1 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
2 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Kaset Yotboonrueng, former Sub-District Head who worked hard to protect his community in Sri Saket District, Nan Province was shot in the torso, legs and head on 28 August 2018 by an AK47. Kaset was instrumental in the conservation of the forests and wildlife surrounding his community and was ambushed whilst he was working on his farmland.
3 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Chaiyaphum Pasae, aka “Ja Oo”, a 17-year-old ethnic Lahu youth activist was subject to an extrajudicial killing by military officials at an army checkpoint in Chiang Dao District, Chiang Mai Province on 17 March 2017. The official explanation about the cause of Chaiyaphum Pasae’s death is dubious as there are conflicting details given by the eyewitnesses and the circumstantial evidence. The most vital piece of evidence, footage from security cameras at the checkpoint have still not been disclosed to the public.
Note: This photograph was taken in the safe house that his guardians have been forced to live in for fear of their safety since his death.
4 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Phayao Panroj, a durian farmer and conservationist from Khao Tako forest, Thung Tako District, Chumphon Province, was shot dead by two assailants while watering his durian trees with his wife on 8 May 2016. He was believed to be shot because he exposed activities by outsiders that the villagers said would damage the water source of the valley if it continued. He collected evidence and took it to the press and government officials which infuriated those involved.
5 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Den Khamlae, a land rights activist from Khon San District in Chaiyaphum Province and a prominent member of the Northeastern Land Reform Network became a victim of enforced disappearance on16 April 2016 as he left his home at Kok Yaaw village to find mushrooms in the forest. He was part of a community that was enduring a fierce land dispute with the authorities who wanted to relocate the village as part of the controversial forest reclamation policy act.
6 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Chai Bunthonglek was shot dead by two gunmen on 11 February 2015 when visiting a relative’s house. The 61-year-old member of the Southern Peasant’s Federation of Thailand (SPFT) from Khlong Sai Pattana community in Chai Buri District of Surat Thani province was part of a long time dispute over land rights with a palm oil company. He is the fourth member of Khlong Sai Pattana community killed in 5 years.
7 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Somsuk Kohklang, 50, was shot dead on 3 December 2014 in a palm oil plantation. He was a land rights village activist leading a campaign against a corporate palm oil plantation allegedly encroaching land given to the communities.
8 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Pitan Thongpanang, 45, was shot 9 times on a remote dirt track close to his home on 30 November 2014. Mr Pitan was active in opposing mining operations on his community’s land in Nonpitam district, Nakhon Sri Thammarat province. He was the lead plaintiff in an ongoing case in which the administrative court issued a temporary order to the company involved to halt its mining operations. Mr Pitan was shot when he was visiting villagers to seek their financial support for his legal assistance in the case.
NOTE: Because of the sensitivity of this case and so as not to endanger the family of Mr Pitan further this photograph was taken close-by, but outside the community, on another dirt track identical in appearance.
9 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Sutthi Atchasai, former Coordinator of the People’s Network in the East, Rayong Province, allegedly took his own life by shooting himself in his pickup truck on the morning of 16 July 2014. A prominent and vocal member of a group opposed to the development of coal-fired power plants, Sutthi had come out to demand attention from the state toward health and environmental problems in the Map Ta Phut area. Those close to Sutthi dispute the suicide verdict saying certain parts of the evidence doesn’t add up.
10 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Porlajee Rakchongcharoen, known as “Billy,” was last seen at a National Park check- point on 17 April 2014 after having been detained for apparently illegally collecting wild honey in the forest. He was a community leader of the ethnic Karen community living in Kaeng Krachan National Park, Phetchaburi province. He supported the Karen villages of Pong Luk Bang Kloy where more than 20 Karen families suffered from the destruction and burning of their homes.
11 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Prajob Naowa-opas, 43, was shot four times at a garage whilst fixing his car on 25 February 2013 in Phanom Sarakham in Chachoengsao Province. He was a prominent environmentalist and led villagers in a campaign to expose the dumping of toxic waste around his village of Nong Nae.
