Thawee Calls for Forest Land Case Amnesty: Time to Resolve 'Forest Overlapping Human Settlements' and Restore People's Dignity

Police Colonel Thawee Sodsong, leader of the Pracharath Party, proposed a policy of amnesty for forest land cases to fairly resolve overlapping issues between forest areas and residential zones. On February 7th, 2026, he gave a media interview discussing the draft amnesty bill for citizens affected by state forest land policies, describing the issue as a long-standing structural problem that reflects the failure of state land management. Thawee noted that Thailand has over 320 million rai of total land, but only about 39% has legal land titles. Many citizens depend on undocumented work areas, especially in forest zones declared without clear boundary measurements, resulting in widespread 'forest overlapping human settlements' issues. He emphasized that many people were living in areas before forest zone declarations but were subsequently criminalized, arrested, and prosecuted without ever receiving fair treatment from the state. According to recent data, Thailand has forest areas covering approximately 31% of the country, while state-declared forest zones exceed 130 million rai, many of which no longer have actual forest cover. Millions of households face forest encroachment charges, representing a structural inequality the state must address. Thawee stressed that the amnesty law aims not to encourage new forest encroachment but to provide remediation for past state policy impacts and restore human dignity to traditional inhabitants. He proposed a comprehensive review of land rights verification, including historical community evidence, lifestyle documentation, and the use of modern technologies like AI and aerial photography to increase transparency in decision-making.