The Southern Peasants' Federation of Thailand – SPFT (Southern Peasant Cooperatives) is a network formed in 2008 to campaign for community land rights and safe livelihoods in the Surat Thani Province of Thailand. The SPFT actively supported the Khlong Sai Pattana community in a land dispute involving the oil company Jiew Kang Jue Pattana Co. Ltd, which has been illegally occupying the community’s land for for years.

In 2010, Khlong Sai Pattana secured official endorsement from the Prime
Minister’s Office to remain on their land until land title deeds are
formalized by the National Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO). The
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) publically recognized SPFT
members as human rights defenders who fight for their rights to land
within a legitimate human rights framework. UN Special Rapporteurs have
alerted the Thai government regarding the risk and threat situations
that the SPFT and Khlong Sai Pattana community are facing.
However, Community-based human rights defenders of the SPTF have been victims of targeted media and government campaigns to discredit their work. The Khlong Sai Pattana community has experienced endless intimidation by local authorities and non-state actors, repeated threats of forced eviction and disappearance, the destruction of homes
by company bulldozers in 2010, and the murder of 4 Khlong Sai Pattana
and SPFT land rights activists over the past five years with no justice
being served for any of the murders or protection offered by national
authorities despite the very real risk of a deadly attacks. Just in the
last year, Mr. Pianrat Boonrit President of the SPFT-sister
organization, Southern Peasants’ Cooperative, was detained incommunicado
between 3-5 February and 61 years old SPFT member Mr. Chai Bunthonglek
was shot dead on 11 February. More recently, SPFT leaders have received
multiple threats of kidnapping.
Protection International has recorded more than 200 incidents of
violence against environmental defenders in Thailand throughout the
2011-2015 period. There have also been over 50 killings of environmental
and land rights activists recorded during the past decade.
On 31 march 2015 MEP Barbara LOCHBIHLER from the GREENS/EFA group put forward a written question to the EU High Representative on the situation of HRDs in Thailand asking for an adequate, transparent, and comprehensive investigation on the killing of land rights activist and SPTF member Mr. Chai Bunthonglek.
The EU delegation (comprising members from the Swedish and Austrian Embassies) visited the SPFT ton 21 April 2015 and called on the Royal Thai Police to immediately set up a National Taskforce to coordinate and implement protection measures for the Khlong Sai Pattana community.
On 8 October 2015 the European Parliament adopted an urgency resolution on Thailand asking that ‘the right to security, including that of human rights defenders, be respected and protected, and that all violations of the rights of human rights defenders be promptly, effectively and independently investigated’.
The continued lack of effective protection of community-based human rights defenders of the SPFT is a permanent threat to their security and work. Thus, we call on EU stakeholders to:
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