12 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Ms. Montha Chukaew, 54, and Ms Pranee Boonrat, 50, were shot and killed while they were on their way to a local market on 19 November 2012. They were members of the Southern Peasants’ Federation of Thailand (SPFT). The SPFT is a landless peasants’ network formed in 2008 campaigning for the right to agricultural land in the Khlong Sai Pattana community, Chaiburi district, Surat Thani Province and other areas in the region.
13 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Asutolo Leeja, an ethnic Lisu from Ban San Pa Hiang, Chiang Dao District, Chiang Mai was shot dead on 22 May 2012. He protested against the head of the local sub-district who tried to confiscate land used by local ethnic Lisu villagers including his family. There has been no progress in the investigation of this case.
14 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Taksamol Aobaom was shot dead on a highway on 10 September 2011. He was a lawyer campaigning against the illegal practices by officials of the Kaeng Krachan National Park against an ethnic Karen community living inside the park.
15 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Singthong Puttachan was shot dead in his shop on 8 September 2011 in Wiang Chai District of Chiang Rai province. He was a member of a community opposing the construction of a power plant next to their village. Still to this day the villagers don't know the name of the company that wanted to build the power plant.
16 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Thongnak Sawekchinda, 47, was shot 9 times whilst sitting outside his home on 28 July 2011 in Samut Sakhon town. Thongnak had led villagers in Ban Phaeo and Krathum Baen districts in high-profile protests against air pollution including dust and fumes which was coming from coal depots and separation factories.
17 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Somporn Pattaphum was shot dead on 11 January 2010 during dinner at his home (which no longer exists) in a community of landless farmers that were living on an expired palm plantation in Chai Buri, Surat Thani province. Despite no legal rights to the land the palm oil company continued to harvest the palm oil whilst allegedly trying to evict the villagers. He was a member of the Southern Peasants’ Federation of Thailand (SPFT) which is a landless peasants’ network formed in 2008 to campaign for the right to agricultural land in Surat Thani Province.
18 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Peera Tantiseranee, former Mayor of Songkhla was shot dead on 7 November 2012 after a meeting with an environmental group in the old part of the town. Acting as Mayor he refused to approve a request by another politician to use land along and coast and around Songklah Lake as part of a cable car and development project due to environmental concerns since the area is a coastal pine forest and of environmental importance.
19 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Sitthichai Phetpong, aka “Choo”, Chairperson of the Sea Conservation Association of Songkhla, and member of the Southern NGO Coordinating Committee, suffered a serious gunshot wound in Hat Yai on 27 November 2009 and later died in hospital. His NGO helped to promote the formation of local savings groups and to encourage local villagers to form co-operatives to buy rubber latex in their villages thus preventing the wealthy from monopolising the market. This struggle led to four other local people being shot which he helped to document, using the information to arrest the perpetrators.
20 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Chit Thongchit, 54, was shot on his land in Pak To District of Ratchaburi Province on 15 January 2009. He died 4 days later in hospital. An ex-policeman, he was shot by a sniper after exposing corruption inside the police force and fighting more than 10 corruption cases against police, influential locals and national politicians.
21 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Kamol Lansophapan, 49, was last seen at the Ban Phai Police Station on 7 February 2008 and never seen again. He was an out-spoken anti-corruption activist who was questioning the purchase of land belonging to the Thai State Railway in Ban Phai town in Khon Kaen Province.
22 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Pakwipa Chalernklin, 49, was shot dead on 14 October 2004 near her house in Ba Mok District of Ang Thong province. She was a community member of Baan Hua Krabu group who were fighting against the construction of a container port on the nearby river.
23 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Supol Sirijant, 58, was shot dead in his home on 11 August 2004. He was the leader of the Mae Mok Community Forestry Network in Toen District of Lampang Province and was fighting against the illegal logging of a nearby community forest.
