Dilemma in localising international law in the drafting process of Thailand’s human rights action plan

ABSTRACT

The Vienna Declaration 1993 is an important instrument that provides a platform for creating a national human rights plan. This paper focuses on the practical aspect of localising international law in the drafting process of Thailand's human rights action plan. It argues that while the drafting process can serve as an argument against the existing criticism concerning the “supra-national” character of international law in the alienation of the local participation, the process also gives rise to the dilemma of public participation, which the paper calls “a national standardisation” on important human rights issues, namely the rights to social welfare of migrant workers and their dependants, and the abolition of capital punishment.

KEYWORDS:

• Rights
• Governance and public policy
• Civil society – Participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Thailand submitted its human rights report to the UN Human Rights Council in the first cycle of the Universal Periodic Review in 2011. In March 2012, Thailand received 172 recommendations, 134 of which it accepted in whole or in part. Thailand also made 8 voluntary pledges on the promotion and protection of human rights. In the second cycle in 2016, Thailand accepted 187 recommendations out of 249, with 7 voluntary pledges (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2015).

2 The provisions of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW) apply to both documented and non-documented migrants and their families, but some provisions specifically apply to irregular, or non-documented, migrants. Other labour rights-related conventions, such as the ILO Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97), guarantee basic rights such as access to health care and the right to nondiscrimination of migrant workers (International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families 1990).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wanaporn Techagaisiyavanit

Wanaporn Techagaisiyavanit is an Assistant Professor in the Master Program in Criminology and Justice Administration at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University, Thailand.

Srisombat Chokprajakchat

Srisombat Chokprajakchat is an Associate Professor in the Doctoral program in Criminology and Justice Administration at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University, Thailand.