• OPINION

  UN SDG goals boost access to justice

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 29/03/2021

  » How do we counter massive pollution on land, at sea and in the air? How do we ensure justice for human rights defenders who are attacked when defending the environment? How do we promote more inclusion and participation in decision-making processes?

• OPINION

  Solidarity needed to halt crisis

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 16/03/2021

  » The desperate situation in Myanmar calls for concerted international solidarity to counter the Feb 1 coup d'etat and its heinous consequences. To date, scores of people have been killed by junta forces, while several thousands have been detained. The crisis compounds two disquieting situations of a longstanding and multi-faceted nature in the country -- the mistreatment of the Rohingya population (a Muslim community) and the decades-long civil war between the authorities and different ethnic groups.

• OPINION

  Re-balancing reflections on Human Rights Day

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 10/12/2020

  » Dec 10 is International Human Rights Day, coinciding with Thailand's Constitution Day. It recalls particularly a seminal event: the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN in 1948. This has propelled many human rights standards against which the record at the national level is measured. Not only did it entrench the universality of human rights -- the premise that there are international standards, backed by a range of declarations and treaties, applying globally, but also the indivisibility of human rights -- the connectivity between civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

• OPINION

  Covid-19 curbs must heed rights

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 26/05/2020

  » One of the key developments globally and in Thailand, in regard to measures taken to counter the spread of Covid-19, is the ascendancy of executive power and its implications for human rights.

• OPINION

  Perils of 'national security' in virus era

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 02/06/2020

  » National security -- coupled with public health -- has been invoked in many countries to justify actions to curb the spread of Covid-19. It has led to a variety of actions, including curfews, lockdown, quarantine and other measures to stem the tide of the novel coronavirus disease. This is, therefore, not only the right time to validate its use, but also to recalibrate its scope and application, in order to ensure and maintain a sense of reasonableness and equilibrium.

• OPINION

  Protecting migrants, refugees in our age of conflict

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 07/01/2020

  » There are about 270 million international migrants today who cross borders in search of new vistas. Many such as "expatriates" do well. However, many, particularly those who are pushed out of their homes, are caught in a trap of dislocation, dispossession and coercion, often due to armed conflicts, discrimination and violence. The number of forced migrants now stands at about 70 million people globally -- some 30 million who cross borders as "refugees" and some 40 million forced to move in their country of origin as "internally displaced persons".

• OPINION

  Challenges to human rights in Asia

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 12/12/2019

  » Cooperation between Europe and Asia offers much-needed opportunities to strengthen human rights education. The opportunities complement the global impetus to propel human rights education exemplified by various commitments in the recent past, ranging from the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education to the World Programme for Human Rights Education and the UN Resolution on Human Rights Education and Training.

• OPINION

  Law, legitimacy and human rights in cyberspace

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 08/11/2019

  » Challenges facing human rights in our brave new cyberworld invite reflection on how the law can be of assistance. Yet, the law also needs to respond to social values of what is acceptable and legitimate -- especially from the angle of democracy, sustainable development and aspirations of peace.

• OPINION

  Asean watchdog needs substantive protection role

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 06/06/2019

  » The Asean Intergovernmental Commission On Human Rights (AICHR) is 10 years old this year. How has it fared so far? In its work, it is the promotion-oriented aspect rather than the protection-based dimension which has prevailed to date and, with that ambivalence, the performance of AICHR leaves much to be desired.

• OPINION

  Time to end the detention of children

  News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 29/01/2019

  » The beginning of last week witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Determination of Measures and Approaches Alternative to Detention of Children in Immigration Detention Centres by seven key agencies in Thailand, namely: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour and the national police (which deals with immigration).

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