Journal of Human Rights and Peace Studies

Protecting the rights of human trafficking victims: Some issues in Vietnam

2024-06-03T13:40:24+07:00

The topic will research legal issues in protecting the rights of victims of human trafficking in Vietnam in the 2013 human trafficking prevention law. The research will use the method of synthesizing and analyzing documents. The main finding of this article is that the Government has actively ratified commitments at the international and regional levels to prevent and combat human trafficking and has made many commitments to protect the rights of victims. However, there are still some limitations in the current human trafficking prevention law, including some gaps and inconsistencies between Vietnam's human trafficking prevention law and international commitments which Vietnam has signed, creating several inadequacies for law enforcement agencies in implementing them. This article will analyze the shortcomings in Vietnamese law on protecting the rights of victims as well as ways to improve the rights protection of victims of trafficking more effectively.

Irregular migration and informal employment status: A human rights dichotomy shifted from migrant worker parents to migrant children in Thailand’s construction project

2024-05-28T22:06:33+07:00

Despite being a vital component of economic growth, the female migrant workers and their children staying in the construction sites in Thailand face perilous challenges. While female workers experience discriminatory wages, inadequate documentation, and limited access to basic rights, the children of these migrant workers are not covered by public services guaranteed in the Thai national legal framework for migrant laborers. The children as the key dependents of the migrant workers in the construction sector face difficulties accessing basic rights. Using the conceptual framework of irregular migrants, status-lessness, and rightlessness this study analyzes the basic protection deficits, risks, and needs of migrant children living in construction sectors in Thailand. This documentary research summarizes studies, reports, and academic papers in the last several years covering migrant children’s journey from Myanmar and Cambodia and life in the construction site camps in Thailand. The study found that their identity as ‘children’ is largely ignored due to their parents’ identity as irregular migrants, therefore migrant children in Thailand's construction projects are deprived of their basic human rights such as education, healthcare, and protection.

We Have Changed, Have You Changed Yourself Yet? Global Political Philosophy in the Political Movement of Thai Youth and Thai State, 2020-2023

2024-05-20T16:32:55+07:00

Scholars in global political philosophy have seen changes in citizens all over the world to transnational activities. All phenomena lead to a change to a new framework of political philosophy based not on nation-states but on concepts of globalization or internationalization. This article exemplifies this change by revealing that the political movements of Thai youth between 2020-2023 were based on “universal moral values” like those in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: freedom of speech and freedom from fear, protection by the rule of law, and the axiom that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The article also tries to demonstrate that the Thai state cannot adapt. Imprisonment has been used as a tool for resisting changes, especially those expressed through general elections. This has resulted in a cross-party coalition government formation and the impending dissolution of the most popular political party.

Charting History: The Influence of Malay Muslim Elites in Political Mobilization and the Democratic Movement in Thailand's Deep South

2023-11-23T17:27:32+07:00

The purpose of this article is to delve into the historical context of Patani to understand the evolution of electoral campaigns and political participation in the deep southern region of Thailand. The frequent coups in Bangkok are considered a significant contributor to the conflict in the lower South. This article posits a critical debate: in a Thai state marked by nationalism and centralized power, individual acts of protest or resistance against the government are unlikely to succeed when undertaken alone, even if the individual embodies a substantial mass movement, both ideologically and in terms of covert support. Engaging in battles single-handedly is deemed excessively bold compared to a united front of a large group. This renders them susceptible to government scrutiny and attack. For instance, Haji Sulong, the sole public figure to submit seven demands to the Thai government, ultimately fell victim to forced disappearance in 1954, highlighting the perils faced by individual dissenters.

The Scholar’s Approach to Support Peace (Happiness) Talk in Southern Border Provinces

2024-05-15T11:45:59+07:00

This research article aims to understand and develop an approach to support peace talks in the Southern border province. It utilizes in-depth interviews and field notes from 9 Thai scholars and members of civil society who have conducted research on conflict and resolution in the southern border province. This includes 4 outsiders in, 2 insiders in, 2 insiders out, and 1 outsider out. The researcher will establish a typology and taxonomy of the collected data, followed by analysis, description, and explanation of the findings.

Research Finding: The conducive environment for peace talks represents the initial step towards achieving peace. Expert scholars have advised on 7 critical strategies for effective action, including attentively listening to all people's comments, cultivating a positive narrative through peace-oriented information, fostering unity across diverse faiths, conducting unbiased and sincere conflict resolution efforts, supporting civil society and ensuring freedom of peace-promoting spaces, refraining from undue interference with the Southern Border Provinces Administrative office, and avoiding stereotyping and unjust arrests. Additionally, there are 7 ongoing strategies: enhancing the quality of life for the populace, advancing the dualistic educational system, serving as mediators to address conflicts in Southern Thailand, supporting academic initiatives in areas affected by unrest, utilizing the political system for conflict resolution in Southern Thailand, encouraging active public participation in the development of special laws, and persistently pursuing peace talks.

Exploring Civil Disobedience Movement of Civilians in Thailand 2020-2021: Context, Conflict and Nonviolent Action

2024-05-31T14:55:18+07:00

This study had explored civil disobedience movement of civilians in Thailand between 2020 and 2021. Then, apart from context and conflict, the study had emphasized nonviolent action by identifying its methods and types those can be categorized according to the framework applied in this study. The study had applied qualitative method and both primary data and secondary data had been gathered for analysis. As it was my initial exploration, it looked at general nature and dynamics of action of the process. The theoretically framework had been applied flexibly and the data had been analyzed and placed into the framework properly. Therefore, within the three categories of nonviolent action - such as protest and persuasion, noncooperation, and intervention - five types and thirteen methods of nonviolent action had been identified. In types: protests and demonstrations, online activism and campaigns, persuasion, general strikes, and occupation of public spaces. In methods: marching on the roads and streets, using signposts, slogans and demands, speeches, arts, symbolic acts of resistance, information dissemination about the movement and mobilization, networking and alliance, boycotts, shutting down or refusal of follow - the normal functioning of society, asking political demands part of strikes, drawing attention, and blocking - public rallies. Moreover, along with the study, arguments such as '2020-2021 Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) of civilians in Thailand, not only it was a nonviolent action but also it included violent behaviors', and 'Thailand's 2020-2021 nonviolent CDM was failed by the political demands' have been validated.

Indigenous Self-Determination: A Case Study Analysis of Indigenising Self-Determination for Tapuika in Aotearoa

2024-06-26T09:57:17+07:00

This study investigates the views, values and aspirations of Tapuika iwi (tribe) as a case study to understand if self-determination is compatible with the Māori worldview and how it may be indigenised for Tapuika. Fusing Kaupapa Māori (Māori approach) with Western social science methodologies, this paper indigenises the collective right to Indigenous self-determination with Māori values and investigates its cultural, political and economic forms based on the views and aspirations of Tapuika participants. The study finds that the Indigenous right to self-determination is compatible with rangatiratanga (Māori self-determination) and tino rangatiratanga (Māori sovereignty) but this requires decolonisation so that shared sovereignty is balanced with the State. Indigenous self-determination and rangatiratanga are both vital for Tapuika but institutionalised racism within the treatment of Indigenous peoples in international and domestic law and the barriers posed by the mono-legalistic hierarchy of rights are significant issues that call for political and sociocultural change. The paper concludes that constitutional transformation and rectification of injustices within the mono-legalistic hierarchy of rights are necessary for Tapuika to fully and effectively enjoy Indigenous self-determination and rangatiratanga.