Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Navigating between global superpowers
News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 14/02/2026
» Both China and the US issued new national security policies over the past year. At first glance, they seem to diverge markedly, portending a deep rupture in the world order. Yet, they may also bear some similarities in terms of self-interest and self-advancement. Collateral to that, other countries seeking to forge a middle path may wish to navigate a perspicacious route towards global equilibrium.
Sustaining healthcare in volatile times
Oped, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 18/08/2025
» Health care is pivotal for human well-being. Yet in today's precarious world, it is pressured by diminishing resources, demographic variables, warfare and violence, and environmental degradation. Sustaining health care thus requires insightful planning and implementation, no less for Thailand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regions.
Thai Human Rights Council aspirations
Oped, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 17/05/2024
» Thailand's quest for membership of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), Geneva, for the period 2025-2027, is rightly gaining interest among the general public. With a new foreign minister today, it is intriguing to prospect whether there will be more (or less) momentum in the competition towards the winning post -- with elections for the HRC due in New York in October.
UN review shows human rights flaws
Oped, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 17/11/2021
» The international human rights system consists primarily of two parts: international human rights treaties to which countries are invited to become parties on the basis of their consent, and the UN's own jurisdiction, through the UN Human Rights Council, covering all countries even if they do not consent to the coverage. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) belongs to the latter part of the system and Thailand's recent appearance before this process on Nov 10, in public and online, was eye-opening.
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.
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.
Charter intricacies and electoral delicacies
News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 28/07/2018
» Thailand has witnessed 20 constitutions since 1932. The most recent, the 20th, came into effect last year, after an interim constitution, the 19th, which emerged as a result of a coup d'etat in 2014.
High stakes as regime considers rights
News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 19/02/2018
» A pre-Chinese New Year present from the government was Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's proclamation of the government's human rights agenda to complement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Thailand's "4.0" target to become a more developed society. Beyond the formalities, what are some of the stakes?