This First National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) was initiated by the Royal Thai Government (RTG) from the realization of the duty to respond to human rights violations, including but not limited to the impacts that business enterprises have on the fulfillment of human rights. As such, the Royal Thai Government provides concrete measures through the integration of policies, laws, regulations, measures, and interventions, both at the national level and international level. Furthermore, international human rights law obligations and the three main principles of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) will be taken into consideration, in terms of the duty of the state to protect the human rights of the public, the duty of businesses to respect human rights, and the duty of the state and businesses to provide remediation to victims affected by business enterprises.

The Ministry of Justice through the Rights and Liberties Protection Department, as the focal agency for developing the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, initiated the drafting process of the NAP in 2015 (B.E. 2559) with participation from all sectors: governmental, state enterprise, business and civil society. The NAP was created to function as part of an implementation framework for relevant sectors that covers the prevention, mitigation and provision of interventions for human rights violations arising from the business sector. At the same time, advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns were carried out to ensure the public is aware of the UNGPs.

In 2018, the RTG invited the UN Working Groups on the issues of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights) for an official visit, during which the UN Working Group provided recommendations which were most relevant and useful to the business and human rights situation in Thailand as well as the NAP. The Ministry of Justice through the Rights and Liberties Protection Department sees that the process provides a learning opportunity across all sectors, in which the NAP is contextualized and feasible on an implementation level.

Lastly, the Ministry of Justice through the Rights and Liberties Protection Department would like to express sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the NAP process, including but not limited to the national, regional and international organizations, which have provided great contributions to Thailand’s very first National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights. We look forward to further collaborations and to great success in the implementation of the NAP.