คำกล่าวของ นายกษิต ภิรมย์ รัฐมนตรีว่าการกระทรวงการต่างประเทศ ในพิธีเปิดการประชุมเชิงปฏิบัติการเรื่องความร่วมมือในการส่งเสริมและคุ้มครองสิทธิมนุษยชนในระดับภูมิภาคเอเชีย-แปซิฟิก เวลา 09.15 น. วันที่ 21 เมษายน 2553 ณ โรงแรมแมริออท รีสอร์ท แอนด์ สปา กรุงเทพฯ
Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to Thailand for the 15th Workshop on Regional Cooperation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region. The Royal Thai Government is indeed pleased to be able to co-organize this important event with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
At the outset, allow me to thank all of you profoundly for your presence here despite the global air travel disruption as well as the political turbulence taking place in the very heart of Bangkok. This workshop reflects your dedication to your task and your determination to push human rights promotion and protection forward. On our part, we will work our utmost to push human rights forward both nationally and internationally.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The last time that Thailand hosted the Workshop on Regional Cooperation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights was in February 2001. Since then, there have been many positive developments in the promotion and protection of human rights in this country, most notably the active role of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand since its establishment in 1999; the implementation of our two national human rights plans of action, with a strong focus on human rights education and the promotion of political, economic, social and cultural rights; and the increasing role of civil society in the making of public policies and democratic development. And while there still remains much to do domestically, the strong human rights orientation in Government policy means that Thailand is also committed to playing a responsible role internationally, as reflected in our candidature to the Human Rights Council for the term 2010 — 2013 at the elections to be held this coming May in New York.
The commitment is further reflected in our cooperation with the UN and member states in the human rights field. As the last Asia-Pacific Workshop was convened almost three years ago in Bali, it is most timely for us to meet again to review recent development and the progress made by countries in the Asia-Pacific region in implementing the Tehran Framework. From the discussions here in Bangkok, our region may then chart a future course for concerted action to further enhance regional cooperation on human rights.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
At the first Asia-Pacific Workshop in Manila in 1990, participants had a chance to examine regional systems for promoting and protecting human rights in existence at that time and discussed the possibilities of establishing regional human right institutions. The commitment to set up regional arrangements for human rights was soon after reaffirmed in the “Bangkok Declaration” by Asian countries as they were preparing for the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.
Nineteen years on, that commitment has become a reality last year when the ASEAN countries founded ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) during the 15th ASEAN Summit in Thailand. Indeed, the creation of AICHR did not take place in a vacuum, but as part of a normative evolution given the explicit references to the promotion and protection of human rights in the ASEAN Charter which entered into force in December 2008. It was further complemented by the establishment of the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) this year in Hanoi, just a few weeks ago.
Therefore, this development can be said to mirror the aspirations of the ASEAN Community to be bound by common principles, universal values, and international norms and standards that govern the conduct of good international relations. It also reflects the group’s firm belief that a regional human rights mechanism constitutes an integral part of the ASEAN vision to build a people-centred, secure, rules-based and prosperous regional community.
At the same time, within the Asia-Pacific region, we see more arrangements or elements thereof in the making: the League of Arab States has the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which came into force in March 2008 with 7 States Parties; the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has also developed a convention to combat trafficking in women and children as well as another one to promote child welfare. It has also put in place a social charter to address poverty and development issues in the context of the Millennium Development Goals. Last but not least, the Pacific Islands Forum has been encouraging its members to set up national human right institutions in accordance with the Paris Principles.
What is certain is that advancement of, and success in, human rights promotion and protection depend to a large extent on the readiness of the people to assert their rights. Governments should not solely be responsible for promoting and protecting human rights. Independent institutions, civil society, the judiciary, parliamentary committees, the media, and most important of all, people at the grassroots, have important parts to play. The social critic Noam Chomsky hinted at this when he said that “States are not moral agents; people are, and can impose moral standards on institutions.” From such a standpoint, the need to sensitize human rights with each and every member of the society—which is one of the four cornerstones of the Tehran Framework—appears to be of paramount importance. Everyone needs to be educated about his and her rights so that they know not only what to expect but also what not to violate.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A people-centred approach to human rights is very much what we are all aiming at. This is the basis for the right to development, human security and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Thailand believes that the realization of the agenda on development and human rights should go hand in hand as they are mutually reinforcing. Currently, the Royal Thai Government has adopted a human rights-based approach in its development programmes through the implementation of the welfare oriented policies to ensure quality of life for all people. This included among others the provision of monthly allowances for the elderly and disabled persons, the 15-year free education programme, the universal health insurance scheme, distribution of state-owned land for farmers, restructuring of informal debts, and the income guarantee scheme for farmers.
In more ways than one, the collective pursuit of the MDGs can complement long-standing efforts to promote and protect human rights for all. Given that we are midway to the target date of 2015 in realizing the MDGs, that many countries are still struggling to reach these targets and also that a high-level summit on the MDGs will take place in the margins of the upcoming UNGA, perhaps it will be appropriate for this Workshop to also consider discussing the added value of a rights-based approach to achieving the MDGs. For Asia-Pacific countries, realizing these targets in full and in time will represent a great achievement in itself in that their peoples will have realized several fundamental rights.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I believe that all of us are in agreement that regional arrangements can have a pivotal role to play in promoting and protecting human rights and in reinforcing universal human right standards. Yet, there can be no denying that security and development also contribute importantly to the advancement of human rights. At a time when many countries in the world still suffer from the effects of the global economic crisis, at a time when the security and sustainable development of many countries around the globe are threatened by natural disasters that are occurring at an alarming frequency, at such testing times, it becomes even more critical for us all to renew our commitment to ensuring that every human being on this planet can enjoy fundamental rights and larger freedoms, free from fear and free from want and living in dignity.
I do hope that this Workshop will help generate useful and practical ideas and strengthen our collective resolve to further promote and protect human rights in our respective countries and the wider region. I wish all of you a productive session and an enjoyable stay in Bangkok.
Thank you for your kind attention.
กองการสื่อมวลชน กรมสารนิเทศ กระทรวงการต่างประเทศ โทร. 643-5170 โทรสาร. 643-5169 E-mail : div0704@mfa.go.th--จบ--