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Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 10

interrogate them. The proper justice process attempted torture and acting as an
should be applied, along with the protection accomplice to torture. As such, any
of human rights and crime prevention. disagreement on these definitions cannot be
brought to the international court; filing a
Mr. Kosolnavin believes that the NHRC’s role is complaint and resolving such a dispute must
not to decide whether or not suspects are be done in the country. Therefore, it is
guilty, or to act as their defense lawyer – it is necessary to improve the effectiveness of
to coordinate between parties to establish the enforcement. Apart from the Department of
truth and negotiate a way to live together Rights Protection and Freedom under the
peacefully. He believes that victims of Ministry of Justice, the Office of the National
injustice suffer from the worst human rights Anti-Corruption Commission is one of the key
violation as this destroys human dignity. He agencies that handles abuse of authority
says that the United Nations should establish cases in Thailand.
a year or decade of human rights to
encourage all UN Member States to improve
their justice systems by making the The National Police Department of Thailand
preservation of human rights a reality. should ensure that there is no abuse or
exploitation of power in its regular operations.
The Constitution of Thailand (2007) clearly In addition, suspects should be made aware
states in Article 32 that “torture, a brutal act or of their rights, particularly with regard to the
punishment by cruel or inhumane means assumption of being innocent. The
shall not be made”. In addition, even though authorities should not practice coercion, issue
Thailand is party to an international threats or carry out torture. According to the
agreement against torture, cruel or inhumane law, any information obtained through
treatment and punishment, torturing a misconduct cannot be submitted as evidence
suspect to coerce a confession still occurs in against suspects. In order to ensure a fair trial
Thai society. This results from negative in accordance with human rights principles,
attitudes on the part of some law witness and suspect protection measures
enforcement officers, lack of awareness by the should be enforced, and punishment given to
suspects of their rights, and gaps in the law. law enforcement officers found guilty of
He explains that the criminal code of Thailand misconduct.
already includes a clear definition of torture,

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