Matcha Phornin
Matcha Phornin is an Ethnic Minority/Indigenous Lesbian Feminist a human rights defender from the Chiangmai - Tak - Maehongson, the border of Thailand - Myanmar where an armed conflict still ongoing. She is the founder and executive director of Sangsan Anakot Yawachon, an organization that works to advancing the rights of the Indigenous people especially LGBTIQAN, women and girls. An ethnic minority/indigenous lesbian woman herself, Matcha has long been leading the Intersectionality movement to stop gender based violence, violence against LGBTIQAN and out standing advocate for land right and environmental justice for indigenous people in an armed conflict where many of indigenous community members holding stateless status and being internal and external displacement ended with have been left landless.
During her journey and work as ethnic minority/indigenous lesbian women human rights defender has been threatened. Her house and her office that located near by was burned 6 times in 10 days in 2016 cased by individual who committed to violence against lesbian human right defender which influenced by Lesbopobia, Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobi
After seizing power in a 2014 coup, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has maintained its grip on the country through an array of restrictive laws. The junta’s intolerance of dissenting opinions has resulted in a challenging climate for human rights defenders. Judicial harassment, which remains one of the most common tools to silence HRDs, has intensified, with defamation and other criminal and civil charges being brought against them. There are reports of surveillance of HRDs, both physical and online, intimidation, public smear campaigns and threats. A number of events, including the launching of human rights reports, have been disrupted and public gatherings banned. HRDs also face physical assaults, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killings.
HRDs most at risk include those who are fighting for economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights, particularly land rights, and those working in the conflict zone of the border provinces in Southern Thailand. There, violations against human rights organisations take place in a context of widespread impunity for the perpetrators – often government or military officials. Community-based HRDs engaged in protests and expressing concern about negative health, social, and environmental impacts related to industries operating in their localities are particularly at risk of being targeted.
