On 11 May 2016, Thailand will participate in the Second Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) during the 25^th Session of the UPR Working Group in Geneva, Switzerland. The Thai Delegation will be led by Mr. Charnchao Chaiyanukij, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, and consist of representatives from relevant government agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Office of Attorney General, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Thai Police, and the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre.  

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council (HRC), in which a country’s overall human rights situation will be reviewed by other countries. The country under review will also receive comments and recommendations from other countries, give voluntary pledges, and report the progress in the implementation of the accepted recommendations to the UPR Working Group every 4 and a half years.

Thailand attaches great importance to the UPR as it is a constructive process that all UN member states can participate equally and provide comments as well as recommendations to one another in order to further promote and improve the human rights situations of the country under review. 

Thailand presented the first cycle UPR report in October 2011 and accepted 134 recommendations together with the announcement of 8 voluntary pledges. It also submitted a voluntary mid-term update to the Human Rights Council in June 2014.

Thailand submitted the second cycle report to the Human Rights Council on 4 February 2016. The Report was prepared through active participation from all sectors including civil society and public consultations in all regions of the country. The Report covers a wide range of human rights issues in Thailand in all aspects, namely economic, social and cultural rights, civil and political rights, and rights of specific groups. It highlights important developments, successes, challenges, and the future direction of the promotion and protection of human rights in Thailand. (The Report is available at www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/THSession25.aspx )

The Thai Delegation is looking forward to exchanging views and receiving useful comments from countries during this second cycle review, in order to continue our work in the promotion and protection of human rights in the country.