24 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Charoen Wat-Aksorn, 37, was shot dead whilst stepping off a bus. The shooting happened on 21 June 2004 in Bo Nok, Prachuap Kiri Khan Province. He was a President of the Love Bo Nok Association and relentless campaigner against the construction of coal-powered plants in his locality.
25 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Somchai Neelapaijit, the renowned Thai-Muslim lawyer and human rights activist was abducted on 12 March 2004, in Ramkamheang district of Bangkok. The motive is thought to have been Somchai’s representing of Muslim defendants in terrorism cases in the deep south provinces who claimed they were tortured.
26 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Kampan Suksai was shot dead on the main road running through Pa Ngam village in Chiang Mai Province on the 20 December 2003. He was a village head who was opposing the encroachment into a nearby community forest.
27 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Samnao Srisongkhram, 38, was shot dead in a field near his village on 25 November 2003 in Lam Nam Phong village, Khon Kaen province. He was the President of the Lam Nam Phong Environmental Conservation Association in Ubonrat district of Khon Kaen Province, leading a fight against the dumping of waste by a paper factory.
28 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Thai-Muslim Human Rights Defender Chalor Khaochua, 38, was shot on his way home from prayer at a local mosque on Lanta Island, in Krabi province on 14 February 2003. He was shot 4 times. He was a local activist condemning the illicit drug trade and was killed after presenting proof of police participation in the drug trade.
29 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Boonyong Intawong, 42, was shot dead in his house on 20 December 2002 in Baan Rong Ha village, Amphur Wiang Chai in Chiang Rai Province. A leader of a campaign against a mining company, he was targeted after bringing a team from the National Human Rights Commission to see the environmental damage caused by the quarry.
30 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Boonrit Channanrong was shot dead in a rubber plantation on 15 December 2002 in Ta Chana District, Surat Thani province. He was the leader of a local community working to expose illegal logging by National Park officials.
31 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Preecha Thongpaen, 57, was shot dead on a main road on 27 September 2002 in Thung Song district of Nakhon Si Thammarat province, whilst campaigning against a poorly conceived sewage treatment plant. He was the leader of the Tambon Kuan Krod Environmental Conservation Group.
32 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Boonsom Nimnoi, 44, was shot dead on a road close to his home on 2 September 2002 in Baan Laem, Phetchaburi province. He was a member of the Amphur Baan Laem Ocean Conservation Group and a leader of a campaign against a polluting petro-chemical plant.
33 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Somporn Chanpol, 41, was shot whilst he slept in his home on 1 August 2001. He was the president of the Klong Kra Dae Environmental Conservation Group, Surat Thani province, who were trying to combat illegal logging in the forest.
34 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Suwat Wongpiyasathit, 45, was shot dead inside a shop on 26 June 2001 in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan Province. He was the leader of a group of villagers campaigning against the relocation of a garbage landfill site proposed to be placed next to their village.
35 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Chaweewan Pueksungnoen, 35, a campaigner from Na Klang Tambon Administrative Organisation, Na Khon Ratchasima province was shot dead on the 21 June 2001 outside of her house. She was challenging the mismanagement and corruption in local construction projects that were against public interest.
36 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Pitak Tonwut, 30, was shot dead close to his village on 17 May 2001. He was a consultant for the Conserve Chompoo River Basin Network in Nam Maprang District of Phitsanulok Province who protested the impact of a nearby quarry.
37 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Narin Phodaeng, 67, was shot dead in his petrol station on 1 May 2001. He was the President of the Khao Chaang Klang Thung Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Conservation Association in Khao Chamao District of Rayong Province. The groups were protesting a mining company working at a nearby mountain.
38 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Ari Songkraw, the vice-President of the Pha Tom Num Conservation Association was shot dead in a rubber plantation on 30 December 1999, in Kanchanadit, Surat Thani province. He was trying to protect the forest from illegal logging.
