Thailand

Outreach letter sent in advance of CAAC Open Debate, August 2016.

March 2017: Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools.

August 2017: Bede will travel to Thailand during the first week of October and will seek to meet relevant Ministries.

August 2017: Gisela received a phone call from our contact in the Thai Mission to follow up on meeting request.Spoke at length on the phone and answered some of their questions about the process, about the relationship with IHL, etc. She advised that they had submitted a proposal to endorse to the Foreign Minister in advance of Buenos Aires, but the response had been that they were not yet ready to endorse. She asked to receive some details in an email, and forwarded the meeting request for Bede to BKK.

October 2017: Human Rights Watch (Bede) travelled to Bangkok and met with the MFA, with attendance also from the security forces. It was a very frank and open meeting, and it seems that the government will now go through a process of considering endorsement. The government’s main concern is the situation in Southern Thailand, fearing that endorsement could be considered as an implicit acceptance that the situation in the south is an armed conflict. Human Rights Watch pointed out that endorsement of the Declaration does not constitute a position on specific situations. The government shared details of positive efforts they are making to improve the situation in the south. Human Rights Watch pointed out that this could be shared publicly within the framework of the Declaration. The government will hold an inter-ministerial meeting on the issue, and then the final decision must go to cabinet in order to be made. Human Rights Watch is organizing the translation into Thai of the Declaration, Guidelines, and Q&A, which will be shared with the government representatives, as well as with the Southern Teachers’ Union, to encourage them to reach out to their government contacts to urge endorsement.

January 2018: GCPEA wrote to the Mission of Thailand in Geneva to share translations into Thai of the Declaration, Guidelines, and Q&A.

March 2018: UNICEF is exploring possibilities for advocacy with the government of Thailand. SRSG Gamba has encouraged Thailand to endorse the Declaration. Human Rights Watch introduced the Guidelines to members of the Thai military during a training on children and armed conflict.

June 2018: Gisela met with Mr. Nawin Chirapant, First Secretary, Disarmament and Security Council, who expressed personal support for the Declaration, saying he felt the government should not shy away from making the commitment, but seemed pessimistic about the possibility of endorsement any time soon. He stated that protection for schools was already part of rules of engagement and training for military but lamented a lack of awareness. According to him, protection for schools is incorporated into training materials “at the operational and legal level”, but that support at the political level was lacking. A key concern appeared to be Thailand’s inclusion in Education Under Attack 2018, which they view as unfair as the situation is not as serious as in other profiled countries. He criticised the use of secondary sources and reliance on local civil society organisations which may be politically motivated. He outlined previous difficulties with the O/SRSG which was relying on data from “random UNICEF offices with no mandate to gather this data” which, in turn, relied on local partners. He gave the example of an incident included in the CAAC report which involved a former member of an armed group and so should not have been included as it was a criminal incident. He said the relationship with the O/SRSG had improved in recent years. He questioned why the United States is not profiled in the report. On data, I responded that data collection is still uneven and this is why GCPEA is working with other data collection partners to improve and standardise data collection methods. On the USA, I responded that no attacker had been associated with an armed group. He conceded that the government is “unnecessarily sensitive” and asked us to continue putting pressure on them to endorse through meetings. We spoke about Ireland and Thailand’s membership of the human Security Network and how endorsement would match Thailand’s priorities in this regard. I followed up in writing, sharing a letter for the Foreign Minister. No reply.

August 2018: Sent an email to the mission in Geneva requesting for a meeting. No response.

September 2018: Ahead of the UN WPS open debate, letter addressed to Foreign Minister sent to the Mission in New York. The letter encourages the government to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration and advocate for continued access to quality, conflict-sensitive education for women and girls.

January 2019: In early 2019, UNICEF arranged a high-level discussion in Bangkok, bringing together MFA, other key ministries, and security experts. Government in general “did not shut down” idea of signing SSD, but had concerns around two main issues: 1) compatibility of IHL with the SSD, and 2) hesitant to sign if it implies the situation in the DS is a conflict, which the government denies. During last year’s visit of the UN SR on violence against children UNICEF facilitated high-level advocacy on the SSD.

March 2019: attended GCPEA side-event on “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education” in Geneva.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma.

March 2020: The armed non-State group Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani (BRN), active in southern Thailand, signed the Deed of Commitment with Geneva Call. BNR committed to promoting the protection of education and to avoid using schools for military purposes. Geneva call will launch a joint monitoring process to support BRN in adhering to the policies that promote the protection of children and education.

