Rights Beautiful Collection of Professor Saneh Chamarik NHRC Thailand: Beyond Activism - Saneh Chamarik The NHRC of Thailand is set up under the People’s Constitution of 1997as one among the 8 independent state agencies, being elected by the Senate through a selection committee, and royally appointed. It is required to be representative of the broad streams of thought in society, including the civil society groups and NGOs, as well as with a fair participation of male and female. All these criteria are well reflected in the current 11-member Commission. The whole idea is to make it accessible and responsive to people from all walks of life, particularly those underprivileged and disadvantaged. That also means that the NHRC does not work entirely on its own, but in close and continuing cooperation and networking with the civil society groups and organizations concerned. A good number of them are even brought in to participate in the Commission’s decisionmaking process through its various sub-Commissions in the specific fields of human rights problems. Of course, the final decision and responsibility rests with the Commission. Like its counterparts elsewhere, the Thai NHRC is constitutionally assigned with a comprehensive set of tasks for the common purpose of human rights promotion and protection. It ranges from examining and rectifying cases of human rights violation, policy recommendation, education and research and dissemination, cooperation and coordination with both government and private sectors, and annual report. But in the context of Thailand, like many other non-western nations, where modern human rights standards are something new and somewhat inconsonant with traditional culture of authoritarianism and patronage and also with fresh and adverse experiences of military dictatorships sponsored, ironically, by OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF THAILAND 61