The Memo: Lèse-majesté and human rights law: the unique case of Thailand

For many, Thailand represents luxury, honeymoon-worthy beaches with secluded coves and serene, tropical backdrops. But for all its cultural glory, many foreigners on the tourist trail remain blissfully unaware of the hardline governmental measures the country regularly adopts. After a period of relative political instability, Thailand’s newly instated Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was finally sworn in last week as the leader of the South-East Asian state. The 38-year-old was elected in mid-August following the dismissal of her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, following a court order that found the former PM guilty of appointing a government minister who had previously been jailed for contempt of court. Following an official policy announcement that aims to revive the nation’s economy, many commentators have emphasised the drastic need for the new government to position itself with an inherent human rights focus – an area of Thai public life that had waned under the previous regime.  

Amidst staunch repression of free speech, hard-line criminal defamation laws, and other cases relating to basic rights, Thailand has also exercised disciplinary measures for anti-monarchic criticism with pretrial detentions. The latter is known as lèse-majesté – a medieval French phrase meaning ‘a crime against the Crown’ – and refers to an offence or insulting remark made towards the head of state, typically a monarch. Thailand is the only constitutional monarchy to have strengthened its lèse-majesté laws since the Second World War, and its laws on the matter have been described as the harshest in the world. With pretrial detentions lasting months on end and a categoric refusal of bail for those charged, as Human Rights Watch has pointed out, the UN in 2014 said that such punitive action in fact violates international human rights law. While the sentence length can vary for such crimes, one individual charged earlier in 2024 for spreading anti-monarchy posts and messages on Facebook was given a 50-year imprisonment sentence, toppling the previous record of 43 years handed out to a fellow citizen back in 2021.  

What’s more, 15 years after signing up to the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), the long-awaited and previously delayed Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act became effective as part of Thai law in February 2023. It’s reported that the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances recorded 92 cases of alleged enforced disappearance to Thailand, with a staggering 76 of those having to this day remained unresolved. These include any arrests, detentions, or abduction of persons, followed by state refusal to acknowledge their whereabouts. Critics therefore argue that a break from previous regime is long overdue, with the new female-led government offering an opportunity for a brighter, more humane political future. Thailand’s image as a hospitable and easy-going land remains the almighty allure for tourists, but will there be a government to match?