Human rights commissioner accepts he can’t run again

By The Nation 

 

 

BANGKOK: -- The chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), What Tingsmith, said he accepted that he and other NHRC commissioners would be unable to re-contest their positions if they were dismissed from office.

 

Regardless, What said he would not run for the position again.

 

What, a former judge, said on Wednesday that the current NHRC could not come back after a reset. This was because, under the new Constitution, the commission was recognised as an independent organisation whose commissioners could only serve on such a body once in a lifetime.

 

The new organic bill governing the NHRC stipulates that the current commissioners should leave office after the law comes into effect.

 

However, some legislators have argued that the commissioners could run again for their positions because the agency is not an independent organisation according to the charter of 2007 that gave birth to the agency.

 

What insisted that the 2007 charter stipulated that NHRC members could only serve once.

 

“The fact about the NHRC members not being able to run again is stated in the charter. It is not feasible to write in the organic law that we can,” What said.

 

The NHRC chairman said that any news to the contrary was merely a different interpretation of the law, perhaps designed to play down strong opposition to the resetting.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30320569

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-07-13

Cleaning house again.

The NHRC was already downgraded in February 2016 by the International Coordinating Committee on National Human Rights Institutions because it was judged not impartial or effective enough to submit reports on human rights in Thailand. This means that it cannot it actively participate in human rights conferences organized by the UN Human Rights Council.

 

This downgrade followed a warning in October 2014 when it was faulted for its selection process for commissioners, for its lack of quasi-judicial independence, and for its inability to monitor and investigate human rights violations in a timely, dignified manner. 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/aec/30278458

The military further defanged the NHRC through the junta's 2017 Constitution. The NHRC must report on human rights issues with priority given to national security.

 

 

 

I looks like they have offered him another nice position....