{"id":6630,"date":"2020-06-13T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T08:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justiceandpeace.nl\/?p=6630"},"modified":"2020-06-25T08:47:27","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T08:47:27","slug":"human-rights-violations-in-thailand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justiceandpeace.nl\/en\/human-rights-violations-in-thailand\/","title":{"rendered":"HRDs on COVID-19: Lookkate, sharing experiences as a human rights defender in Thailand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cAt the first moment of my self-quarantine, I felt stressed because the human rights situation is still in crisis but we (human rights defenders) cannot work as effectively as before. Most of my work required me to travel to the community and to organise workshops, but I can\u2019t do it at this time. It\u2019s quite a big challenge for me.\u201d
\n-Lookate, former Shelter City guest<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fighting for human rights has become a great challenge in the context of the pandemic.<\/strong>\u00a0Most human rights defenders, like everyone else, have had no choice but to stay home. Since the Thai government declared a state of emergency, Lookkate\u2019s work has been severely affected.<\/p>\n

Lookkate<\/a>\u00a0is a civil and political rights defender from Thailand and a former guest of\u00a0Shelter City Maastricht<\/a>*. As the co-founder and coordinator of an organisation of young Thai activists, most of her work revolves around public campaigns and events promoting and advocating for human rights in Thailand. However, with the declaration of a\u00a0state of emergency<\/a>, which became effective on 26th March, the Thai government imposed a ban on all public gatherings. Lookkate and her team had to postpone the timeline of their work, cancel events and change their strategic working plan for the period of the COVID-19. This also involved sending the staff to work from home under a self-quarantine.<\/p>\n

The self-quarantine, however, has taken a toll on Lookkate, as she started feeling \u201cdepressed and useless\u201d, with her work severely hampered by the lockdown. The measures imposed by the government also made her concerned about the security of human rights defenders, some of whom are already targets of the authorities. As this all became too much to take in, Lookkate started looking for strategies to cope with her mental health while working from home.<\/p>\n

She gave us a few tips on wellbeing which have helped her deal with the imposed lockdown:<\/h2>\n