Thailand: Whether the government is seizing land for redistribution, particularly in the province of Udon Thani and, if so, whether there is redress or restitution for those who lose their land (2005 - December 2007)

Land seizures

In January 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published a bulletin on land reform, which included an article entitled "Land Tenure Data in Thailand" written by Orapan Nabangchang-Srisawalak, an associate professor of economics at Sukhothai Thammatirat Open University and coordinator of Land Forum Thailand (Nabangchang-Srisawalak Jan. 2006, 83).

Nabangchang-Srisawalak notes that a commonly occurring land dispute involves people who occupy and lay claim to public land without knowing that it is public, with no initial protest from the government, a situation which may eventually lead to conflicting claims to the same land (ibid., 84, 85).

Land disputes in Thailand often occur in forested areas for several reasons, including, for instance, the occupation of forest land by farmers before the land becomes environmentally protected (Nabangchang-Srisawalak Jan. 2006, 85). Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006 notes that in 2006, indigenous hill tribes unwittingly living on public land were sometimes forced to abandon land they had cultivated for decades, in some cases because their land had been declared natural conservation zones (US 6 Mar. 2007, Sec. 1.f). A controversial project launched by the Thai government in 2004, in which thousands of villages were going to be officially deemed state land, was abandoned in 2006 because of public disapproval and financial constraints (ibid.).

Other disputes have been caused or exacerbated by the 2004 tsunami (UN 2007, 13) and by construction projects, such as railways (The Nation 19 Aug. 2005), highways (Thai News Service 20 Mar. 2006) and airports (Bangkok Post 9 Nov. 2006).

By June 2006, a land committee established by the National Poverty Reduction Program had found solutions to 13 out of 89 land tenure conflicts that arose in the wake of the 2004 tsunami (ibid.). Disputes over land rights between local communities, private developers, national park authorities and local governments continue in over 100 villages across Thailand, especially in those with "Sea Gypsy communities who live on 'prime real estate' along the shoreline" (UN 2007, 13).

The Thai News Service reported on 24 November 2006 that more than 400 labourers' and farmers' representatives protested against the Thai government over the seizure by financial institutes of farmers' lands, and demanded that the government investigate the spending of the Office of the Farmers Rehabilitation and Development Fund (OFRDF). Further or corroborating information on the nature of these protests, however, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Compensation

The first two government bodies that took charge of resettling displaced farmers in the wake of construction projects such as dams, irrigation facilities, hydropower plants and highways were the Cooperatives Promotion Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) and the Ministry of Interior's Department of Social Welfare and Development (previously known as the Public Welfare Department) (Nabangchang-Srisawalak Jan. 2006, 85). Farmers resettled under these two schemes receive a land document, which "after a specified period, can be transferred into land titles" (ibid.).

There were media reports in 2005 and 2006 of landowners receiving compensation for land expropriated due to the construction of transportation projects (The Nation 19 Aug. 2005; Thai News Service 20 Mar. 2006; Bangkok Post 24 June 2006).

In August 2005, the Transport Ministry announced that it was working on an amendment to the Land Expropriation Act of 1987 in order to offer greater compensation to people who must give up their land due to transportation projects (ibid. 19 Aug. 2005; The Nation 19 Aug. 2005). The Transport Minister, Pongsak Raktapongpaisal, indicated that "land valuation methods used by the Land Department to assess compensation were out of date, and the current compensation rates unrealistically low" (Bangkok Post 19 Aug. 2005). Therefore, he said, those affected by expropriation would receive compensation in line with market prices in addition to a bonus (ibid.; The Nation 19 Aug. 2005) plus exclusive commercial rights to the areas near newly built train stations (ibid.). However, those who opposed these measures expressed doubt that they would be effective since "money was not the main reason for their opposition" (Bangkok Post 19 Aug. 2005). Further information indicating whether the proposed amendment was later passed and put into practice could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, in March 2006, the Thai News Service reported that the Finance and Thai ministries were looking into increasing compensatory payments to landowners removed from 700 land plots due to the building of the Ram Intra-Outer Ring Road expressway (20 Mar. 2006). Following protests by the majority of evicted landowners, the Finance and Transport ministries noted that they would revise land valuations to bring them up to current market prices comparable to the value of surrounding plots of land (Thai News Service 20 Mar. 2006). Similar complaints by evicted landowners were voiced during the building of the Dao Khanong-Srirat expressway in June 2006 (Bangkok Post 24 June 2006).

