A/HRC/41/43/Add.1 include meaningful consultation with the communities affected. The Working Group appreciates the understanding shared by the National Reform Committee on Natural Resources and Environment that there is a need for a paradigm shift to ensure a bottom-up, participatory process that would empower people and communities and provide them with the right tools to participate effectively. Meanwhile, the strategic environmental assessment guidelines have been approved by the National Committee for Sustainable Development, while the draft regulation on strategic environmental assessments is being developed by the Office of the Prime Minister. The Working Group also encourages a more holistic approach to sustainability impact assessments, to include social and human rights dimensions and take into account sector-specific risks and gender considerations. B. Special economic zones 23. The government plan to establish 10 special economic zones in 10 different provinces4 illustrates the need to address other human rights risks and impacts, and provides an opportunity to align policies and practice with the Guiding Principles and international good practice. 24. The special economic zones seek to attract foreign investment through a package of tax and non-tax incentives in a number of labour-intensive industries, such as garment and textile manufacturing and the processing of agricultural and fishery products. They also advertise easy access to a large pool of migrant workers from neighbouring countries and will be strategically based along the north-south and east-west economic corridors. 25. The Working Group learned that there were concerns about the process through which the special economic zones were being established. It was informed that land acquisitions and decisions about the locations of the zones had been carried out through executive orders, with limited consultation with affected communities. Furthermore, while meeting with various affected communities and individual groups, the Working Group was told about the limited opportunity for participation in public debates and peaceful protests against the development of the zones. 26. As the special economic zones will require people to be resettled, it is critical to ensure that the resettlement is done in a human rights-compliant manner. In that regard, the Working Group would like to stress that people and communities who are currently living in areas designated for the zones should be consulted and fairly compensated, in line with the basic principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement. The Working Group notes that people and communities who have been living, and depend for their livelihoods, on land that would be used for special economic zones should not be considered trespassers even if they do not hold title deeds to the land. 27. The Government has subsequently informed the Working Group that, according to the information from the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, as of May 2019, of the 10 planned special economic zones, only 3 in Tak, Sa Kaeo and Songkhla have so far been realized and they have utilized government land without expropriation. C. Thai investments abroad 28. The Working Group learned that Thai companies and investors were promoting several mega-projects in neighbouring countries in the ASEAN region. Concerns were raised with the Working Group that there was a heightened risk of adverse human rights impacts in countries with weak regulatory frameworks and safeguards. 29. The Working Group encourages the Government and Thai companies to step up efforts to identify, prevent and address human rights abuses linked to Thai investments abroad, including by ensuring meaningful consultations, robust environmental and social 4 8 Tak, Mukdahan, Sa Kaeo, Trat, Songkhla, Chiang Rai, Nong Khai, Nakorn Phanom, Kanchanaburi and Narathiwat.