Thailand seeks stricter controls over nonprofit groups
Thai activist Porntin Say Yom and her neighbours fought more than 10 years to shut down a gold mine in northeast Thailand’s Loei province.
“We successfully closed the gold mine because we came together as a group to defend our rights,” Yom said.
But in late May, she joined hundreds of activists outside Bangkok’s United Nations office to protest another threat – a proposed law they fear will suppress freedom of association, especially for human rights activists.
The “Draft Act on the Operations of Not-for-Profit Organisations,” known colloquially as the NPO law, would allow the Thai government to exert unprecedented control over nonprofit groups, NGOs and activists say.
JACK BROOK
