This is the second part of an EarthRights series on criminalization.
Criminalization occurs when powerful politicians and business leaders weaponize the legal system to silence their critics. This can include passing laws that restrict free speech and peaceful protest, imposing harsh penalties for civil disobedience, and using baseless allegations to subject targets to costly and lengthy legal proceedings.
Suthin*, an environmental defender from Mae La Noi, Thailand, is currently facing threats of legal action against him. The reasons for these threats: defending his territory from mining activities that are putting the well-being and way of life of his community at risk.
“I have been threatened to be sued by the authorities if I continue to discuss the issue of mining impacts on my homeland in Maehongson province,” Suthin said.
Currently, the criminalization of Indigenous leaders like Suthin is growing across the Mekong region. This has impacted defenders in countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam in different ways and to varying degrees.
Thailand: Increasing Use of Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation
In Thailand, we have seen a recent increase in the use of criminalization strategies to intimidate environmental defenders into silence. Among them are strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), a method that has already been widely put to use in the U.S. to target peaceful protests against gas and oil pipeline projects.
SLAPPs are attempts by governments or private companies to involve activists in lengthy civil and/or criminal legal proceedings. These legal threats create a chilling effect on activists, who live in fear of long, expensive legal battles that would make it impossible for them to continue their advocacy.
Criminalization is becoming more sophisticated and is creating new challenges for activists and Indigenous leaders in Thailand. SLAPP suits aim to intimidate and harass individuals and groups who speak out against business activities or question government actions in relation to development projects with harmful outcomes. The tactics now extend beyond threatening to sue – they also entail exposing defenders to criminal proceedings, which could result in jail time, isolation from peers, and a loss of sources of income.
Protection International and the International Center for Not-For-Profit-Law have described Thailand as one of “the most fertile environments” for the use of SLAPPs against defenders in the Global South. A noticeable increase in the use of SLAPPs over the past few years can be observed, and these have been primarily aimed at silencing community activism. This trend highlights a critical need for clearer strategies and a more unified approach among civil society organizations in combating these lawsuits.
There is currently a need to develop a collective strategy to tackle the impacts of SLAPP suits on defenders in Thailand, to protect community activism, and guarantee fundamental democratic rights such as public participation. It is crucial to collaborate and develop effective strategies to address this growing challenge.
Cambodia: Increasing Surveillance and Government Crackdowns
The government crackdown on NGOs in Cambodia has been an ongoing issue of concern in recent years. The Cambodian government uses restrictive laws, including a controversial citizenship law, to arbitrarily arrest and prosecute environmental activists and human rights defenders across the country.
The Nationality Law, passed in August 2025, gave the government power to revoke the citizenship of anyone found guilty of conspiring with foreign nations to harm the national interest. Critics fear that this will be used to silence foreign NGOs and the Cambodian activists with whom they partner in their fight to protect human rights and the environment. In addition to legal persecution, there are increasing reports of government surveillance of activists as a method to intimidate, control, and gather information used against them in legal proceedings.
“[Currently in Cambodia,] there is regular invocation of sections 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code (which prohibit the incitement of crimes) to prosecute political dissidents and human rights advocates exercising their right to freedom of speech,” said Vithit Huntabhorn, in his latest report as the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Cambodia, to the United Nations General Assembly.
Viset*, an Indigenous activist, was arrested while he collected non-timber forest products in the territory upon which his community depends in Cambodia. The forest that Viset protects no longer feels like his own ever since carbon offsetting schemes took control of the area. While the operator of the project violates Indigenous rights, the right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), and the right to access to natural resources, Viset is the one who is now facing legal persecution for attempting to access the land which his ancestors once walked.
Vietnam: False Climate Solutions and Persecution of Activists
While Vietnam is swiftly moving toward a green transition, many climate activists across the country are serving jail time on tax evasion charges, for which they were denied the right to legal representation. Dang Dinh Bach, an environmental lawyer, community campaigner, and EarthRights partner, was detained in 2021 on tax evasion charges and was sentenced to five years in prison. Bach’s organization, the Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Centre, advocated for changes in how the government of Vietnam regulates the single-use plastics industry and also trained young lawyers to improve their environmental advocacy skills.
Restricted, controlled, and regulated civic space in Vietnam has created significant barriers to carrying out work in defense of the environment. This has created unique challenges, particularly for demanding accountability from the government and private companies in relation to the impacts of large development projects. The fear of being labeled as a ‘criminal’ and the shutdown of organizations working to defend affected communities are prevalent in the case of Vietnam. As a result of this persecution, communities and organizations working to address environmental and human rights issues have reframed their mission or have significantly reduced their operations, with some even shutting down entirely.
Fighting Back and Protecting Defenders at Risk
Criminalization is a growing phenomenon across the Mekong region, and many defenders and organizations that protect the environment and human rights have been subject to legal proceedings in recent years that have made it impossible for their advocacy to continue.
Many international mechanisms that would provide protection to defenders and organizations working in the defense of human rights and the environment across the Mekong region are voluntary in nature and insufficient to create meaningful change. It is therefore necessary to create consolidated regional networks that defenders and organizations can use to develop transnational strategies to protect themselves from the onslaught of legal challenges they now face.
EarthRights and partner organizations will bring together more than 150 activists from across the Mekong region for a convening at the EarthRights Defenders Forum Asia Pacific, from October 24-27. This is part of our efforts to build bridges between activists experiencing criminalization in different countries and to generate cross-border solutions.
Suthin, Bach, and Viset have been targets of different criminalization campaigns over the previous years in the Mekong region. However, many others like them are facing similar challenges. We must take a stand against the misuse of the law to attack defenders and provide support to frontline communities and activists so that they can freely protect their homelands and natural resources from destructive development projects.
*Pseudonyms have been used to protect the identities of defenders at risk.
*Stand With Bach: June 24, 2025, marks the fourth anniversary of the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of environmental lawyer and climate justice advocate Dang Dinh Bach, on trumped-up charges and under harsh and degrading conditions. Bach, a leader in Vietnam's environmental movement, has been unjustly detained since 2021, facing inhumane conditions that put his life and health at risk.
