Problem

Throughout Asia, courts don't function like they should. Laws exist on paper, but not in the rooms where cases are heard and innocent people convicted or guilty people freed. In some countries, like Thailand, court procedure is very weak, but no one bothers to learn about it and critique it. The wrong people keep on getting punished unnecessarily. Justice remains something abstract, far removed from ordinary people's lives.

The Gift

By giving a small amount to send an observer to attend a court case in Thailand, you will be doing more than sending a message to a judge: you will be sending a message to an entire system of justice, and to a society. New ideas and activism are emerging: participation and openness are becoming a part of a society in which they had never existed before. The observer may sit in a city court or in one in a town. The case may be well known or it may be new and obscure. It may relate to the killing of many, or the assault of one. The observer will lend support to the victim and family, and remind the perpetrators that they are not above the law. It will mean that a new story is documented and told, through which the struggle for human rights in Asia can continue.