to vote and stand for elections. From 1977 to 1988, Amnesty International reported that there "...were 1,436 alleged cases of arbitrary detention, 58 forced disappearances, 148 torture [sic] and 345 extrajudicial killings in Thailand....The authorities investigated and whitewashed each case." Many new rights were introduced in the 1997 constitution. These included the right to free education, the rights of traditional communities, and the right to peacefully protest coups and other extra-constitutional means of acquiring power, the rights of children, the elderly, rights of the handicapped, and equality of the genders. Freedom of information, the right to public health and education, and consumer rights were also recognized. A total of 40 rights, compared to only nine rights in the constitution of 1932, were recognized in the 1997 constitution. The 2007 constitution reinstated much of the extensive catalogue of rights explicitly recognized in the People's Constitution of 1997. That constitution outlined the right to freedom of speech, freedom of press, peaceful assembly, association, religion, and movement within the country and abroad. Legal framework International treaties In 1948, Thailand was among the first nations to sign the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It committed to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights international treaty in regard to freedom, political rights and civil liberties since 1997. Domestic legal protection structure The current (2016) constitution, drafted by a body appointed by the military junta (NCPO), states in section 4: "The human dignity, rights, liberty and equality of the people shall be protected". This is unchanged from the 2007 constitution. Sections 26 to 63 set out an extensive range of specific rights in such areas as criminal justice, education, non-discrimination, religion, and freedom of expression. Additionally the 2017 constitution introduced the Right to a healthy environment. Rights and liberties ratings by NGOs In 2020, Freedom in the World annual survey and report by US-based Freedom House, which attempts to measure the degree of democracy and political freedom in every nation, improved the rating of Thailand from Not Free to Partly Free due to a small decrease in limitations on assembly and strictly controlled elections that, despite significant shortcomings, ended a period of direct military junta. However, it was downgraded again from Partly Free to Not Free due to the dissolution of a popular opposition party, Future Forward Party, that had performed favorably in the 2019 Thai general election, and the military-dominated government’s, led by