PM takes steps to mend relations with the UN

Since 2001, Thailand's relations with the United Nations have been deteriorating steadily due to the on and off squabbling between high-level officials from both sides. While Thailand expressed a keen interest to compete for the top positions of the UN and participate in peacekeeping operations, the often hostile and ambivalent attitude of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and senior officials on rights issues eroded all the country's goodwill.

A typical example came from Thaksin, who envisaged himself as a global leader. Thaksin made the infamous comment back in 2003 that "the UN is not my father" - a rude response to world body's inquiries on the extrajudicial killings in Thailand during 2003. During his six-year premiership, he was unable to attend the UN General Assembly. When he was about to give the UN speech in New York in September 2006, the coup in Bangkok ousted him. In the following years, successive leaders under his party's banner, including Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat, showed similar disdain for the world body, viewing fact-finding or inquiries of UN authorities on any issue as the work of trouble-makers or ploys to discredit Thailand.

When Thailand joined the UN in 1946 following the end of World War II, it was the only organisation providing the much-needed protective shield for the country's independence and ending the post-war isolation. Its membership guaranteed its national sovereignty and instilled a sense of belonging to the international community.

From the beginning until the end of the 1990s, Thailand-UN relations were considered healthy and collaborative. The country, which hosts 25 UN agencies and many of them in regional centres, worked closely with the myriad UN activities. Bangkok could have done more during the Cold War on global issues such as nuclear non-proliferation, international peace and security. In 1986, Thailand proposed the creation of an "early warning system" for the UN to ensure it could play an effective role in preventive diplomacy. A year later, the Office for Research and the Collection of Information was created within the UN Secretariat to serve as an early warning system for the UN Secretary-General.

After the Asian economic crisis in 1997, Thailand, under former prime minister Chuan Leekpai, was outspoken on issues related to regional peace, human security and a social safety net. Former foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan's UN speeches contained new initiatives on these matters. Thailand was the first Asean nation to commit its peacekeeping forces in East Timor.

Within the region, Thailand-UN cooperation on refugees was exemplary albeit with occasional hiccups. Indo-Chinese refugee repatriation and resettlement during the late 1970s to early 1990s testified to their close collaboration and shared commitment, which successfully found homes for over 3 million people. After joining UN-sponsored peacekeeping in Cambodia, East Timor and Burundi, Thai troops will soon be deployed with the blue helmets in Darfur, Sudan.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Under the current government, a new and more positive attitude towards the UN has prevailed. Abhisit views the UN differently from previous Thai governments. He has confidence in the UN that despite all its allegations of inefficiency and mistakes, the world is better off with it. Interestingly, his belief derives from his nearly two-decade old political experience working with various - sometimes hostile - political forces within the parliamentary framework to sort things out.

Indeed, as the world increasingly becomes more interdependent, the UN has become indispensable because key transnational issues such as the financial crisis, climate change, pandemics, terrorism need the UN to serve as a pillar for cooperation.

In his UN speech, Abhisit will quote the great British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson's coined words, popularised by historian Paul Kennedy, by calling the UN a 'Parliament of Man', where nations and their leaders meet to find solutions to common problems.

Abhisit is also realistic about what Thailand can do together with the UN.

He has provided the scope of such cooperation in peacekeeping, human rights, good governance and rule of law. As a major global food exporter, Thailand is also ready to cooperate with the UN in food security and develop alternative energy sources. Indeed, following its successful stints in Cambodia in the early 1990s and East Timor in 2000, Thailand has found a niche in international peacekeeping. The Thais have been given high recognition for their professionalism and expertise. In the past two decades, nearly 20,000 military and civilian staff have taken part in various capacities in supporting UN peacekeeping missions throughout the world.

As a member of the UN Peace-building Commission (PBC), Thailand believes it can play a greater role in ensuring international peace and security. That explains why this time, Bangkok has become so enthusiastic in making its candidature period for a UNSC non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council from 2017 to 2018.

Thailand withdrew its candidature early this year for 2010-2011 to make way for India.

Aside from peacekeeping, Thailand's reputation on human rights at the UN was well documented. Thailand is party to seven of the nine core international human rights instruments. Previously the country's rights report was pretty good by any international standard, even though it still has a dismal record of treatment of enforced disappearances and prosecutions of perpetrators in uniform.

Unfortunately, the much-publicised extrajudicial killings of drugs suspects in 2003-04 have permanently tarnished the country's image and international standing as one that respects human rights. Repeated failures to provide reliable information and investigation have made a mockery of the country's democracy and human rights records.

From 2004 onward, Thailand shied away from the UN Human Rights Council as the Thaksin government dreaded getting involved in rights controversies that could dig up its own skeletons and damage ties with neighbouring countries, that could complicate its vast business interests. However, Bangkok's intention to return to the council next year augurs well with Abhisit's strong commitment to protect and promote human rights in Thailand and within the region. As the Asean chair, Thailand played a pivotal role in drafting the terms of reference for the establishment of the Asean Inter-government Commission on Human Rights.