Last week, the Thai government downgraded the Covid-19 situation in the country from a pandemic to endemic. In turn, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his government should also immediately lift the draconian Emergency Decree, which the authorities have used to criminalise legitimate dissent.
General Prayut invoked the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situation BE 2548, declaring a "state of emergency" in May 2020 in response to the pandemic. Since then, the decree has been renewed 18 times and the government has unilaterally invoked numerous orders and regulations that disproportionately restrict the fundamental rights of people in Thailand, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
The regulations under the emergency decree are no longer necessary and contravene both the Thai constitution and Thailand's obligations under international law to ensure the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.
