What we do
1
Strengthening Human Rights & Democracy, and People's Movements
PEF organises every year several workshops and trainings to strengthen the capacity of its members. Over the recent years, PEF has increased its members’ capacity to raise funding, to participate in international political processes (e.g. UPR, ACSC/APF, shadow reports), and provided them with small grants to support their activities.
By building the capacity of its members, PEF reinforces people's movements and strengthens human rights and democracy in the country. In addition, as a strong network of 60+ organisations, PEF acts as a powerful actors leading advocacy work at the national, regional and international level.
In addition, o increase the sensitivity of the general public to human rights issues, PEF is developing a new project called “Human Rights online Education andHuman Rights Awareness Tours” that will offer the opportunity to individuals to gain a better understanding of the human rights situation in Thailand. The aim of this new project is twofold: to foster a more respectful and peaceful society by increasing the sensibility of the general public to human rights issues in Thailand, and to provide a source of income for PEF and participating NGOs and communities.
2
International and Regional Human Rights Mechanisms
While international and regional mechanisms enable CSOs and local communities to discuss the human rights situation in their country, many grassroots and vulnerable groups lack the capacity to fully participate into these processes. To respond to this lack, PEF works with its network partners to raise their voices at the international and regional level. In close collaboration with its network partners, PEF has raised the concerns of and injustices that face local communities notably through the UPR process and the submission of treaty body shadow reports. In addition, PEF has also participated in the Asian NGOs Network on National Human Rights Institution (ANNI network) to monitor the performance of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT).
3
ASEAN Research and Cooperation
While CSOs and grassroots communities have the possibility to engage with ASEAN bodies, the complexity of the ASEAN structure makes it too often difficult for them to fully participate in this system. To respond to this problem, PEF conducts research on ASEAN to understand how it could become more accessible to the civil society and how CSOs and grassroots communities could more actively participate within ASEAN policy-making process.
In addition to research, PEF actively participate in regional movement to promote human rights, democracy and justice. Every year in parallel to the ASEAN Summit, the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) gathers the civil society of all ASEAN countries and Timor-Leste. This event is organised in a different ASEAN country every year and enables CSOs, NGOs, local communities, scholars and many other stakeholders to gather in order to discuss the key human rights issues in the region, and the different ways to address them. In addition to have been one of the co-organisers of the 2019 edition, PEF organises people to people exchanges with different civil society actors in ASEAN and raises funding to enable its network partners to participate in the ACSC/APF.
4
Building a Sustainable Future, Building "SDGs-City"
The SDGs agenda is at the core of PEF’s work. One of its key activities is to work towards building “SDGs Cities”—cities that would respect each of the 17 sustainable development goals. In collaboration with local government, local businesses and communities, PEF has started projects to create sustainable urban communities at the district level in Bangkok.