SALAYA, Thailand (21 Aug. 2020) – “Skilled, knowledgeable and creative human rights defenders are needed the world over, more now than ever. It takes courage, passion, maturity, steadiness and of course humility to do your work – a profession and a calling that is arguably one of the most complex, difficult and dangerous,” OHCHR South-East Asia Regional Representative Cynthia Veliko told participants at the end of this week’s five-day Human Rights Defenders School.

“Skilled Human rights defenders working on all rights across Thailand will constructively contribute to shaping, strengthening and developing laws, policies and practices that we very much hope at their core are inclusive, participatory, non-discriminatory and will uphold international standards and principles that have been set out in the UDHR and our legal instruments,” Veliko said.

The five-day training course, which was co-founded by European Union in Thailand, and held at Mahidol University’s Salaya Campus in Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand, is designed to enhance the capacity of mid-level human rights professionals in Thailand. Initiated in 2014, the program has trained 100 Thai human rights defenders, most of them women.