Thailand’s Law in Forcing Monks to Disrobe

Abstract

This paper focuses on the cases of monks who have been forced to disrobe and analyses the law enforcement that has been interpreted to violate the monk’s rights in maintain his monastic life. Though religious freedom in Thailand is guaranteed by the constitution, but in practice it does not happen. That is because the Sangha’s institute has been designed to work as a state bureaucrat organization. In consequence, monks are punished by the state’s law even when they break some monastic codes, which should be considered as individual or (private) organizational belief. Moreover, he was accused of a crime, the law also allows forcing him to disrobe though the judgment has not been ended. This paper argues that Thai state should consider monks as ordinary people who share the same rights with other Thai citizens, meaning that privileges should not be given to them, while the law implementation must not harass their rights.