In November 2006, the Bangkok Post reported that the proposed expansion of Bangkok's recently completed Suvarnabhumi Airport might force local residents to evacuate their homes for a second time in a decade, since they had initially been displaced in 1996 when the airport was still in its planning phase (9 Nov. 2006). Families had originally been compensated 800,000 baht [1.00 Thai baht = 0.03 Canadian dollars (Canada 13 Dec. 2007)] but were obliged to pay 750,000 baht for state homes built on smaller plots of land (Bangkok Post 9 Nov. 2006).

In January 2007, The Nation quoted a Thai junta general as stating that his government would soon implement a "land redistribution programme for landless farmers" (12 Jan. 2007), although further or corroborating information on this program could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

In August 2007, media sources quoted the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) as stating that it was requesting 579 million baht from the central government for 2008 land expropriation schemes involving four roadwork projects (The Nation 2 Aug. 2007; Bangkok Post 1 Aug. 2007).

Udon Thani

The only mention of land seizures in the province of Udon Thani found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate was a criminal case involving former public health minister Rakkiat Sukthana (ibid. 10 June 2005). According to the Bangkok Post, Sukthana had been convicted for bribery in September 2003 by Thailand's Supreme Court and had his assets seized by the state (ibid.). Among these assets were 42 plots of land located in the provinces of Udon Thani and Loei which had been transferred to third parties, leading the government to postpone its seizure of the land in order to ascertain the legitimacy of Sukthana's transfer (ibid.). Further or corroborating information on the proposed seizure or whether it was ever carried through could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Bangkok Post. 1 August 2007. Supoj Wancharoen. "City Road Projects; B600m Budget Sought for Land Expropriations." (Factiva)
_____. 9 November 2006. Anchallee Kongrut. "Plan for Two New Runways Worries Locals; Community Could Face Relocation Again." (Factiva)
_____. 24 June 2006. Amornrat Maitthirook. "Dao Khanong-Srirat Route to Be Reviewed; Expressway Scheme Runs Into Opposition." (Factiva)
_____. 19 August 2005. Amornrat Maitthirook. "Cash Boost for Evicted Homeowners; Bid to Appease Foes of New Train Line, Bus Hub." (Factiva)
_____. 10 June 2005. "Crime; Land Seizure in Rakkiat Case Sought at Court." (Factiva)

Canada. 13 December 2007. Bank of Canada. "Daily Currency Converter." [Accessed 13 Dec. 2007]

Nabangchang-Srisawalak, Orapan. January 2006. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). "Land Tenure Data in Thailand." Land Reform: Land Settlement and Cooperatives. [Accessed 17 Dec. 2007]

The Nation [Bangkok]. 2 August 2007. Jeerawan Prasomsap. "BMA Agency Seeks Bt579m for Land Indemnity." (Factiva)
_____. 12 January 2007. "Junta Chief Spells Out Six Threats." [Accessed 13 Dec. 2007]
_____. 19 August 2005. Watcharapong Thongrung. "Govt Should Pay More for Expropriated Land: Ministry." (Factiva)

Thai News Service. 24 November 2006. "Thailand: Over 400 Laborers and Farmers Submits PM a Document Protesting the Seizure of Land." (Factiva)
_____. 20 March 2006. "Thailand: Land Expropriated for Ram Intra Expressway to have Valuations Adjusted Upward." (Factiva)

United Nations (UN). 2007. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Sufficiency Economy and Human Development. [Accessed 17 Dec. 2007]

United States (US). 6 March 2007. Department of State. "Thailand." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006. [Accessed 12 Dec. 2007]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources, including: The Royal Thai Embassy in Ottawa and Focus on the Global South (Thailand) could not respond to requests for information within the time constraints of this Response.

Internet sources, including: Amnesty International (AI), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Courrier international, European Country of Origin Information Network (ecoi.net), Focus on the Global South [Bangkok], Foundation for Ecological Recovery, Human Rights Watch (HRW), International Land Coalition (ILC), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Udon Thani News, World News Connection (WNC).