The Southern Peasants’ Federation of Thailand (SPFT) celebrated their 10th anniversary on 20 to 21 December at Klong Sai Pattana community, Chai Buri district, Surat Thani province. Over the past 10 years, the SPFT has demonstrated its will to secure land for landless peasants and workers in southern Thailand.
The SPFT is a well-organized movement, that maintains its strength because of their strong ideology. The SPFT members have studied their lessons learnt to continually improve both organization and movement. It has put a lot of effort into policy advocacy in order for local people to engage the government in changing its land reform policies.
Women representatives of SPFT accept the award on behalf of the organization. [Photo: National Human Rights Commission of Thailand]
On International Human Rights Day, the SPFT received the Human Rights Defender award of the year 2018 from the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand. This award is for outstanding individual, media or civil society organization which promotes, defends and protects human rights in Thailand.
Since 2008, the SPFT has led landless peasants and workers in Surat Thani province to occupy land and establish newly community settlements, and to demand the equitable land distribution. However, their community members have be subjected to assassination, intimidation and judicial harassment from opposing private companies and government authorities. In alliance with the People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-Move), the SPFT continues to struggle for land rights and advocate redistributing land equitably among landless peasants in Thailand.
Focus and the SPFT have cultivated a long relationship around their advocacies and struggle for land.
