Participatory Techniques in Human Right Education:
Experience in Thailand

Supattra LimpabandhuMy decade-long work at the National Human Rights
Commission of Thailand (nhrct), during the 2005 – 2014 period, was fruitful and proved the truth of my belief: “Education is
Change, Education is Growth.”
One of my responsibilities as the secretary of the Sub-Commission on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of nhrct was to organize activities topromote human rights awareness. The late Lady Ambhorn Meesook, then
Human Rights Commissioner and Chair of the Sub-Commission, guided
me and my colleagues in working on human rights cases and organizing
participatory seminars on human rights.
Integrating educational theory and psychology with human rights education, we observed “change” and “growth” on the understanding of the human rights concept of our participants.
National Human Rights Commission of Thailand1

The establishment of a national human rights institution in Thailand was
originally provided in the 1997 Constitution. Two years later, in 1999, theThai Parliament enacted the National Human Rights Commission Act,2 andthe nhrct came into existence in July 2001. It is worth noting that the constitutional basis of the nhrct is the so-called “People’s Constitution,” which
was drafted with the participation of people in different parts of the country.
Section 75 of the 1997 Constitution states:
The State shall ensure compliance with the law, protect the rights
and liberties of a person, provide efficient administration of justice and serve justice to the people expediently and equally andorganise an efficient system of public administration and otherState affairs to meet people’s demand.

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The State shall allocate adequate budget for the independentadministration of the Election Commission, the Ombudsmen,
the National Human Rights Commission, the Constitutional
Court, the Courts of Justice, the Administrative Courts, theNational Counter Corruption Commission and the State Audit
Commission.3
This provision makes the nhrct an independent constitutional body.
However, a new Constitution adopted in 2007 provides for two types of“Organs under the Constitution,” namely, “Independent Organs” and “Other
Statutory Agencies.” The “National Human Rights Commission” is underthe “Other Statutory Agencies.”4
The 2007 Constitution provides exactly the same provision on the human rights promotion function of the nhrct as that found in the 1997
Constitution:(3) To promote education, researches and the dissemination ofknowledge on human rights.
However, the 2007 Constitution provides more powers and duties tothe nhrct and thus a new law has to be enacted to cover them. A draft bill5on the nhrct provides the following proposed provisions on human rights
promotion:
Section 16. The Commission has the powers and duties as follows:(1) To promote the respect for and practice in compliance with human rights principles;			xxx		xxx		xxx
(7) To promote, encourage and coordinate persons in general, government and private organizations for educational, research andthe dissemination of knowledge and development of capacity on
human rights.
The nhrct has been undertaking human rights education activities
since its establishment in 2001. The Sub-Commission on Human Rights
Education, on one hand, has been working with the Ministry of Education in
integrating human rights education into the school and university curricu-

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lums. The Sub-Commission on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (escr
Sub-Commission) of nhrct, on the other hand, has been implementing
informal and non-formal human rights education activities for local communities, non-governmental organizations (ngos) and government offices.
A committee of the escr Sub-Commission implemented human rights education activities in five regions of the country. The activities emphasized
the development of mechanism for sharing information on cases of humanrights violations in each region, and invited the participants to join an escr
network in each region.
Participatory Seminar
In 2006, nhrct commissioners and staff members discussed effective educational systems that would enable people to know and exercise their rights.
The discussion focused on learning techniques, human right principles andadult psychology. This was due to the fact that most of the target groups
were composed of adults in the community, including community leaders,
government officers and ngo workers in the five regions of the country.
The nhrct adopted a plan to organize three-day seminars in the five
regions during the 2006 – 2007 period.
The seminar, entitled “Participatory Seminar on Economic Social andCultural Rights,” had the following objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.

To organize the learning and sharing of experiences on humanrights;To prepare both government personnel and the public in the regions in understanding human rights and avoiding their violation;
To promote strong local/regional networks on economic, socialand cultural rights; andTo jointly set guidelines on continuous coordination of the human rights promotion and protection activities with the regional
networks.

