On the auspicious occasion of His Majesty King Bhumibhol Adulyadej’s 84th Birthday Anniversary, the Thai Red Cross Society in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will hold the Fifth Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Lecture on International Humanitarian Law. This year, the Thai Red Cross Society, through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has invited Mr. Richard Joseph Goldstone, Eminent Judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa, to deliver the topic “The International Criminal Court : an Indispensable Mechanism for Prosecution of Violations of International Humanitarian Law”. The Lecture will be held on Monday 13 June 2011 at 09.00 hours at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok. Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, as Executive Vice-Presiden of the Thai Red Cross Society, will preside over the Lecture.
The Lecture is part of the activities under the Thai Red Cross Society’s Programme on the promotion of greater education and research of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). It is also a forum where qualified international experts can express their views and share their expertise, including other considerations, in order to promote greater understanding of IHL among the general public.
Among his many achievements, Justice Richard Joseph Goldstone has been involved in conflict resolution during the apartheid regime and subsequent reconciliation process. Thereafter, he was nominated to serve as the first chief prosecutor of thฎ United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. Most recently he led the UN Independent Fact Finding Mission on Gaza to investigate international human rights and humanitarian law violations related to the Gaza conflict.
The Fifth Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Lecture is organized for the purpose of disseminating knowledge on International Humanitarian Law. International humanitarian law, often referred to as the law of armed conflict or the law of war, is the legal corpus that defines the conduct and responsibilities of belligerents in relation to protected persons, usually meaning non-combatants or persons hors de combat. This law seeks to limit the means of causing harm in order to restrict and prevent human suffering during armed conflict. All parties involved in armed conflict must adhere to these rules. However, the prosecution of perpetrators of IHL is a highly complex matter and requires a judicial body to conduct the proceedings. Therefore, since the end of the Second World War, the United Nations foresaw the need to establish a permanent court and finally succeeded in adopting the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court in 1998.
The Thai Red Cross Society and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have invited a number of people to attend the Lecture, namely Ministers, Heads of diplomatic corps, Members of Parliament, high-ranking public officials, representatives of international organizations and non-governmental organizations, university professors and students, Royal Thai Army schools, Royal Police Cadet Academy and the media. For those interested to participate in this Lecture, please contact International Relations Division, Thai Red Cross Society at 02-256-4037-8 for further information.
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