The Kaeng Krachan National Park is located in Thailand. It was declared a National Park in 1981 and listed as a World Heritage Site in July 2021 without consultation and consent of Karen Indigenous peoples who have been traditionally occupying these lands. In 2010 and 2011, Karen Indigenous people from settlements near Bang Kloi Bon and Pu Ra Kam were evicted from their lands while their houses, rice granaries, and other possessions were destroyed. Such acts were repeated in 2011 during which 98 houses and rice stores, agricultural tools, and other possessions were burnt in an operation known as ‘Tenasserim’. In addition, several Karen Indigenous people were arrested and charged, and some others fled to seek refuge outside the park. These evictions were reportedly carried out as a follow-up to the State party’s position that Indigenous peoples’ traditional farming methods were incompatible with natural conservation objectives, in contradiction of the 2007 Royal Thai Constitution which protects the right for persons to remain in national parks and forest areas they have occupied before demarcation or establishment as well as a Thai Cabinet resolution of 3 August 2010 on the restoration of the livelihoods of the Karen, which allows them to remain in their ancestral lands and to continue their traditional farming. 

Killings and disappearances: 

In September 2011, a local activist named Thatkamon Ob-om, who supported the evicted Karen, was shot and killed, intensifying the violence against the Karen people.

Activist Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen, who was supporting the Karen, filed a lawsuit against the park chief, Chaiwat Limlikit-aksorn, for destroying Karen homes. On April 17, 2014, Porlajee disappeared after being arrested by Chaiwat for collecting wild honey. Over the years, investigations and trials concerning Porlajee's disappearance and the destruction of Karen homes by Chaiwat took place. In January 2016, the sub-committee on Civil Rights of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Thailand reviewed the progress in the case of Porlajee’s disappearance.^[1] They found that the testimonies of the park officers who detained Porlajee were “inconsistent.”^[2]Three park rangers, Bunthaen Butsarakham, Thanaset Chaemthet, and Kritsanaphong Chitthet, were eventually accused and acquitted in the death of Porlajee Rakchongcharoen.^[3]

The CERD under its early warning and urgent action procedure sent letters on 24 November 2020 , 29 August 2019 , 17 May 2017 , 3 October 2016, and 9 March 2012 to the government of Thailand to express concerns about evictions, harassment, and violence against Indigenous peoples in the Park. The UN Special Rapporteurs on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights Defenders, and the Environment sent a communication to the government of Thailand on 21 February 2019 and 30 June 2021 and expressed concerns about these human rights violations in a press release.