Attacks against woman human rights defender Angkhana Neelapaijit

On 12 April 2022, around 6 am, an unknown individual threw a 9-inch long scissors at the house of woman human rights defender Angkhana Neelapaijit in Thonburi District, Bangkok. The attack damaged her front door and her car, which was parked outside her house. The incident was captured on CCTV which revealed the assailant wearing a black t-shirt with the King Rama 9 symbol, a cap and a surgical mask, walking along the small road where her house is located. Around 6:30 am, the woman human rights defender reported the incident to the Bang Yee Rua Metropolitan Police Station and the police lodged a complaint and visited her house for the preliminary investigation.

Angkhana Neelapaijit is a woman human rights defender and the former Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand. She started her human rights activism after her husband, a prominent human rights lawyer, disappeared in March 2004. The woman human rights defender is the founder of Justice for Peace Foundation, a human rights organisation that works to help the victims of human rights abuses in Thailand. She was also awarded the 2019 Magsaysay Award for her contribution towards human rights work in Thailand.

The attack on Angkhana Neelapaijit on 12 April 2022 took place merely days after her appointment as a member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance on 1 April 2022. Prior to the attack, she had been under a witness protection scheme of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), since the department had been investigating the disappearance of her husband, Somchai Neelapaijit, in 2008. However, on 23 March 2022, Angkhana Neelapaijit was informed that she would no longer be protected under the scheme from 1 April 2022. The reason cited for the withdrawal of the witness protection scheme was the dismissal of the case of her husband’s disappearance by the Supreme Court of Thailand in 2015, following which the DSI and the Attorney General’s office closed the investigation in the case. In spite of this background, the police investigating the attack on Angkhana Neelapaijit’s house on 12 April 2022 failed to discuss or offer protection to the woman human rights defender.

The DSI has also justified the withdrawal of protection saying that there have been no threats and attacks against Angkhana Neelapaijit for several years. This, however, fails to address the numerous reprisals that she has faced in retaliation to her human rights work. In December 2021, the United Nations Secretary-General’s report to the Human Rights Council addressed the threats made against Angkhana Neelapaijit in her capacity as a grant recipient of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. On 4 November 2020, the woman human rights defender filed a civil case against the Office of the Prime Minister of Royal Thai Army seeking remedy for damages related to the alleged disinformation and smear campaign by the Royal Thai Army’s Internal Security Operation Command against her. In September 2017, four UN human rights experts wrote to the Royal Thai Government regarding the alleged acts of intimidation, harassment and death threats targeting Angkhana Neelapaijit.

The woman human rights defender is also facing criminal defamation charges in two lawsuits filed against her by a Thai chicken company, Thammakaset Company Limited, for her social media posts expressing support for other human rights defenders who were being judicially harassed by the company. The latest hearings in the lawsuits are scheduled for April and May 2022.

Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned regarding the persistent attacks faced by Angkhana Neelapaijit, as it believes she is being targeted solely for her legitimate and peaceful work for the protection of human rights in Thailand. It urges the Thai government to create an environment that is respectful of human rights defenders so that they are able to carry out their work without fear of reprisals.