Last week, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) announced that the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) is violating the basic human rights of Karen ethnic minorities living deep in the forest in Bang Kloy Bon in Kaeng Krachan National Park. The NHRC reportedly stated the DNP cannot invoke the National Park Act to kick out the Karen residents living there, despite the forest having been made a national park a few decades ago.
The NHRC had reportedly sent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha a series of guidelines to protect the rights of Karen residents in Bang Kloy Bon, who have been fighting to stay in their village despite repeated efforts from the DNP to kick them out. According to the NHRC, indigenous people have the right to maintain their way of life under the 2017 Constitution.
The issue of indigenous people living in Kaeng Krachan Park has been a thorny one for the DNP. It also reflects the hawkish forest management modus operandi that forestry officials have been using to move villagers out of the forest.
As the forest conservation effort turns toward protecting human rights, the DNP has to align its forest management policy with the modern world, where forest conservation means protecting both the forests and the livelihoods of the villagers living on the land. That would be a huge departure from the top-down method the Thai government has been using --simply moving the villagers out to save the forests.
The big question is whether the DNP is capable of change. The recent appointment of a new chief of the National Park Office does not bode well for these winds of change.
Two weeks ago, the DNP appointed Chaiwat Limlikit-aksorn, the former head of Kaeng Krachan National Park, as the new chief of the National Park Office (NPO), operating under the DNP.
The NPO is responsible for overseeing national park land across the country.
Mr Chaiwat is a maverick figure. He rose to fame after he exposed Mr Rutchada for abusing his authority by transferring officials who refused to pay him a hefty bribe. Yet, Mr Chaiwat's record goes beyond his illustrious whistle-blower persona.
Mr Chaiwat was a former chief of Kaeng Krachan National Park. In 2011, Karen villagers there accused him and several other officials of burning down their homes.
In this heavy-handed eviction, the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) recommended the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment take disciplinary action against the officials.
Mr Chaiwat, along with three other defendants, was also accused in a separate case brought over the disappearance and murder of Karen rights activist Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen in 2014. Mr Porlajee had locked horns with the DNP over the eviction case at Kaeng Krachan National Park
Last September, the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases officially pressed criminal charges against him and three other DNP officials for premeditated murder, criminal intimidation using weapons, unlawful detention and concealing a corpse. They all pleaded not guilty.
Hopefully, the next government will oversee how the DNP and maverick NPO chief take care of the Kaeng Krachan National Park issue and ensure they toe the line on human rights.