In order to share experience on actual cases, the nhrct studied thehuman rights situation in the country as viewed by the people in the five
regions. Each region yielded different types of cases such as discriminationof minorities in the Northern region, land cases in the Northeastern region,

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and conflict on natural resources in the Southern region. These humanrights cases were discussed in each regional seminar.
The escr Sub-Commission formed a fifteen-member working group
comprising of directors and staff members of the Human Right Protection
and Promotion Bureau. The working group undertook the following
activities:
1. Preparation stage–– Gathered information on escr cases in the regions–– Designed, developed and produced learning packages for theseminar–– Invited, and cooperated with, the target groups
2. Seminar stage–– Facilitated small group discussions–– Undertook administrative work
3. Evaluation stage–– Observed and advised participants on evaluating the seminars–– Summarized the results of the evaluation process as input in
improving future activities.
Activities in the Participatory Seminar
Each regional seminar had eighty to one hundred participants from all theprovinces in each region.
The seminars start with expectation setting. The participants are asked
to write on pieces of paper their expectations about the seminar. The piecesof paper, posted on a wall, are reviewed at the end of the seminar to check
whether or not the seminar activities held met their expectations.
A brainstorming exercise follows with the participants exchanging experiences and learning from each other by answering the following questions:•••

What are human rights?
Have you ever violated the rights of anyone? How?
Have your rights ever been violated by anyone? Who and how?

A highlight of the seminar is the participatory process of sharing knowledge among the participants. In learning basic human rights, six groups ofparticipants visit six “stations,” with each station having one learning mod-

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ule. In each “station,” the participants discuss the questions in the learning
module. After fifteen minutes, each group moves to the next station to study
another human rights concept until the six groups of participants have visited the six stations.
Modules
The six modules on the basic human rights concept are composed of thefollowing:
1. Human rights in our lives;
2. Human dignity;
3. Equality and non-discrimination;
4. Human rights cases;
5. Community rights; and6. Nhrct protection mechanism.
Module 1. Human rights in our lives
Human rights mean the rights of the people; basic rights that everyone
is born with.
In this module, the participants answer questionnaires, and write theiranswers on small pieces of paper that they post on a wall. They all help ingrouping similar answers. Everyone is asked to comment on the answers.
They summarize the comments together. Below are some of the questions:
1.
2.
3.

As humans, what similarities do we have from the naturalenvironment?
Which of these similarities relate to our rights?
What rights do we enjoy as a baby, a student, a worker, an elder,
etc.?

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cModule 1: Charts of questions, content and activities

Participants discuss the human rights they enjoy in their daily life

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The summary of the discussions may consist of the following:••

Rights from birth to death may be divided into issues or age groups:
infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, working age, etc.
All human beings have basic human rights including the right tohave the things that are essential to life, such as food, water, air,clothing, medicines, and house. They must receive medical treatment when ill, basic education at school age, and the right to choose
a career at working age.

Module 2. Human Dignity
This module involves role-play on learning the concept of human dignity. It involves a set of ten cards containing signs about the status of people: 1)
baby; 2) unruly person; 3) medical doctor; 4) journalist; 5) pregnant woman;6) senior person; 7) foreigner; 8) monk/priest; 9) village leader; and 10) person with disability.

Status Cards

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Ten participants are asked to do the role-play. Each participant is assigned one status as listed above.
They play the role of tourists who are traveling on a boat to go to an island. On the way to the island, the boat encounters a storm. The boat begins
to sink. There is one rubber raft that can carry only five people. Those who
cannot get on the rubber raft have to find a way to survive when the boat
sinks. They risk being eaten by sharks. They discuss who will ride on therubber raft and each tourist gives a reason why she/he has to survive and geton the raft. They have to quickly decide and vote to select who will be thefive persons who will ride on the rubber raft and survive.
The participants who watch the roleplay are asked to quickly decide andvote to select who will be the five persons who will ride on the rubber raftand survive. Each survivor must be chosen by majority vote of the participants. The roleplay ends with the selection of five persons who will ride on
the rubber raft.

