🚨 HUMAN RIGHTS ALERT: THAILAND HAS OPENED A FASTER PATHWAY TO TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION!

We warned the Thai Government. It chose to proceed anyway. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘆𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀! 

On 26 August 2026, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signed the Prime Minister’s Office Regulation on Deportation B.E. 2569. It was published in the Royal Gazette on 27 August and entered into force today, 28 August 2026.

The Regulation accelerates procedures for removing foreign nationals from Thailand. Yet it contains no explicit and effective safeguards guaranteeing that refugees, asylum seekers, human rights defenders, journalists, political dissidents and other people at risk will receive:

⚠️ an individual assessment of the dangers they face if returned;⚠️ access to a lawyer and UNHCR;⚠️ a genuine opportunity to challenge deportation; and⚠️ an automatic suspension of removal while their appeal or protection claim is being considered.

This is not an abstract danger. Thailand is already Southeast Asia’s principal hub for transnational repression: a place where authoritarian governments pursue dissidents, defenders and refugees beyond their borders. 

Fast-tracking deportations without effective protection safeguards gives those governments an even quicker route to reach the people they want silenced! 

The Regulation also covers unlawful entry or stay, precisely the situation in which many political refugees find themselves because people escaping persecution are rarely able to flee with visas and perfect documentation.

Speed is not justice. “Public order” cannot become a blank cheque for refoulement. Immigration enforcement must never be weaponised to deliver dissidents back into the hands of their persecutors.

The Regulation risks violating Thailand’s domestic and international human rights obligations:

Thailand remains legally bound by its domestic and international human rights obligations.

🇹🇭 DOMESTIC LAW

Section 13 of Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act prohibits officials from expelling, returning or extraditing any person to a State where there are substantial grounds for believing they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or enforced disappearance.

UN INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (ICCPR)

Articles 6 and 7 prohibit Thailand from transferring anyone to a country where they face a real risk of arbitrary deprivation of life, torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Article 2(3) requires access to an effective remedy, while Article 13 protects non-citizens lawfully present against arbitrary expulsion and guarantees an opportunity to challenge the decision, except where compelling reasons of national security require otherwise.

UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE (CAT)

Thailand has been a State party to CAT since 2007. Article 3 expressly prohibits Thailand from expelling, returning or extraditing any person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing they would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

This protection is absolute. It applies to everyone, regardless of nationality, immigration status, conduct or alleged offence. National security, public order and administrative convenience cannot justify returning someone to torture.

UN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL PERSONS FROM ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE (ICPPED)

Thailand ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in 2024. Article 16 expressly prohibits Thailand from expelling, returning, surrendering or extraditing any person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing they would be in danger of enforced disappearance.

When assessing the risks of torture or enforced disappearance, Thai authorities must consider all relevant circumstances, including whether the destination country has a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass human rights violations.

These are binding legal obligations applicable to every deportation decision.

No administrative regulation, and no demand for speed, can override them.

Our Demands

We call on the Royal Thai Government to:

• ✊ immediately suspend implementation of the Regulation;

• ✊ establish a mandatory, individualised protection-risk assessment before any deportation;

• ✊ guarantee access to legal counsel, UNHCR and an effective appeal with automatic suspensive effect;

• ✊ expressly exempt political refugees, asylum seekers and others requiring international protection from fast-track removal; 

• ✊ ensure independent oversight and full transparency over every deportation decision; and

• ✊ ensure legal safeguards aligned with Thailand’’s international human rights obligations.

𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗶 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝗲𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Thailand must be a safe haven for people fleeing repression, not a delivery service for dictators.

• Read Manushya Foundation’s August warning: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/post/thailand-southeast-asia-s-main-hub-for-transnational-repression-is-about-to-hand-dictators-an-even

• For more information about the Deportation Regulation, please visit the Government's Public Relations dedicated webpage: https://www.prd.go.th/th/content/category/detail/id/39/iid/536274

or

• Directly access the Deportation Regulation here: https://www.prd.go.th/th/file/get/file/202608289a79bd3d56a1b63395d6e0dc3664aa67043709.pdf

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