no longer believe in the old political elite network, instead looking to politicians who offer inclusive policies that can provide them with long-term security.
12 Dec 2023
In a sewing factory on the Thai border, migrant workers are working in abusive condition and being paid less than minimum wage to sew garments. Those who demand a fair wage were fired. Their names were put on a blacklist, and other factory owners were told to not hire them. Now, they are filing a lawsuit with a court in the UK against clothing brands for ordering products from a factory that used forced labour and paid unfair wages.

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