A participant, as a person with disability, gives the reason to survive

The facilitator asks those who are not selected how do they felt since
they all wanted to live.
The facilitator then asks the participants who watch the role play togive the reasons for deciding on each survivor. In most cases, the pregnant

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woman, child and doctor are quickly selected by the group as the first threesurvivors, while the fourth and fifth survivors are harder to decide. The
participants are asked to review the roleplay and express the lesson learnedby answering the following questions::–– In real life, can we judge who will live or die?
–– Are we sure about the choices we make?
–– Can any doctor be selected even if the person was a murderer?
–– In human terms, are the doctor and the thief equal?
–– Regarding those who were not selected, do they have the right tolive?
The discussions among the participants are expected to include thefollowing:••

Human rights: the rights and liberties of the people should be protected; everyone has an equal right to survive;
Learning process: since the participants are required to learn about
abstract content, the use of role play to get everyone’s participation
makes the learning process more fun and natural. The participants
appreciate the importance of their roles in the learning process.
They see the value of having all information made available before
making any judgment about other people. This means that everyone is important in every society: doctors help the patients; priests
or monks help people gain peace of mind; children are the futureof society; the elderly with their long experience are relied upon by
the younger generation. In real life, one cannot judge who is goingto live or die. Everyone is aware of human dignity.

This activity provides the participants the opportunity to be engaged insharing and learning together. The participants in the seminars commented
that they learned quickly, understood the human rights concept and would
remember the ideas for a long time.
Module 3. Equality and Non-discrimination
Section 30. All persons are equal before the law and shall enjoy equal
protection under the law. Men and women shall enjoy equal rights. (TheConstitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, 2007)

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This activity aims to make the participants understand the meaning andconcept of “equality” in society and realize the difference between the sexes.
Cards with words describing people – men and women - are randomly
spread on the floor. The cards have words such as long hair, short hair, wearing sarong, pretty, sweet, grandfather, high heels, gossip, caring, etc.

The cards

The participants discuss the arrangement of the cards according to sex.
First, they arrange the cards into two lines – one for men and another for
women. Second, when members of the group say that some cards are applicable to either sex, they rearrange the cards and make a third line (middleline) of cards. They discuss the reasons why some cards (e.g., gossip, caring,high heel, wearing sarong) should be in the third line.
It is expected that the third line, the middle line, for both sexes will turnout longer than the other two lines.
This activity emphasizes the knowledge and experience of the participants. Everyone is given the chance to give reasons for the views espoused.
The participants debate on the beliefs and cultures involved. The views of
the young and the older participants mutually contribute to better learning.
The media employed (cards) are simple yet effective in evoking reactions
from the participants.

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The longer middle line

The main points of the module consist of• Understanding the difference between the male and the female
as merely in the physical sense, and both are equally talented ineverything.
• Law supports the equality of the sexes, as well as of groups of people such as the poor, the sick, persons with disability. All groups
should receive equal protection under the law, with equal rights for
all people.
Module 4: Human rights cases
Human rights violations occur in the daily life of people, both intentionally and unintentionally (because of ignorance or lack of knowledge).
The activity deals with examples of problems that occur in society as
exposed by the media. The facilitator distributes newspapers and asks theparticipants to select news regarding human rights violations.

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The participants analyze in different groups the problems and think ofways to resolve them. The groups analyze the stories in the newspapers andthink of violations/abuses that exist relating to the people involved in thenews stories. They explain the violation of human rights regarding various
issues, such as problems relating to labor, land, environment, that affect the
lives of the people. Learning about human rights violations and finding thecorrect solution is essential.

Group working on the cases

Module 5. Community rights
Community rights are human rights phenomenon in Thailand. There
are substantial issues in the management and use of natural resources that
directly impact on the state of civil liberties and the lives of most people in
the rural areas (and also the communities in large cities, which are called“urban poor”).

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Reporting on group discussion

The objectives of this module are:1.

To facilitate the awareness of the participants on development issues in the communities;

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2.

To allow participants to exchange opinions on the participation ofpeople in, and their right to, development.

The facilitator provides a case study regarding the development and implementation of state policies affecting local communities, especially theirhuge impact on the communities. The case study refers to the project tobuild a deep-sea pier. Two photos are compared:
1.
2.

A jetty used by the villagers for a long time, andState Project: the construction of the new jetty.

Issues for discussion:••

Do you think the local communities should participate in government mega projects? Why?
As members of the local community, do you think you should takeany action or not? Why? How?

