Never Stop Remembering: Memory – Fading – Never Erased
Thailand has a long history of enforced disappearance, particularly targeting human rights defenders and vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities. Unresolved cases, such as that of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit or Karen community defender Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen, remain stalled, with little progress in the judicial process and without those responsible being prosecuted or punished.
Although Thailand enacted the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act (2022) and ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in 2024, its practical implementation has been slow. Currently, there remain as many as 77 outstanding cases with the UN. In the southern region, incidents such as the Tak Bai Massacre in 2004, which left 85 people dead as a result of state arrests and transfers, still reflect the human rights violations against Malay ethnic groups. At least 20 individuals detained during the incident became “disappeared.”
Ethnic groups across Thailand have also been framed as threats to “national security” and targeted by harmful policies. For instance, the War on Drugs in 2003 led to widespread enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of ethnic communities. Such patterns of oppression persist today. Hence, “memory” is not merely about the past—it is a form of social power that can revive hope and sustain the act of “not forgetting” as a tool for demanding justice.
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On the occasion of International Day of the Disappeared, Cross Cultural Foundation cordially invites you to join the event, “Never Stop Remembering: Memory – Fading – Never Erased”
Date: 29 August 2025, 13:30 – 17:00
Venue: Jim Thompson Art Center
Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ftThNgQU83Xei4x97
Tentative Program
13:30 – 14:00 Registration
14:00 – 14:10 Opening remarks by Sila Jahae, President of the Lahu Association for Quality of Life Development
14:10 – 15:00 Launch of the report “A Cry from the Pit to the Hill: The Enduring Crisis of Enforced Disappearance in Lahu Communities in Northern Thailand” by Prakaidao Phurksakasemsuk, Deputy Director of Cross Cultural Foundation
15:00 – 15:15 Break – Exhibition tour
15:15 – 16:45 Panel discussion: “Ethnicity, Memory, Hope, and the Path to Justice”
Moderator: Jidapa Eagark, Communications Officer, Cross Cultural Foundation
Speakers:
- Surapong Kongchantuk, Chairperson, Cross Cultural Foundation
- Sila Jahae, President, Lahu Association for Quality of Life Development
- Piboon Tuwamonton, Network for Highland Environmental Management
- Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, Researcher, Amnesty International
16:45 – 17:00 Closing remarks by Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Director, Cross Cultural Foundation
[All programs in Thai with English translation]
Photo exhibition and listen to Lahu people’s memories during 2003 “War on Drugs” Policy