August 2020: Save and UNICEF are planning to do a diplomatic briefing with some of the embassies on the EuA report and progress on the SSD. UNICEF had planned follow up advocacy this year, mainly by providing more analysis to RTG to address some of the issues they raised around IHL, but have not been able to because of Covid-19. Later this year, UNICEF plans to bring in a consultant to do an analysis unpacking exactly what the Thai military would be committing to if they sign up to the SSD, to help advocacy with government. They asked if we were interested in helping to review ToR / report. In general, UNICEF’s impression that the Thai military largely respects SSD in principle already (no attacks on schools reported in EuA) – another argument for signing. However UNICEF are observing other, less obvious violations by the military in the DS in terms of military entering schools etc. In general, there are very few other actors doing advocacy on the SSD in Thailand – no INGOs, but a handful of local NGOs in the DS. No formal coalition or working group as in other countries (e.g. Myanmar). Given that the EuA documents so few violations by the Thai military, how do we make the link to the SSD? Fadel mentioned a number of “lesser” violations that are happening in terms of military use of schools. These would be worth raising with embassies, but not as well-documented and more legal analysis needed – need to decide on how or if to raise this at briefing. The EuA also covers academic freedom / freedom of expression, mainly in context of anti-government student protests. How do we answer questions on that in the briefing – or do we make it clear that it is something we don’t cover? What is our ask from the embassies? What support do we need to take this forward. One suggestion is to see if some NATO country embassies (eg Canada) would be interested in working with RTG to explain how they signed onto SSD despite having similar questions on IHL. In general, we thought there could be value in informing embassies about the SSD and the EuA, even if no specific ask. Key to get Argentina and Norway involved in any briefing as two countries that helped develop the SSD in 2015. Agreement that a closed-door briefing would be best. Timeline: Tentatively within the next month (Aug / early Sept).

August 2020: GCPEA (Yatasha and Nevena) met with the Thailand Mission to the UN in Geneva on 28 August 2020 (Counsellor and first secretary: human rights and humanitarian issues). GCPEA informed the Mission about the work of GCPEA, EUA and developments on the Safe Schools Declaration and the International Day to Protect Education from Attack. GCPEA provided an overview of the report findings (number of attacks, including that the UN verified 927 attacks on schools in armed conflicts). GCPEA is also looking at attacks happening currently during the COVID context, and mentioned the risk of an increase the military use of schools having a direct bearing on attacks on schools. One of the profiles identified is Thailand. GCPEA recapped on previous constructive engagement, and that if countries endorse it is not a pronouncement on whether the country is in armed conflict or not. GCPEA mentioned that the number of attacks has been declining but there is work still to be done and that attacks have also been committed by non-state armed groups. GCPEA then moved onto the endorsement by Thailand. GGCPEA referred to the fact that 104 countries have now endorsed the Declaration. GCPEA mentioned that Thailand is doing a lot on the protection of children, and the sustainable development goals, and is also part of the Human Security Network. Endorsement would amplify this commitment. The Mission was familiar with the report, asked about the profiled countries and what are the factors, what is the criteria. They also wanted to know which countries have been taken out of the report. They confirmed the challenges in the country, particularly with regards to non-state armed groups. They are of the view that the number of cases is quite low compared to other countries profiled. The Thai government is still of the view that the country is not only considered armed conflict. GCPEA mentioned that in both situations, there have been a pattern of systematic attacks committed by armed groups – states and non-state groups. The data is from UN and other coalition members, education cluster, agencies involved in monitoring and reporting. It was also mentioned that 93 countries were identified –56 countries with sporadic attack. GCPEA confirmed that there is an intense review process which has been verified. GCPEA referenced that Bangladesh that was not included, as they did not meet the necessary threshold. In terms of new countries, GCPEA mentioned the findings of South Africa and China, India (excessive use of force by law enforcement) as new countries profiled. GCPEA also referenced Nigeria and Niger as a attacks on education occurring, but these countries have committed strongly to address the scourge globally as well. GCPEA also informed Thailand about the state-led network as part of the technical assistance and cooperation, to which they were interested in. The mission is of the view that the attacks are more on the southern border. There is still more clarification needed going forward. They view the attacks on tertiary institutions as not being acute. Thailand welcomes the principles and spirit of the Declaration and is committed to child protection, they attended the Palma conference, and the Mission will provide recommendations to ministries of defence, social development, social security. The Mission recommended that all initiatives should also include prospective countries to get a better understanding around the Declaration. They want to engage more and be more informed in the future. GCPEA emphasized that protecting education from attack is include in the military training, and encouraged Thailand to share positive legislative developments to be referenced as a country undertaking best practice; as well as to share information on the human security network. They were also interested in hearing more about the next International Conference

November 2020: MoFA had a meeting on the SSD but there are concerns due to military use of schools, military operations near schools,

March 2022: On 17 March, GCPEA met with Worawut Smuthkalin, Minister Counsellor, at the PM in Geneva. GCPEA briefed the Counsellor on recent SSD developments, including the Abuja Conference, the state-led implementation network, and examples of good practices. We emphasized that the fifth international conference might be held in the Asia region which would represent a great opportunity for Thailand to demonstrate its support for the protection of education. The Counsellor was interested to hear about the regional level of endorsement and our engagement in the region, the upcoming conference in Asia, and the activities of the state-led implementation network. He explained that his government was still in an internal review process on their position and promised to report back to capital. The meeting was non-committal and showed that we need to conduct further outreach in the region to raise awareness on this issue, especially if the fifth conference does take place in Asia.