39 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Som Hompornma (right) and Tongnuan Kamjen (left) were shot dead at the same time on the edge of a road leading to the town of Suwan Khu Ha in Nong Bua Lam Phu Province on 22 April 1999. They were part of a group of villagers protesting the construction of a limestone quarry.
40 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Sittichock Tamtecha, member of Surat Thani Provincial Administrative was shot dead at his home on 6 May 1997.He led the protest against the Kangkrung damand managed to stop an illegal logging permit. Further he fought against corrupt transport infrastructure projects.
41 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Pati Punu Dokjimu, an ethnic Karen, committed suicide on 5 March 1997 by jumping from a Bangkok - Chiang Mai train just after leaving Mae Ta Train Station in Lampang Province. His suicide was triggered by the stress accumulated during the tense negotiation with the then Minister of Agriculture and the harsh comments he received. A core member of the Network of Northern Peasants and the Assembly of the Poor, Pati Punu’s death prompted the government to agree to a resolution to verify and recognize the right of people who dwell in the forest.
42 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Jun Boonkhunton was shot dead in a field near his village on 22 July 1996. He was a leader of the Assembly of the Poor and at the time of his death fighting against the construction of the Phong Khun Phet dam in Chaiyaphum Province.
43 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Thong-in Kaewwattha, was shot dead on 18 January 1996. He was a prominent member of the group opposing the construction of an industrial waste disposal plant in Rayong. After he was killed the waste plant moved from that location and was built elsewhere in the province.
44 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Prawien Bunnak was shot dead outside government buildings on 11 July 1995 in Wang Sa Pung town in Loei Province. He was the Secretary of the Farmers Assembly Agricultural Cooperative Federation and a leader of the Assembly of the Poor. At the time of his death he was leading a protest against the construction of a large quarry.
45 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Bunlert Duankoda, Dongmaphai subdistrict, Nong Bua Lam Phu province, was shot whilst working in his field after leading a protest over the damage caused by a quarry mining company in 1993.
46 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Thanong Po-Arn, President of the Labour Congress of Thailand the largest trade union in Thailand and a member of International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) was abducted on 19 June 1991 and never seen again. His car was left stranded in front of the headquarters of the Eastern Transportation Trade Union building in Thonburi.
47 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Chamrat Muangyam was the second Chairperson of National Farmers Federation of Thailand after the 6 October massacre in 1976. He was arrested and imprisoned for being a suspected communist. After seven months behind bars, he was released, but then shot dead with an M-16 machine gun on 21 July 1979 while heading home with his wife in Nong Yai District of Chonburi Province.
48 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Rod Thani, Chairperson of Northeastern Peasant Federation and Vice Chairperson of National Peasant Federation of Thailand was shot dead on 5 July 1978 in Nong Bua Daeng District, Chaiyaphum Province. One of the founders of the Federation, he took the lead in the campaigning against the construction of the nearby Lam Chee Bon Dam.
49 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Nuan Daotad, Chairperson of Ban Sansaimoon Peasant Federation, Chiang Mai, was shot dead on 9 May 1976. A former boy scout and member of the Social Action Party, Mr. Nuan was part of the committee to control paddy field fees at the District level and expose official corruption.
50 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Boonrat Jaiyen, Vice Chairperson of Chiang Mai Peasant Federation was intimidated, harassed and eventually shot dead on 21 October 1975 in Saraphi District of Chiang Mai Province. He was a prominent member of a group that demanded the enforcement of the 1974 Rice Field Fee Control Act which prompted the landlords to cancel their paddy field rent.
51 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Chuan Niamweera, an executive member of the Suphan Buri Peasant Federation was shot dead on 12 August 1975 on his bicycle while heading home from Oo Thong market with his youngest son. It is alleged that the hitman, a police official, shot him because influential people in the area were unhappy by his campaign.
52 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Sawat Tathawan, Vice Chairperson of Chiang Mai Peasant Federation was shot dead on 3 August 1975 while heading home from a funeral in Doi Saket District. He led a movement that protested against corruption by government officials and landlords and demanded the enforcement of the law.
