Port fire victims get their compensation
Last month 160 Klong Toey residents finally were able to receive compensation from the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT), for the damage to their health caused by their exposure to toxic smoke at the time of the March 1991 fire, which destroyed the chemical storage facility at the Bangkok Port.
The presentation of the compensation money marks an end of an eleven-year struggle to get the Port Authority of Thailand to accept responsibility for the consequences of the March 1991 fire.
The recent payments follow upon the historic verdicts near the end of last year, when the Civil Court ordered the Port Authority of Thailand to pay compensation to three victims of the fire, who took the PAT to court. It was the first time that private individuals had successfully won a claim for compensation from a state agency because of environmental mismanagement on the part of the agency.
The 160 victims who recently received compensation from the Port Authority had no legal right for compensation from the PAT, as the deadline passed some years ago without them taking their case for compensation to the courts.
However, the Port Authority of Thailand decided to pay all the victims to end eleven years of dispute between the Port Authority of Thailand and the victims and their families in Klong Toey Slum.
Many people turned up at the payment ceremony with placards stating 'Klong Toey wins'. These sentiments of victory are not shared by all. The payments by the PAT are welcome, but in truth they can never compensate for the suffering the March 1991 fire brought to Klong Toey Slum. If the conclusion was a win for the slum dwellers, it brought little satisfaction to most people.
The photo shows chemical fire victims displaying a cheque and a 'Klong Toey wins' placard.
National Youth Day
On National Youth Day, which took place on the 20th of September, the Duang Prateep Foundation joined with other local organisations to arrange events for children and young people at Suan Ruam Namjai School. Approximately 1,400 youngsters attended the event, which ran from 8.30 to 14.30. The Aids Control Project at the DPF organised an art competition against drugs. DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata presented prizes to three students who were honoured respectively for their good care of their parents, good academic record and good behaviour.
Also to celebrate National Youth Day, the Sponsorship Section was invited by the Department of Public Welfare to organise displays and activities at an event which took place at the National Stadium. In total seventy sponsored youngsters from the DPF took part in the event, with the young people being split into two groups. One group organised a display about the dangers of drugs and also organised games for people. The other group organised a display about young people and the media, and about sexual education.
Teacher training and networking
Last month 400 teachers from 200 pre-primary school children's centres and kindergartens located in poor Bangkok communities attended a seminar which was organised by the Duang Prateep Foundation and others, and which was sponsored by the Social Investment Fund. Speakers at the one day event included education and community development experts from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. The teachers have agreed to form a committee in each of the newly formed education zones in Bangkok, with the objective of raising standards at pre-primary schools in communities. The main constraints which were raised at the meeting were the lack of money available to improve school facilities and the lack of teacher development.
Also last month, the Duang Prateep Foundation hosted a one day training session for teachers from 60 community kindergartens on story telling and the use of drama. The event took place at the Duang Prateep Kindergarten.
Literacy festival at Duang Prateep Kindergarten
Last month the Duang Prateep Kindergarten held a literacy festival, with a wide range of events to encourage a culture of reading in the children. The teachers were helped in the activities by students from Ratjaphat Jankasem University. DPF teachers and the university students together prepared a show about the importance of reading ability. On another day, students from Ratjaphat Jankasem University also hosted a party for eighty sponsored children. A wide range of games were played and food was provided.
Also last month the Duang Prateep Kindergarten held their annual beautiful teeth competition, with many big teeth revealing smiles to impress the judges. The photo below shows three of the winners
The kindergartens affiliated to the Duang Prateep Foundation, like other schools in Thailand, will be closed this month for the midyear vacation.
Hearing-impaired children to get sound lab
Staff at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos have started to raise funds for a sound lab for children at the Duang Prateep Foundations's Special Education Project for hearing Impaired Children. For every baht raised by Deloittes' staff, the company will put in a matching sum.
The fund raising campaign was launched last month at an event attended by many Deloittes' staff. Children from the Special Education Project performed at the event and the head teacher explained about the project and the importance of the sound lab. Australian volunteer Mark Bennis also talked about the importance of the foundation’s work.
The sound lab will enable the children to record and listen to their speaking efforts and show a visual record of their speaking efforts on the screen.
The photo shows children from the Special Education Project with their teachers and other DPF staff, along with the project coordinator for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos, Laksami Chaithongsri (back second from the right).
Donation from New Zealand Governor General
Last month Ms Michelle McGillvray, a second secretary at the New Zealand Embassy and the aid officer at the embassy, Ms. Parichart Rattanakij, visited the Duang Prateep Foundation to make a donation on behalf of the governor general of New Zealand, Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZN, DBE.
