Once again, Thailand has been ranked by Freedom House as 'Not Free' due to chronic human rights violations, suppressed freedom of expression and a military-sponsored draft constitution.
On 2 February 2017, Freedom House published its annual report titled Freedom in the World 2017: Populists and Autocrats: The Dual Threat to Global Democracy, a review of the freedom situation worldwide. According to the report, 2016 marked the 11th consecutive year of decline in global freedom since it has been threatened by populist and nationalist policies in many countries.
Meanwhile, as China and Russia continue to exert a significant influence on their neighboring region, authoritarian ideas appear to be constantly reinforced.
The report states that the reason why Thailand remains in the category of ‘Not free’ country is mainly because of the alleged human rights violations and a culture of impunity. It also points out that the ruling junta is responsible for this poor ranking since it rejects any form of criticism against itself and would prosecute anyone who commit such an action.
“Thailand’s military junta, which seized power in a 2014 coup, maintained its grip on power by prosecuting even the slightest criticism under an array of restrictive laws. In this constrained atmosphere, voters approved a draft constitution that guaranteed the military outsized influence over civilian politics even after general elections scheduled for 2017,” read the report.
This year, Thailand scored six out of seven in the political rights index (one depicts the most free and seven represents the least free) and five out of seven on civil liberties index.
Thailand has historically been classified as a “Partly Free” country by the Freedom House. However, as soon as a junta seize the power, Thailand is classified as a ‘Not Free’ country. In 2007, Thailand was also ranked in the ‘Not Free’ category following the 2006 coup d’état.
