Business activities and development projects in Thailand continue to generate serious human rights and environmental impacts for affected communities, including pollution and degradation of natural resources, loss of land and livelihoods, forced evictions, and restrictions on meaningful participation in decisions affecting communities. Women, Indigenous Peoples, rural communities and other marginalised groups face particular barriers in protecting their land, housing and natural resources, while community members and environmental human rights defenders who challenge harmful projects continue to face intimidation, criminalisation and judicial harassment. Access to effective remedy also remains difficult, with lengthy proceedings, high evidentiary burdens and inadequate compensation preventing timely redress for affected communities.

During its 3rd UPR cycle, Thailand received 15 recommendations touching directly on corporate accountability, women’s access to justice, SLAPPs and the protection of human rights defenders, of which it supported 13 and noted two. Thailand supported all four recommendations on business and human rights, including recommendations to address business-related human rights abuses in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and to pursue mandatory human rights due diligence measures. Thailand also supported recommendations to strengthen access to justice for rural and Indigenous women, enact legal protection against SLAPPs, and protect human rights defenders from intimidation, harassment and attacks. However, these commitments have largely failed to translate into effective protection in practice, with several recommendations only partially implemented and others not implemented at all.

Thailand seeks to present itself as a “business and human rights champion” as it pursues OECD accession and develops an Act on the Promotion of Responsible Business Conduct. The draft Act proposes mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence, but consultations continued in 2026 without the bill becoming law, and significant gaps in protection and access to remedy remain. Meanwhile, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre recorded 54 business-related SLAPP cases brought or initiated by private actors in Thailand between 2015 and 2024, the highest total it recorded in ASEAN. A separate UNDP study examined 109 SLAPP cases in Thailand’s business and human rights context from 1997 to 2022. These cases show the scale of legal pressure faced by people challenging corporate harm.

On 24 March 2026, Phichit and Phetchabun villagers secured a landmark victory in Thailand’s first environmental class-action lawsuit against Akara Resources, the Thai subsidiary of Australian mining company Kingsgate Consolidated Limited. The court found Akara liable for environmental and health harms caused by the Chatree Gold Mine and held that compliance with environmental impact assessment (EIA) requirements did not shield it from liability for proven harm. The nearly decade-long proceedings also demonstrate how difficult it remains for affected communities to obtain timely remedy.