Dame Cartwight was originally scheduled to visit the Duang Prateep Foundation's New Life Project at Kanchanaburi during a trip to Thailand in April. In the end the tight schedule for the governor general's stay in Thailand led to the cancellation of her visit to the New Life Project.
However, the Duang Prateep Foundation was not forgotten, so last month the embassy representatives made a donation of school equipment on behalf of the governor general. Apart from making the donation, they were also able to meet DPF secretary general Prateep Ungsongtham Hata and visit the Duang Prateep Kindergarten.
The governor general of New Zealand is Queen Elizabeth II's representative in New Zealand, and is acting head of state when the queen is not in the country.
Aids Control Project organises school for parents
Last month the Duang Prateep Foundation's Aids Control Project organised a 'School for Parents' which took place over three successive Sundays. Approximately 100 people attended the course, where they joined in discussions led by a psychiatrist, doctors and Duang Prateep Foundation staff. The course gave parent tips on child raising, with a special emphasis on avoiding addiction problems.
The Aids Control Project also joined with the army and police in organising a community leadership training programme. Eight separate sessions took place in Petchaburi Province, with 150 participants attending each of the four day long camps. The aim of the camps was to strengthen community activism, especially in the struggle against addiction.
At the end of September, the 1,200 people who had attended the camps were invited to a ceremony, where they were presented with certificates in recognition of their attendance at the camp.
New craft items from New Life Project for sale
The shop at the New Life Project has new craft items for sale which have been made at the New Life Projects at Kanchanaburi and Chumphon. Youngsters at Kanchanaburi have been making shampoo and 'pumpkin' cushions, the traditional Thai style cushions named for their pumpkin shape. Young males at the Chumphon New Life Project have been enjoying doing some batik painting. All the items are for sale at the shop at the foundation offices and at the projects.
Sports competition
The community development section at the DPF organised a month long sports competition in September for community groups in Klong Toey and Prawet districts. Teams were competing in football and tug-of-war in two age groups, 12-24 and over 24. A DPF staff representation was also among the competing teams.
Staff plant bananas at Kanchanaburi
Most DPF staff went for a weekend of discussions at the Kanchanaburi New Life Project last month. While at the project the staff took a break from their deliberations to plant over half a hectare with banana trees. The photo shows some of the staff planting the bananas.
News from Thailand
Floods hit country
Floods have ravaged large parts of Thailand in recent weeks, as the annual rainy season nears a conclusion. At the time of writing the newsletter 49 out of 76 provinces were affected by flooding. 3.11 million Thais have been directly affected by flooding, which has killed 97 people and damaged over 1 million hectares of farmland. At this time, Bangkok has largely escaped unscathed from the flooding but water levels are still at a threatening height.
Bureaucratic reform
At the beginning of October Thailand experienced the most dramatic bureaucratic reform for over one hundred years, with the creation of six new ministries, including the Natural Resources and the Environment Ministry, the Ministry for Tourism and Sports, the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Culture.
The Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has pledged that the public will experience better government services and less corruption once the state sector reforms become fully operational.
Calls grow to register immigrants' children
Last month a senior security official said that children born here should be issued birth certificates, even if their parents are illegal immigrants. The withholding of birth registration papers arose from the state's tough stance on illegal migration. The number of undocumented children is unknown, but some two to three million adult immigrants are thought to live in Thailand. Most come from Burma, Cambodia and Laos. Legal experts said the law does not stop authorities from issuing papers. However, in practice the registrar would not register any child born to illegal immigrants, rendering the children stateless persons.
There are increasing calls for the Thai government to lift its reservations against article seven of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says a child should be registered right after birth. A lack of registration papers bars children from access to basic welfare, health and education. It was pointed out that no harm could come from registering births, as this alone did not entitle a child to Thai nationality, but merely gives acceptance of the child's identity as a human being, regardless of race, religion, and sex.
Children's rights marginalised
At a meeting, hosted by the National Human Rights Commission last month, there was widespread concern at the manner in which children's rights have been marginalised. It was reported by a deputy chief justice of the Central Juvenile and Family Court that many law enforcers lacked understanding of the rights of minors and how to protect them. There was opposition to opposed sending young offenders to remand centres without a sound rehabilitation plan in place. The centres stressed vocational training rather than the physical and mental rehabilitation which would enable troublesome minors to be reintegrated into society. It was reported at the meeting that more than 20,000 youth criminal cases were investigated last year. Over 90% of them were related to methamphetamine abuse.
Children, youth and family have become the focus of the National Human Rights Commission's six-year strategic plan. Two teenage representatives attending the workshop said drug abuse and family dysfunction were the most serious problems for young people in their communities.
