This submission by the Council of Indigenous Peoples in Thailand (CIPT), the Indigenous Women’s Network of Thailand (IWNT), the Indigenous Women’s Association for Development (IWAD), Manushya Foundation, and the Thai CSOs Coalition for the UPR examines Thailand’s persistent failure to recognize and fully protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, in light of recommendations accepted during the third UPR cycle (2021), the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2022), and the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (2025). 

 

During the third UPR cycle, Thailand supported multiple recommendations on Indigenous Peoples’ rights, including legal recognition, land and resource governance, participation, education, and access to justice. While the 2025 Ethnic Way of Life Protection and Promotion Act was adopted, it fails to recognise Indigenous Peoples or fully align with international human rights standards. Despite commitments to enhance community participation, Indigenous Peoples remain excluded from land governance and environmental decision-making, and conflicts over land and resources persist. Structural barriers also continue to limit access to education, justice, and basic services, particularly for Indigenous women and communities in remote areas. Overall, implementation remains limited, reflecting a persistent gap between Thailand’s international commitments and domestic laws and policies.

 

Indigenous Peoples in Thailand number approximately 6.1 million people, or 9.7% of the population, yet they remain unrecognised in Thai law as Indigenous Peoples. This legal invisibility is not merely symbolic; it is the foundation of systemic exclusion, shaping access to land, citizenship, justice, public services, education, participation, and effective remedies. Despite their long-standing role as custodians of ecosystems on ancestral lands they have inhabited and cultivated for generations, Indigenous Peoples are routinely portrayed as “forest encroachers,” blamed for environmental degradation, and targeted through criminalisation and eviction. Rather than being recognised as stewards of forests and biodiversity, they are excluded from decision-making processes, dispossessed in the name of conservation and development, and subjected to discriminatory narratives that recast them as threats to the very environments they sustain.

 

This submission demonstrates that the violations faced by Indigenous Peoples in Thailand are not isolated incidents, but part of a systemic pattern driven by legal non-recognition, structural exclusion, racial discrimination, and the prioritisation of State and corporate interests over Indigenous lands, territories, and resources.

 

This submission is organised as follows:

• Section 2 addresses structural non-recognition and denial of Indigenous identity;

• Section 3 addresses denial of citizenship and structural exclusion from basic services;

• Section 4 addresses racial discrimination and stigmatisation of Indigenous Peoples;

• Section 5 addresses exclusion from decision-making and self-determination;

• Section 6 addresses land dispossession and development-driven violations;

• Section 7 addresses forced evictions and housing insecurity;

• Section 8 addresses criminalisation through State policies and false climate solutions;

• Section 9 addresses corporate abuse, SLAPPs, and violence against Indigenous defenders;

• Section 10 addresses barriers to education and child protection risks;

• Section 11 addresses intersectional discrimination and violence against Indigenous women; and

• Section 12 provides recommendations.