The participants are divided into two groups, one in favor and anotheragainst the project. The participants discuss the issue by giving the reasonssupporting or opposing the project. The facilitator may choose images on
events that happened in the community in order for the participants to geta clearer picture. The use of photos of actual incidents should encourage
everyone to understand, comment and exchange with other participants theideas involved.
The participants discuss and analyze the right of the local people todevelop their own communities. They cite many reasons for the need to develop the communities: environmental problems like toxic wastewater, etc.
They also discuss the idea of participation of the local people in state
programs, especially those relating to the environment. They discuss how
the local community can engage in dialogue with government officials, andidentify activities such as public hearings where the representatives of thecommunity can give comments to the government officials before the construction of the public projects begin, and so on.
The participants discuss how community rights affect the lives of everyone in the community. They also discuss how each community represents a
different case from other communities.

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Deep-sea pier project versus the daily life of fisherfolk

The participants draft joint conclusions and proposals that the community can implement.
Module 6. nhrct protection mechanism
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (nhrct), an independent organization, is responsible for monitoring the acts and omissions by state authorities that lead to violation of human rights, and for promoting and protecting the rights and freedoms of the people.

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This module aims to make the general public become aware of the human rights mechanism that serves to promote and protect human rights.
The participants put together a jigsaw puzzle on human rights mechanism. After completing the jigsaw puzzle, they discuss each step in themechanism.

NHRCT Human Rights Mechanism

Network building
After completing the six modules, the participants are divided into several
groups according to province and human rights issues in their respective
areas (such as right to education, the rights of ethnic minorities, right tonatural resources, etc.) They discuss their cases and make an action plan on
promoting and protecting human right issues in their respective areas. They
also establish an Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (escr) network withboth public and private organizations as members.
To strengthen networking on human rights issues in the five regions of the country, nhrct coordinates with the government agencies, civil society organizations and communities to join the net-

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Reporting on NHRCT protection mechanism

works and discuss the human rights situation in their respective areas.
Since the seminar focuses on participation, the important role of participants in promoting and disseminating the concept of human rights is emphasized. As a result, people in the five regions of Thailand who join theparticipatory seminars are able to appropriately promote human rights intheir respective areas.
Lessons Learned
Human rights work requires the cooperation of all parties involved. The
seminars provide several lessons learned:
1.

2.
3.

The varied backgrounds of the participants, in terms of knowledge, experience and career, contribute to fruitful discussions
in the seminar. But there are also limitations for some of thevillager-participants;
The learning process creates conditions that allow both the individuals and the groups to exchange ideas and to fully enjoy theseminar program;Creating awareness about participation in the development process(right to development) is absolutely essential in the seminar that84

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4.

5.

leads the participants to eagerly share ideas and show willingness
to join the escr network in their area;
The seminars provide the opportunity for the National Human
Rights Commission commissioners and staff to learn about thecurrent situation in the communities and the private sector, andbroaden their perspective.
The participants are expected to organize human rights promotion
activities with the support of the nhrct’s media and personnel resources. This is a voluntary action of hosting and strengthening theescr network in the area.

The evaluation of the “Participatory Seminar” in the five regions showsthat most of the participants express more confidence in sharing theirknowledge on the human rights situation. Their behavior has changed andthey feel that they are still “growing” well. The “Participatory Seminar” confirms my belief that “Education is Change, Education is Growth.”
Endnotes
1
The discussion in this section is based on constitutional and legal provisions
existing in Thailand as of July 2014. In view of the political situation in Thailand in
mid-2014, the constitutional and legal provisions relating to the National Human
Rights Commission of Thailand might change in the following year.
2
The full text of this law is available at the nhrct website page on legal materials: www.nhrc.or.th/2012/wb/en/contentpage.php?id=73&menu_id=2&groupID=7.
3
Text taken from the file of the 1997 Constitution in the website of
nhrct
on
legal
materials:
www.nhrc.or.th/2012/wb/en/contentpage.
php?id=73&menu_id=2&groupID=7.
4
Along with the National Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Public
Prosecutors and the National Economic and Social Advisory Council are listed underthe “Other Statutory Agencies” provision of Chapter XI, Organs of the Constitution,2007 Constitution. The full text of the unofficial translation of the 2007 Constitution
is available at the NHRCT website page on legal materials: www.nhrc.or.th/2012/wb/
en/contentpage.php?id=73&menu_id=2&groupID=7.
5
The full text of the draft bill is available on the NHRCT website page on legal materials: www.nhrc.or.th/2012/wb/en/contentpage.php?id=73&menu_id=2&groupID=7.