Roundup: UN asked by activist group to press Thai gov't to tolerate views against draft constitution

A political activist group called on a United Nations agency on Tuesday to press Thailand's military-led government to waive a current prohibition to the people's views against a draft constitution and to instead tolerate freedom of expression.

The so-called New Democracy Movement lodged the petition to the United Nations Office of High Commmissioner for Human Rights at its headquarters in Bangkok calling for the UN agency to mount pressure upon the government under Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha to allow the activist group and all others to criticize or air views against the draft charter in public and online.

Under the Referendum Act of 2016, the Constitution Drafting Committee as well as government agencies may disseminate and explain all articles of the draft charter to the public while those who may be opposed to it could possibly be arrested and sentenced by law to a maximum of 10 years in prison if they posted their anti-charter views online or expressed them in public.

"We are calling on the Unitied Nations (UNOHCHR) to take any measure to have the Referendum Act on the draft constitution applied on basis of equality and justice to those who may conduct a campaign either for or against the draft charter."

"Given such measures of the United Nations (UNOHCHR), the people should be free to conduct a campaign against the draft charter without being harassed by the government, "says the NDM statement to the UN agency.

The Interior Ministry has reportedly prepared its personnel and volunteers in the provinces throughout the country for a planned "door-knocking" campaign in which "explanations" about the draft charter will be unsolicitedly provided to the people.

The government's pro-charter campaign is planned for June and July as a public referendum on the draft charter is scheduled for Aug. 7.

According to the activist group, the government's planned campaign will be tantamount to a concerted, practical support for the charter drafted by the CDC, all members of which were handpicked by Gen Prayut, who concurrently heads the ruling junta, officially named the National Council for Peace and Order.

The NDM group, led by political activists Rangsiman Rome and Chonticha Chaengreo, also called on the UN agency to press the military-led government to release nine young people who have been detained since last two weeks for posting views in social media against the draft charter which they had crticized as "undemocratic" and allegedly ridiculing Gen Prayut in their facebook.

NCPO spokesman Winthai Suvaree earlier said the detainees, who could possibly be sentenced by law to a maximum of seven years in jail, had been arrested on charges of causing and circulating public confusion with intent to mislead the public and purposely misinterpret the content of the draft charter.

Meanwhile, some 100-plus people lodged a fresh petition to the Constitutional Court via the Ombudsman on Tuesday to rule whether the Referendum Act, currently enforced in relation to the planned nationwide polls on the draft charter, is constitutional or not.

The petitioners, including dozens of lecturers of Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Chiang Mai and Silpakorn universities, remark that the government could possibly apply the Referendum Act in "ambiguous and overly comprehensive" fashion with the use of such words as "violent", "aggressive", "publicly instigating" and "rude" in some articles of the law.

The academics comment that those negative words which are not found in any other law of the country could possibly lead to the undue arrest and detention of those who might express views against the draft charter. They contend that those adjectives should not be used in the Referendum Act only to point an accusing finger at anyone's expressed views on the issue.

"The Referendum Act's penalty which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison for those who may express their views in peaceful and non-violent manner is obviously tantamount to that for inadvertent murders or death of a woman due to abortion," says the academics' statement lodged to the Ombudsman.

The academics conclude that the Referendum Act is obviously against an interim constitution's principles of basic human rights and freedom. Enditem