10th Session – United Nations Forum on Minority Issues Geneva, 30 November – 1 December 2017 Statement by Fitra Jehwoh Background I speak on behalf of the Malay Muslim youth from Patani, the southern border provinces of Thailand, where a conflict between Patani insurgency movements and the Thai state has been ongoing. Since 2004 the Martial Law, the Emergency Decree, and the Internal Security Act have been imposed, the powers of state authorities through works of national security forces have been predominantly limitless. As a consequence, my generation has been witnessing 14 years of racial and religious discrimination and limited rights to the freedom of expression, including fundamental rights to discuss our local histories, grievances and political views in academia and in public. I appreciate the Thai government’s efforts to solve the conflict, especially the continuous negotiation with the political wing of members of the insurgency and the recent decision to drop the charges against the three human rights defenders who reported torture allegations committed by Thai national security forces to the UN earlier this year. However, to solve the complicated conflict in Patani, important instruments for the long-term solution are required, including changing the mindset of youth through education, promoting Malay language at the minimum as a working language, and ensuring security of youth participation in the media. Item 1 - Inclusive education to empower minority youth Patani’s history as a former independent sultanate and a center of power struggle during the colonization period has been cited as a root cause of the conflict. However, the local history has neither been acknowledged by the Thai State nor been encouraged to be discussed in the national curriculum of Thai education. Therefore, majority Thais are not well informed about the historical trajectories of the conflict, leading to a misunderstanding that Patani people are national traitors driven by Islamic radicalisation. Consequentially, this leads to racial and religious discrimination towards the Malay Muslim minority. Recommendation: The Thai government should promote the recognition of the Malay minority and their history in the national curriculum and also promote regional histories more broadly, including histories of other ethnic minorities to normalize pluralism, the sharing of different cultures, traditions, and languages that we share with our neighbors in the Malay peninsula. This will in turn encourage the fostering of economic cooperation within ASEAN in the future. Item 2 – Participation of minority youth in public life