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MEETING REPORT: REGIONAL DIALOGUES FOR THE CSO NATIONAL BASELINE ASSESSMENT (NBA) ON BUSINESS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Between January and March 2017, Manushya Foundation held four Regional Dialogues on Business & Human Rights to inform the CSO National Baseline Assesment (NBA). The two-day dialogues took place in the four main regions of Thailand - in Chiang Mai (29 - 30 January 2017), Khon Kaen (23 - 24 February 2017), Hat Yai (20 - 21 March 2017) and Rayong (30 - 31 March 2017) - and brought together communities working on: rights of migrant workers, labour rights (formal and informal workers), trade unions, indigenous peoples, stateless persons, community rights, land-related rights, environmental rights, people with disabilities, LGBTI individuals, sexual and reproductive health, drug users, people living with HIV, sex workers, women’s rights, the protection of human rights defenders, the impact of Thai outbound investments and trade agreements.
The NBA Dialogues were part of Manushya Foundation’s strategy to develop an independent CSO NBA ensuring voices and evidence from the ground are captured to inform an evidence-based National Action Plan (NAP). Since the Rights and Liberties Protection Department (RLPD) of the Ministry of Justice is the government agency responsible for the development of the National Action Plan (NAP) on Business & Human Rights, Manushya invited RLPD and the UN Global Compact Network Thailand to join forces and collaborate on the NBA Dialogues so they could hear directly from local and affected communities to inform the government's NAP.
Thai version will be available for download soon.
Collaborating with the RLPD was also critical to provide a safe space for discussing challenging human rights issues in Thailand and to guarantee the protection of local communities and human rights defenders who engaged in Manushya Foundation’s Business & Human Rights strategy. As a result, the NBA dialogues allowed for frank discussions to take place and identified challenges, gaps and ways to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights (UNGPs) at the domestic level.
The NBA Dialogues constituted a first step in Manushya Foundation's strategy aiming at empowering local communities to be at the centre of the business and human rights (BHR) discourse in Thailand. Read more about our Business & Human Rights strategy here.
