🚨 HUMAN RIGHTS ALERT 🚨 Thai PM Anutin and Vietnamese President To Lam pledge to suppress political activism against each other’s government

Manushya Foundation
May 28
1 min read

Thailand and Vietnam's leaders are turning diplomacy into a crackdown on activists. Today, 28 May, during To Lam’s official visit to Thailand, both leaders in a joint statement committed that neither country would allow its territory to be used for political activities against the other. They also pledged to strengthen extradition cooperation to suppress transnational dissent.

In a region where authoritarian governments already hunt critics across borders, this is a dangerous signal for exiled activists and human rights defenders. 🌏 Watch out for more surveillance, arbitrary arrests, and forced returns.

𝗪𝗲’𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲: On 28 November, Thai authorities extradited Vietnamese human rights defender Y Quynh Bdap to Vietnam, despite civil society warnings that his forced return could put him at risk of torture and serious abuses.

At Manushya, this threat is not abstract. For our work protecting activists confronting transnational repression, we ourselves have faced direct threats and intimidation.

⚠️ This is how transnational repression (TNR) works: governments dress up repression as “cooperation,” then use borders, immigration laws, extradition frameworks, and security agreements to silence dissent.

🔶 We call on Thailand to stop enabling TNR, respect the principle of non-refoulement, uphold its own Anti-Torture Act, and refuse any extradition, deportation, or forced return that puts activists at risk.