53 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Inta Sriboonreung, Chairperson of Northern Peasant Federation (NPF) and Vice Chairperson of National Peasant Federation of Thailand was shot dead on 30 July 1975 in front of his house in Saraphi District, Chiang Mai. A community leader, Inta has taken the lead to promote theatrical performances by the villagers as a tool to mobilize the peasant farmers movement in the North. The farmers were working in collaboration with students, volunteers and workers to spread information about the Rice Field Fee Control Act and to promote the rights of landless peasants.
54 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Ja Jakrawan, the vice president of the Farmers’ Federation of Thailand was shot dead on 3 July 1975 in Mae Rim District, Chiang Mai Province. Mr Ja was an active participant in the movement to change the 1974 Rice Field Fee Control Act and was also actively collecting information regarding money laundering of approximately 2,500 million baht from government budget leaks before being shot dead.
55 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Prasert Chomamarit, Chairperson of Ban Fon Moo Peasant Federation in Nong Kwai District, Hang Dong District, Chiang Mai, was shot dead on 17 April 1975. Prasert was a prominent member of a local group which had been campaigning on rice paddy rental fee and exposing corruption by local government officials.
56 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Metta Laoudom, aka Luan, a farmer and member of the farmers’ Federation of Thailand was shot dead on 11 August 1974 in Bang Lamung District, Chonburi. Metta was a prominent member of a local group campaigning against land-grabbing specifically against a cassava processing plant that had exercised its influence to buy large areas of land. Conceding to the demand of the protesters, the factory agreed to return all the land acquired. Metta was also instrumental in the protests against the Map Prachan Dam Project by the Royal Irrigation Department which led to the suspension of the project.
57 of 57
© 2021 Luke Duggleby
Public Story
For Those Who Died Trying
Credits:
luke duggleby
Updated: 12/03/19
Our planet is at a critical point in time. We understand more than we ever have about it, yet it is increasingly under threat. Today, a growing number of people find themselves defending their homeland, their villages, from corporations or state-run enterprises that seek to destroy it for their own profit, regardless of those affected. Around the world people have lost their lives for protecting a wide range of environmental values and human rights ranging from the exposing of waste-dumping, illegal deforestation, land grabs, to opposing the construction of polluting power plant.
In Thailand, backlash towards those trying to change an unjust system has been well documented dating back over a century. But the first substantial documentation of the use of violence towards rural community leaders comes between 1973 and 1976 when almost 50 leaders of the Farmers’ Federation of Thailand were killed or injured according to Nitirat’s Sapsomboon’s book The Path of Thai Farmers (1999).
More recently, research by NGO Protection International has documented 62 cases of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances of Human Rights Defenders (HRD’s) in the last 30 years. This make’s Thailand one of the worst offenders in terms of violence against HRD’s including a system of impunity putting community-based HRDs at high risk of violence and injustice. Across the country, people who have become obstacles have simply been removed. Many perpetrators go unpunished as the influence of the powerful can easily override justice. The effect of such an assassination on a small community struggle can be devastating.
This project is a tribute to those Thai Human Rights Defenders who have lost their lives over the last 50 years. Tracing back to the first cases in the early 1970’s the photographer visited the families or friends of the victims, interviewed them and requested a portrait of the deceased. This portrait of the murdered HRD was then taken to and placed at the exact location, or as close as possible, to where she or he was murdered or abducted, representing the last time they were ever seen alive.
As Doctoral student Karin H. Zackari of Lund University wrote ‘The places are of seemingly no historical significance, yet the photographs refer to a historical continuity, that of the persisting state violence and impunity. By placing the victims in a photographic frame of space and time, they and their destinies are symbolically placed in a history that is geographically and juridically bounded by the Thai nation-state.’
It is vital, for the victims and their families, that their fight and their death should not be forgotten and left un-recognised. Ultimately, those that abuse their power with impunity must not go unpunished; the HRDs recognition and administration of justice are steps on the path to end these killings.