2023 30th Annual Program – Thailand

The 30th Annual Human Rights and Peoples’ Diplomacy Training for Human Rights Defenders in the Asia-Pacific was held in Thailand from 26 January - 3 February, 2023 in partnership with the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), the Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO), Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Thailand’s Human Rights Development Foundation and Strengthening Human Rights and Peace Education in ASEAN/Southeast Asia (SHAPE-SEA).

Twenty-nine human rights defenders from 13 different countries participated in this program: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan/USA, Myanmar, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste. The participants work on a diverse range of human rights concerns including rights of migrant workers, women and children, LGBTIQ, gender justice, trafficking, Indigenous peoples rights, peace-building and struggles for self-determination, youth, environmental issues and climate change and human rights education. This two-week residential program of intensive learning, sharing and skills building was DTP’s first regional face to face program (F2F) since 2019 and COVID.

The program began with a focus on the 75th Anniversary of the UDHR, and the international human rights standards and mechanisms developed to promote and protect human rights over the last 75 years. It explored human rights in the context of the climate emergency and commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There was a special session reflecting on the achievements of Asia civil society mobilisation that resulted in the adoption of the influential 1993 Bangkok NGO Declaration on Human Rights, ahead of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights and the relevance of this to today’s challenges.

Some of the specific issues the participants worked on were explored in sessions on the rights of women, human rights and business, migrant workers and Indigenous peoples rights. There was a strong focus on practical advocacy strategies and participants had the opportunity to apply program content in practical exercises including developing a short video, group role-plays, exercises to engage with the Human Rights Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures and Universal Periodic Review, and lobby meetings with diplomats from the Australian Embassy.

Trainers, presenters and facilitators in the program included Professor Vitit Muntabhorn, Dr Sripapha Petcharamesree, Mike Hayes, Dr. Seree Nonthasoot, Dr. Wanun Permpibul, Kevin Lehmann, Anna Olsen, Romchat Wachirarattanakornkul, Georgina Lloyd, Katia Chirizzi, Arnaud Chaltin, Nicholas Booth, Harpreet Kaur, Debbie Stothard, Joel Barredo, Pranom Somwong, Usa Lerdsrisuntad, Boonthan Verawongse, Ruki Fernando, Freddy Gamage, William Gois, Joshua Cooper, Arul Prakkash, and Patrick Earle. Trainers included at least three DTP alumni.

DTP thanks its partners in the program, its trainers who donated their time, the participants who shared their knowledge, and the funders that made the program possible.