Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs shared lessons in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis at the 46th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) by reiterating the importance of protection and promotion of human rights at a time when the world continues to confront COVID-19, urging States to build back not only better, but smarter.

On 23 February 2021, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, delivered a pre-recorded video statement at the 46th Session of the HRC, held at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs underlined the importance of common core values in the promotion and protection of human rights. Building back better and more sustainably means strengthening and integrating human rights in all of recovery efforts, from civil and political rights, to social and economic rights as well as the rights to health. It especially means helping the furthest behind and ensuring that these efforts have real impact on the ground.

He shared the following approaches and measures that have allowed Thailand to strike the right balance between building socio-economic resilience and ensuring active political and social engagement:

(1) States must provide safe space for all stakeholders to participate in dialogues on issues of their concern, while upholding the rule of law. At the same time, States have the responsibility to prevent the exploitation of fake news and hate speech;

(2) In realising social and economic rights, States must refocus on people, sustainability and resilience. Thailand stands ready to share the experiences on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy, or SEP, as one approach to advance balanced development while producing practical solutions, and

(3) States must strengthen efforts to realise the rights to health. Thailand’s Universal Health Coverage scheme has proven to be one of the most effective safeguards for all, including migrant workers, against the disease and socio-economic and financial hardship.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed Thailand’s commitment to the multilateral human rights system and reiterated its support for the work of the Human Rights Council in promoting and protecting human rights. This is exemplified in the Universal Periodic Review, under which Thailand will be presenting its 3rd cycle report this November.

Full Statement >> click here

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