Rights Beautiful Collection of Professor Saneh Chamarik Section 59: A person shall have the right to receive information, explanation and reason from a State agency, State enterprise or local government organization before permission is given for the operation of any project or activity which may affect the quality of the environment, health and sanitary conditions, the quality of life or any other material interest concerning him or her or a local community and shall have the right to express his or her opinion on such matters in accordance with the public hearing procedure, as provided by law. And Section 79: The State shall promote and encourage public participation in the preservation, maintenance and balanced utilization of natural resources and biological diversity and in the promotion, maintenance and protection of the quality of the environment in accordance with the sustainable development principle as well as the control and elimination of pollution affecting public health, sanitary conditions, welfare, and quality of life. The idea of community rights would sound inconceivable and illegitimate to the mind-set of cultural essentialism, as referred to right at the beginning of this presentation. Never mind about that. Community rights, like all others in human history, arise out of the struggles against oppressions under a great variety of specific circumstances. It is as simple as human nature itself. What we have been facing now is the fundamental question of development and globalization that needs to be urgently and thoroughly reexamined and set in its proper perspective. The same is true with community rights presented here. They are by no means a ready-made formula. Even though being built-in everyday life in traditional communities and recognized by the Constitution, they are still in the process of evolving in the face of changing world around. Neither do they necessarily mean communities or collectivities taking precedence over individuals. That would amount to turning the clock back, and bound to fail. Traditional 78 OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF THAILAND