Education Deputy Vows Proactive Rights Protection Center
Thailand's education deputy has launched a new Center for Rights, Freedoms, and Safety aimed at preventing incidents rather than merely responding to complaints through better coordination among government agencies.
Deputy Education Minister Akkhanan Kanngittinun has chaired the first meeting of the Center for Rights, Freedoms, and Safety, outlining operational guidelines that prioritize coordination among relevant agencies to swiftly and effectively address public concerns.
Akkhanan stressed that the center must move beyond mere policy structure to deliver tangible assistance—from receiving complaints to coordinating solutions and tracking outcomes. He rejected the notion that the center adds bureaucratic burden, instead positioning it as a mechanism to strengthen inter-agency collaboration and ultimately benefit the public.
"What I want to see from this center is a reduction in incidents and our goal must be zero," Akkhanan said. "We should not simply react to problems after they occur, but prevent them from happening in the first place."
He clarified that success should not be measured by the number of meetings held or documents produced, but by whether the public receives faster assistance, problems decrease, and citizens trust the state. Akkhanan called for systematic cooperation across all agencies, noting that protecting rights, freedoms, and safety cannot be achieved by any single department alone but requires integrated data sharing, coordination, and continuous follow-up.
"We will not measure success by the volume of incoming cases, because more cases might indicate we are failing," Akkhanan explained. "True success means reducing problems and increasing public protection."
At the inaugural meeting, Akkhanan directed relevant agencies to establish clear operational frameworks and mechanisms enabling the center to systematically receive complaints, resolve problems, and track results—ultimately working toward the critical goal of reducing incidents that threaten citizens' rights, freedoms, and safety.