Following the recent allegation of serious abuses and violations of human rights which may have been committed in C?te d’Ivoire after the presidential elections of 28 November 2010, a prominent Thai human rights expert, Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, has been appointed to chair the international Commission of Inquiry by the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to investigate the matter.
On 12 April 2011, Mr. Thani Thongphakdi, Director General of the Department of Information and Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, gave a press interview stating the following:
1. The HRC, of which Ambassador Sihasak Phuanketkeow is the current President, has appointed Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Thai human rights expert, to chair the international Commission of Inquiry on the above mentioned issue which is currently receiving widespread international attention.
2. The said international Commission is mandated “to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the allegations of serious abuses and violations of human rights committed in C?te d’Ivoire following the presidential elections of 28 November 2010, in order to identify those responsible for such acts and bring them to justice”. The Commission's report will be presented to the HRC in June this year for the GA's further consideration and use.
3. Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn is a professor of law at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and also serves as member of the Committee of Experts on the Applications of Conventions and Recommendations of the International Labour Organization. Additionally, he served in various capacities in the United Nations, including as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography from 1990-1994, and served as UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 2004 - 2010. In 2004 he was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education.
Other members of the Commission comprise two other human rights experts, Mr. Suliman Baldo from Sudan and Ms. Reine Alapini Gansou from Benin.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th