Movement on Disability Equality in Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces

Duration: 1 February 2024 – 31 January 2028

Country: Thailand

Communities: Persons with disabilities in Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces (SBPs) and their families, with special attention paid to Patani Muslim persons with disabilities that are experiencing intersectional discrimination such as women, girls, youth, LGBTQI+, or the elderly.

What is this programme about?

The programme aims to ensure the effective implementation of policies for persons with disabilities in the SBPs, focusing on reducing intersectional discrimination and enhancing minority rights. By using a human rights-based approach, the programme will focus on strengthening the movement for disability rights in the SBPs, aiming to advocate for better access to state services, including health, education, and social protection, for marginalized persons with disabilities .

Additionally, the programme will build the capacity of local actors through targeted training and engagement, particularly focusing on women, youth, and community leaders, aligning with national development initiatives. In particular, we will:

What is the context?

Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces are the traditional territory of the Patani people.  As an ethno-religious minority in Thailand, Patani Muslims are marginalized in political, economic and social life.  Resistance to the Thai state has endured since the territory was annexed to Siam (now Thailand) in 1902, resulting in a violent separatist movement.  The reignition of this movement in 2004, which turned sporadic violence into full scale conflict, was met with a militarized approach from the central government defined by continuing human rights abuses.

Persons with disabilities in Thailand are entitled to full human rights protection as individuals. However, they face societal barriers, discrimination and marginalization that prevents them from achieving these rights.  Special rights protection provisions need to be in place in order to achieve true equality for persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities in the SBPs are disproportionately affected by both the conflict and the under-development of the region. Barriers to protecting the rights of persons with disabilities are not only administrative or physical, but also psychosocial, with heavy stigma attached to disability in the region.

For Malay Patani Muslim persons with disabilities in the SBPs of Thailand, the vulnerabilities they face as persons with disabilities are compounded by vulnerabilities which stem from their identity as an ethno-religious minority in the state of Thailand. Without immediate and sustained attention from policy makers, persons with disabilities in Thailand’s SBPs will continue to be neglected by policies that are meant to address their needs in the wider context of disability rights in Thailand while also being overlooked in efforts to reduce conflict and increase development in the SBPs, deepening their marginalization from the wider society.

For the 50,000 persons with disabilities in the region, these considerations need to be made within the wider context of the Patanian struggle for their rights as a minority in the state of Thailand, and the ongoing conflict between the government of Thailand and rebel insurgency groups such as the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN (‘Patani National Revolutionary Front)) and Patani United Liberation Organisation (PULO).  Without concerted effort, discrimination will continue to be entrenched in any transitional and/or post-conflict scenario, particularly for those persons experiencing intersectional discrimination, such as women with disabilities from Patani Muslim communities.

Furthermore, the right to quality education, health care, employment and development opportunities is constrained in the SBPs due to historic and ongoing neglect and discrimination from the central Thai government, further complicated and worsened by the ongoing conflict in the region. As a result, persons with disabilities suffer from high rates of unemployment, restricted access to education, poorer health, fewer economic opportunities, and increased poverty rates, as well as marginalization from social and political participation. Women with disabilities are at increased risk of sexual abuse and violence and have greater difficulties accessing justice and rights-respecting recourse.

What are we aiming to achieve?

Who are our partners?

Who is funding this programme?

Featured image: at the Inclusive Learning Center on Disabilities in Mai Kaen, Patani. Credit: Yostorn Triyos.