Thailand is classified as a ‘not-free’ country in the recent annual freedom ranking by Freedom House, which surveys freedoms and rights in over 195 countries and 13 territories around the world.
In the ‘Freedom in the World 2025’ report this year, Thailand was given a score of only 34 out of 100, which is a decline from last year, when the country was ranked as ‘partly-free’, scoring 36 points.
Freedom House, a non-profit organisation based in the US which advocates for democracy, human rights, and political freedom, listed two reasons why Thailand is classified as ‘not-free’.
One is the dissolution of the Move Forward party by the Constitutional Court in August 2024, which ruled their election campaign pledge to amend the lèse majesté law to be an attempt to overthrow the country’s constitutional monarchy. In addition to the party’s dissolution, its executives were banned from politics for 10 years.
The second reason is the Thai authorities’ decisions to repatriate activists, refugees and asylum seekers to countries where they face mistreatment, in particular the recent deportation of 40 Uyghurs back to China in late February.
As for countries in the ASEAN region, Cambodia (23), Vietnam (20), Laos (13), and Myanmar (7) are classified as ‘not-free’ countries, while the Philippines (58), Indonesia (56), Malaysia (53) and Singapore (48) are classified as ‘partly-free’.
The freest countries, according to the report, are Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, Denmark and Ireland.
