Country Information

The population of Thailand is approximately 65 million. Thailand is predominantly Thai (75%). Minority groups include a substantial Chinese population (14%), and various smaller ethnic populations (11%). Thailand is predominantly Buddhist (95%), with a significant Muslim population (4%) concentrated in the far south. There are small Christian (.5%) and Hindu (.1%) minorities. Thailand is a Constitutional Monarchy with a widely popular but largely symbolic hereditary monarch, King Phumiphon Adunyadet. He has held the throne since 1946.

Political and Economic Environment

On September 19, 2006 the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown in a military coup led by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin and a group of military leaders calling themselves the Council for Democratic Reform (CDR). Claiming that Thaksin’s leadership and frequently controversial policies had created an “unprecedented rift in society” and accusing him of widespread corruption and nepotism, the military Junta acted quickly to dissolve the Parliament and the Constitutional Court. It further suspended national elections planned for later that month, and abrogated Thailand’s 1997 constitution, the first to be drafted by a popularly-elected Constitutional Drafting Assembly.

Coup leaders have since appointed retired general Surayut Chulanon as acting Premier of the country and have devolved power to an interim 250-person legislative body invested with limited powers to implement legislation or to oppose Premier Surayut and coup leaders. Reversing earlier promises to relinquish control of the government, Junta leaders have institutionalized their power in the Interim Constitution, renaming themselves the Council for National Security.

Martial law was partially revoked in January 2007 in 41 of Thailand’s 76 administrative provinces. The 35 provinces that still remain under direct military control are located in the North and Northeast, where deposed Prime Minister Thaksin continues to wield popular support, and in the volatile Muslim South were Pattani separatists continue to wage a small-scale insurgency. Following the dissolution of ex-Prime Minister Taksin’s Thai Rak Thai party on May 30 the military lifted its ban on political activities in July 2007.

On August 20, 2007, in a national referendum of a military-sponsored draft, Thai voters ratified a new constitution by a percentage of 58% to 42%. Military and government leaders have heralded the vote as a decisive endorsement of their vision for the future, promising to hold national elections by the end of the year. Opposition leaders however point to the significant minority vote as a clear sign of public discontent both with the new constitution as well as with continued military rule.

Premier Surayut and the Thai military have been under increasing pressure from pro-democracy activists at home as well as by the United States and other foreign governments to return to freely held democratic elections. A tentative date for elections has been set for December 23, 2007.

After seizing power in 2006 Junta leaders promised not to reverse successful policies implemented by Thaksin, but in December 2006, in a move aimed at clamping down on speculative inflows that lifted the Thai currency, the baht, to a nine-year high, the government imposed strict penalties on foreign investors who did not keep their money in the country for a year. While the government reversed these policies only days later, this move hurt the country's exporters and has scared off many potential investors afraid of what looked like increasingly protectionist policies issued by an unelected government with no constitution.

Thailand's economic growth has since suffered from delayed investment as companies deterred by the political uncertainty in the country await the promise of a return to democratic elections in December.

Humanitarian Situation

According to statistics gathered by the U.S. Committee for Refugees, Thailand hosted over 408,000 refugees and asylum seekers at the end of 2006, nearly all from neighboring Burma. In addition to the camp populations, it is estimated that another two million Burmese are living as so-called "illegal" or "economic" migrants. Given Burma's systematic human rights abuses against ethnic Burmese, it is likely that as many as half of these “migrants” have fled a well-founded fear of persecution. The ethnic Burmese Shan population has found itself particularly susceptible to such policies. While Thailand allows Karen and Karenni ethnic Burmese to reside in refugee camps, the country has labeled the Shan illegal immigrants and consistently pursues a policy of denied entrance and deportation for this population. Populations denied access to the camps suffer from a lack of assistance and protection. In addition to the Burmese, there are also 13,000 Lao Hmong living in refugee-like circumstances.

As a host country, Thailand's record is mixed. Thailand is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, and though the country generally allows refugees to enter, asylum seekers fleeing human rights abuses are often not granted the same protections afforded individuals fleeing fighting. In early 2004 the Thai Government reestablished the Provincial Administration Boards or PABs, defunct since 2001, to take over the role of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in determining which individuals from Burma would be eligible for asylum in Thailand. Since then, however, the Thai Government has denied a large number of claims from Burmese asylum seekers, either because of a failure to meet the narrow qualifications for refugee status set forth by the PABs (recognizing only those who have fled to escape fighting), or simply because of the fact that they did not reside within refugee camps officially recognized by the state. In 2007 alone, the U.S. Committee for Refugees estimated that as many as 10,000 Burmese, including roughly 100 from recognized refugee camps, were deported from Thailand each month after their cases had been reviewed and they were found to not have legitimate claims for asylum.

For non-Burmese refugees seeking refuge in Thailand the situation is often far worse because the Thai Government has no official registration process established for them. For example, Hmong refugees fleeing persecution in Laos have been labeled by Thailand as simply illegal immigrants and have faced forced repatriation. In a serious development on September 4, 2007 Thai Military officials, in a bilateral agreement with Laos, stated that they will proceed with the “repatriation” of 8,000 Hmong refugees who have sought refuge in Thailand since 2004. This bilateral agreement flies in the face of protests and three months of intervention from international human rights groups as well as Hmong support groups in the US who say Laos has a record of persecuting the Hmong. International groups have called for the screening of Hmong refugees in Thailand by UN officials to ensure that those with legitimate fears are not forcibly returned.

The Military junta is engaged in serious fighting in Southern Thailand where they have sent 30,000 soldiers to quell insurgent attacks from Muslim Pattani separatist militias. Government forces face accusations of human rights abuses and acting with impunity, and while both sides have targeted civilians, military-backed militias have been reputedly accused of carrying out indiscriminate reprisal attacks on Muslim civilians that only fuel the conflict.

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2007