The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT) resolved to establish its regional offices at the meeting on 11 November 2020. The first regional office will be located in Songkhla province in the South, covering 14 provinces including the southern border provinces for the reason that there has been a high rate of complaints received by the NHRCT and the diversity of cultures, languages, religions and races. The functions of the regional office are as follows:
          1. To receive complaints on human rights violations of the people in the area and to coordinate with relevant agencies to preliminarily protect the affected people efficiently and timely, if necessary.
          2. To provide the target people with knowledge, understanding and awareness of human rights.
          3. To assist the Commission in surveillance, monitoring, assessment and any advice related to human rights situations in the area promptly and accurately. 
          The NHRCT now assigned the Secretary-General to prepare and manage the allocated budget of this fiscal year for personnel and premises to implement the decision. The performance of its first NHRCT regional office will be assessed both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness through the period ‘before, during, and after’ after a one-year establishment. The lesson learnt from the assessment will benefit the improvement and also other possible regional offices in the future.
          “This initiative is in line with the Paris Principles requiring a national human rights institution to enhance physical accessibility for the public, especially in the remote area”, said Mrs. Prakairatana Thontiravong, Acting NHRCT Chairperson.
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