Environmental protection and community rights: the constitution, mining and the enforcement of community rights for people in rural Thailand

Since 1945 human rights have been included in state obligations and duties in the Charter of United Nations and other legal agreements. These instruments describe the need to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of people of every nationality, place of residence, gender,ethnicity, colour, religion, language, or other status. Human rights have been further elaborated in the context of community or group rights as third generation rights. They are sometimes referred to as "solidarity rights" and mentioned in many international contexts such as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Rio Declaration, the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Nagoya Protocol. This third generation of human rights includes rights to goods, such as development, peace, a healthy environment, communication,humanitarian assistance, and a share in the common heritage of mankind. Community rights, pertaining to environmental protection have been included in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand since 1997. However, cases have been reported of violations of the written law and the enforcement of community rights. These cases provide the evidence of a gap between the law and its enforcement. This study investigates this gap,particularly in relation to community rights and the mining of natural resources in rural localities in Thailand. Australian laws and practices provide the comparative context for this investigation, including some case studies. This study proposes ways of closing the gap between the Constitution and its enforcement that will aide Thailand's future strengthening of community rights and environmental protection for rural people. These proposals include: a Community Rights Act, policies and additional inclusions in the current legislation.