Problem and Prospects of Lanna Community, Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand: Issue of Human Rights and Social Justice

The identity of the Lanna people in northern Thailand is remarkably maintained through the northern language “Kam Mueang” in a context of cultural and development hybridity. This study was conducted in Chiang Mai, known as the capital of Lanna to investigate the maintenance of Lanna identity through their human rights and social justice in their sphere of identity. For the better understanding of the contemporary human rights issues among this community this study has been done. The developmental pattern for the minority people as carried out in Thailand by both the government and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) presents a mixed scenario. Although the government tries to give constitutional guarantees by establishing the administrative court of Chiang Mai, it fails to implement them adequately. In this article the human rights issues have been elaborated with special reference with Lanna community, the group of ethnic minority of northern Thailand.