Focus: Labour activists need greater protection for freedom of expression

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

20 | International Union Rights | 24/3 FOCUS | FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Labour activists need greater protection for freedom of expression A critical part of the work of trade unionists and labour activists, and indeed human rights activists more generally, is to challenge a wide range of actors, both state and private, who have impacted on human rights, and to hold these actors to scrutiny and to account. Of concern to ICTUR are those cases reported to us in which activists undertake such work, in a context that appears to be genuine and sincere human rights advocacy, and yet in which they are subject to forms of legal retaliation that either seek to punish them for their advocacy or that bar them from speaking out further. In recent years two cases stand out as examples of this kind of litigation, that of Andy Hall in Thailand, and of Wilson Sossion in Kenya. In both cases the plaintiffs are private corporate interests, claiming to have been damaged by the activists’ human rights work. The two cases have striking relevance for the question of transnational supply chain regulation and the growing demand for action around the intersection of transnational business and human rights generally. Hall is a British researcher, working for a Finnish NGO, examining the situation of migrant workers from Myanmar, working for a Thai company, supplying European markets. Sossion is a Kenyan union leader working with an international teachers’ union in Belgium, looking at the impacts of a US company. Thailand: British activist hounded by defamation law Migrant rights defender and researcher Andy Hall worked as a research coordinator for a Finnish NGO Finnwatch in 2012, which published his findings in the report Cheap Has a High Price in January 2013. The Natural Fruit Company Ltd. reacted to the report by pressing multiple criminal and civil charges against Hall. The company also cited an interview Hall gave to Aljazeera in Myanmar in response to his original prosecution as being defamatory. Natural Fruit also alleged Hall’s involvement in uploading on to Finnwatch website a confidential communication regarding the Finnwatch report. Natural Fruit filed two cases against Hall under criminal defamation provisions in Thailand's Criminal Code as well as two civil defamation cases. One of the criminal defamation cases also includes allegations under the Computer Crimes Act. Natural Fruit Company Ltd. is a company that produces pineapple products. The owner of Natural Fruit Mr. Wirat Piyapornpaiboon is the elder brother of Thailand's former labour minister and former general secretary of the Democratic Party Chalermchai Sri-On, who was also the senator of Prachuap Khiri Khan province for many years. Wirat Piyapornpaiboon has many other businesses. Wirat Piyapornpaiboon is an important actor in Thailand's pineapple industry as he is the President of the Thai Pineapple Industry Association (TPIA). TPIA represents over 60 pineapple companies in Thailand. Hall is a 37-year-old British national who lived in Thailand for 11 years working as an academic and promoting the rights of migrant workers in Thailand. Civil defamation case: the first of the four cases to reach a trial stage was a criminal defamation case which dealt with an interview Andy Hall gave to Aljazeera in Yangon, Myanmar, in April 2013. The case charges carried a maximum penalty of 1 year imprisonment. The trial was heard from 2 to 10 September 2014 at Prakanong Court, Bangkok. ICTUR sent Australian barrister Mark Plunkett, to observe proceedings. On 29 October 2014, the Court delivered a verdict dismissing the charges. Following various attempts to reinstate the case the Appeals Court dismissed the challenge on 18 September 2015, and the Supreme Court also dismissed the case on 3 November 2016. Criminal Defamation and Computer Crimes Case – Finnwatch Report: after seven preliminary hearings held between 17 November 2014 and 20 July 2015, the Bangkok South Criminal Court on 24 August 2015 decided to proceed to a criminal trial with the original criminal defamation and computer crimes prosecutions brought by Natural Fruit Company Ltd. The charges carried a combined maximum penalty of 7 years' imprisonment. Following a complex process with several rounds of preliminary hearings, the Bangkok South Criminal Court issued its verdict in this case on 20 September...