Adult double standards to blame - kids
At a meeting in Bangkok last month to celebrate National Youth Day, leaders of youth groups said that adult double standards and inequitable education are to blame for many of the problems plaguing Thai youths. One representative of a Bangkok youth group said Thai children and youths were shy in coming forward about problems because Thai adults viewed children as "stupid". She said the government should give immediate attention to the problem of inequitable education standards between schools in rural areas and those in the cities.
Idle farms could be taken off the rich
Seizing unused land from the rich and giving it to the landless poor is not just a politician's whim and the idea could come into effect as early as October, according to a Deputy Interior Minister.
The minister said that he intended to enforce article 6 of the Land Code, which said that owners would relinquish their rights to land if they left it idle for 10 consecutive years, in cases of land with title deeds, and five consecutive years for land with other kinds of papers. Article 6 has been in force for 48 years but not a single piece of unused land has ever been seized by the state. The Land Department had so far identified almost 750 hectares of land left idle, mostly in the North and Northeast. There is much more unused land in Thailand which could be made available to landless farmers.
The decision stems from a dispute in Lamphun, in the north of Thailand, in which landless farmers claimed traditional rights to land left idle by its owners.
UN summit a 'failure', say NGOs
The recent World Summit on Sustainable Development which took place in Johannesburg was criticised by representatives from civil groups and non governmental organisations in Thailand as a "complete failure". The lack of legally binding commitments disappointed Thai non official delegates to the summit from civil and NGO groups.
NGO and civil groups agreed that they saw little benefit for Thailand in the summit. However, it was also agreed that the principles behind the summit - reducing poverty, addressing environmental crises and achieving the sustainable development of global society - were great. It was recommended that Thailand should follow the principles of the summit, but implementing them should not be dependent on foreign commitments.
They suggested Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government set up an independent national body to implement the sustainable development plan recommended by the summit.
Thailand to reject all carbon-credit deals
Last month the cabinet decided that Thailand will refuse proposals from developed countries that wish to invest in projects that lead to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in exchange for claiming credits for the reduction.
"The prime minister said Thailand would absolutely refuse to let anyone use us to claim carbon credits," the government spokesman told a press conference.
The spokesman said that the cabinet felt that industrialised countries were the main polluters and should be made responsible for reducing emissions in their own countries.
However a United Nations energy expert warned that the government's refusal to accept overseas projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) would prevent Thailand from achieving cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
"Rejection of the CDM also reflects the country's disrespect for the spirit of the pact, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions worldwide," said Thanavat Junchaya, regional network coordinator of the United Nations Environment Programme.
Rather than rejecting the mechanism, the government should set up a committee to screen projects on a case-by- case basis, he said.
"Thailand could benefit from some projects, particularly those dealing with renewable energy. So it is unwise to refuse the mechanism," said Mr Thanavat.
The Minister of Science, Technology and Environment said "The government does not mean to shut the door on the mechanism. However, we believe that Thailand has the potential to implement the projects ourselves and has no need to rely on rich countries,"
He added that the government did not support the mechanism and felt industrialised countries should cut emissions in their own countries rather than operating the carbon-trading scheme.
Call for policy on wildlife conservation
Last month environmentalists proposed that the House of Representatives create a national policy on wildlife conservation, to tackle cruelty to animals and the illegal trade in wildlife. The proposal was a result of a national seminar held by the House sub-committee on Preventing Wildlife Trade and Cruelty, and five international and national environmental groups last June. It was agreed that the national policy should be a guideline for concrete and practical solutions to the country's problems with cruelty to animals and the trade in wildlife.
Besides a national policy, the environmental groups also called for amendment of the 1992 Environment Protection Act and 1992 Wildlife Protection and -Conservation Act and all laws related to wildlife protection. For the wildlife act, the environmentalists want all products that claim to contain parts of wildlife organs to be counted as wildlife products, whether the claim is true or not. Currently, many producers and distributors of products that claim to contain wildlife organs, often excuse themselves by saying the claim was false, and they are thus charged only with having deceived their customers.
Workers draw foreign investors, despite costs
According to a recent survey, skills, flexibility and an ability to learn quickly make Thai workers attractive to foreign investors, despite lower labour costs in other countries. Workers here give Thailand the edge over other countries in the region, such as China, when competing for overseas investment, the survey said. Western companies appreciate Thai employees' ability to learn new skills quickly and the positive attitude they bring to their jobs, the survey by Bayer, the largest German investor in Thailand, found. Thai workers are highly skilled, intelligent and flexible, while they change jobs less frequently than other nationalities, the survey said.