thailand

Thailand

Last official update: December 17, 2020

Human Rights

HRMI

Quality of Life rights (or ‘economic and social rights’) include the rights to food, health, education, housing, and work. Thailand scores 92.8% on Quality of Life when scored against the ‘Income adjusted’ benchmark. This score takes into account Thailand’s resources and how well it is using them to make sure its people’s Quality of Life rights are fulfilled.

This score tells us that Thailand is only doing 92.8% of what should be possible right now with the resources it has. Since anything less than 100% indicates that a country is not meeting its current duty under international human rights law, our assessment is that Thailand has some way to go to meet its immediate economic and social rights duty.

Source: 2017 – Human Rights Measurement Initiative



Labour

ITUC

5No guarantee of rights

Ranking countries on the degree of respect for workers’ rights.

Source: 2019 – International Trade Union Confederation



Labour

GSI

23 /167 – Country Rank

The Prevalence Index Rank ranks countries on the relative prevalance of modern slavery. A higher rank indicates a higher prevalence.

Source: 2018 – Global Slavery Index


The Vulnerability to Modern Slavery (lower is better)

Source: 2018 – Global Slavery Index



Conflict & Security

HIIK

3/5Violent crisis

The Conflict Barometer ranks intra-, inter-, trans- and substate conflicts worldwide based on intesity, including violent as well as non-violent conflicts. The violent conflicts are differentiated between violent crises, limited wars or wars.

Source: 2019 – Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research



Conflict & Security

IEP

Medium state of peace
114 /163 – Country Rank

The Global Peace Index (GPI) measures more than just the presence or absence of war. It captures the absence of violence or the fear of violence across three domains: Safety and Security, Ongoing Conflict, and Militarisation.

Source: 2020 – The Institute for Economics & Peace



Human Rights

Freedom House

32 /100
Partly Free – Status

Freedom House rates people’s access to political rights and civil liberties.

Source: 2020 – Freedom House



Human Rights

FSI

70.8 /120 – Score
82 /178 – Country Rank

The Human Rights and Rule of Law Indicator by the FSI considers the relationship between the state and its population insofar as fundamental human rights are protected and freedoms are observed and respected.

Source: 2020 – Fragile State Index



Governance

WGI

Control of corruption captures perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as “capture” of the state by elites and private interests.

Source: 2019 – The WorldBank's Worldwide Governance Indicator


Regulatory quality captures perceptions of the ability of the government to formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development.

Source: 2019 – The WorldBank's Worldwide Governance Indicator


Rule of law captures perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence.

Source: – The WorldBank's Worldwide Governance Indicator



Governance

Transparency International

36 /100 – Score
101 /198 – Country Rank

The Corruption Perceptions Index scores and ranks countries/territories based on how corrupt a country’s public sector is perceived to be by experts and business executives. It is a composite index, a combination of 13 surveys and assessments of corruption, collected by a variety of reputable institutions. The CPI is the most widely used indicator of corruption worldwide.

Source: 2019 – Transparency International



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Thailand Sector Reports

Thailand timber sector analysis (2020)

Go to sector analysis.

Areas of Interest

Corruption is reported as a significant problem in Thailand. The country has a CPI score of 36 (0=highly corrupt, 100=very clean) which means the risk of corruption is high. Despite the legal framework and institutions in place to address corruption, all levels of Thai society suffer from endemic corruption. It is mainly found in the intersection between business and governments where demands for payments to facilitate processes are widespread.

Thailand is classified as a Tier 2 country in the 2020 trafficking in persons report, which means that the country’s government does not fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but that they are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with these standards. According to a study by Thomson Reuters Foundation Thai women are in danger of human trafficking and forced labour. However, trafficking is not mentioned in relation to the timber sector.

Despite the progress made in advancing their rights, LGBT persons continue to face widespread discrimination at work and in everyday life. A study by UNDP found that 23% of LGBTI people had experienced difficulties at the beginning of their job search. There are also cases of violence against LGBT persons. Further, there is reason to believe that minorities and indigenous communities suffer from discrimination.

The Freedom House Country List considers Thailand to be “partly free” which refers to an oppressive regime with regard to political rights and civil liberties. The country is ranked 140 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index with a score of 44,94 (0=best possible score, 100=worst possible score) which means freedom is limited. After a military coup in 2014, the Military Junta has the political and administrative power which suspended the Thai constitution and imposed martial law. This led to a shutdown of multiple radio and TV stations, a removal of legal protections for journalists, strict censoring of all media and social networking sites, and journalists facing attacks and arbitrary detention.

Thailand is rated 5 on the ITUC Global Rights Index (scale 1-5) for freedom of association and workers’ rights. This means workers have no guarantee of rights and are exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices. Issues also mentioned are interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association including harassment and occasional violence against human rights activists and government critics.

There are reports that migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam who report abuses face retaliation by recruitment agents, traffickers, employers and corrupt police and other officials.

At level 4 out of 5, Thailand is considered a ‘high risk’ country for terroristic attacks on the Aon Terrorism Risk Map. The political situation is unpredictable and sometimes volatile. There is a risk that political developments in Thailand may lead to instability. Over recent years there have been instances of civil and political unrest resulting in large-scale demonstrations and sometimes violence. Further, there are several issues affecting security: unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government or its agents, forced disappearance by or on behalf of the government, torture by government officials, arbitrary arrest and detention by government authorities, political prisoners and political interference in the judiciary. It’s reported that impunity to this list with no prosecution of government security forces for torture and unlawful killings of ethnic Malay Muslims.

Thailand has been considered as secretive by the Tax Justice Network. With a financial secretive score of 73 (0=not secretive, 100=exceptionally secretive), the country could be seen as a ‘tax haven’.

In 2015, Thailand enacted the Gender Equality Act. Implementation remains problematic with broad exceptions allowing non-compliance including for religious principles or national security.

The Global Wage Report 2018/19 by the ILO indicates that Thai women earn 8-11% (median-mean) less than men per hour, taking into consideration factors of education, age, working-time status (part-time or full-time) and type of employer (private-sector vs. public-sector employment). Looking at monthly earnings, the factor-weighted gender pay gap is the same with women receiving 8-12% (median-mean) less pay than men. Although there is a gap, it is not as high compared to other countries and lower than the world average wage gap of 18-19% (per hour) and 21-22% (per month) (ILO, 2019).