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No to the UNESCO "World Heritage Site"! We need to #SaveBangkloi!
Remember Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen? The indigenous Karen activist who disappeared on 17 April 2014 because he was defending his community ancestral land in Kaeng Krachan National Park (KKNP) in Petchaburi Province? Him and 29 Karen families were harassed by forest officers and forced to resettle!
Did you know that his land has now become an UNESCO’s World Heritage and that many indigenous Karen families have been evicted from their land?
For 25 years, the Karen indigenous peoples of Bangkloi, Kaeng Krachan, have faced endangering consequences of forced resettlement by the Thai state. From food insecurity to criminalization, the Karen villagers of Bangkloi are ripped of their dignity and rights to ancestral land.
While Thailand has promised to protect the rights of #indigenouspeoples, the state’s actions have proven otherwise. Thailand pushed to nominate Kaeng Krachan as a world heritage site, despite the disapproval of committee’s delegates and the Karen villagers’ state of peril.
⚠️ On 26 July 2021, the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex was named an UNESCO natural World Heritage site despite ongoing #humanrights violations against the indigenous Karen peoples living in the forest area.
❌ Manushya foundation objects the declaration of Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex (KKFC), the ancestral lands of the Karen people, as a World Heritage Site! We urge UNESCO’s General Assembly of States Parties to cancel the decision of the World Heritage Committee and ensure it is in line with United Nations’ international human rights principles and the aims of the World Heritage Convention.
✊🏼 We strongly condemn the Thai government’s judicial harassment, rights violations and unfair land eviction against Karen villagers.
✊🏼 We urge Thailand to recognize the rights violations remain unresolved and to accept the request made by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to conduct an onsite visit to assess the situation and aid in finding an amicable solution.
✊🏼 It’s time we cease all discriminatory acts targeting the indigenous groups and respect their ancestral lands.