The protracted conflict in the Malay/Muslim-majority southernmost provinces of Thailand constitutes Southeast Asia's most violent internal conflict. Since the conflict was exacerbated in 2004, violence has claimed more than 5,000 lives. The state's strategy is based on the deployment of more than 60,000 security forces and the imposition of three special security laws. Martial law, first imposed in 2004, allows soldiers to detain a suspect without court warrant for up to 7 days. The Emergency Decree, imposed by executive order, allows for up to 30 days of detention without charge in places other than prison. Security forces have used these laws in tandem to hold suspects for up to 37 days without charge. While the practice of torture and the existence of conditions amounting to cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment has persisted in Thai detention centers and prisons in general, the situation in the southernmost provinces by the impositon of special security laws has worsened this trend. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) only conducts sporadic visits to detention facilities, and often is denied access. At the same time, local civil society organizations (CSOs) have not yet established an efficient system of detention monitoring in order to ensure compliance with international human rights standards in the detention facilities of southern Thailand. CSOs lack the capacities and training to visit detention centers on a regular and systematic basis in order to monitor the situation of the detainees and document and report cases of torture or ill treatment. In order to prevent torture and ill treatment in detention facilities and to protect those who have become victims of torture from further human rights abuses, it is crucial that local CSOs can act as a watchdog on behalf of the civil society.