A UN Goodwill Ambassador, Princess Bajrakitiyabha
Doha, Qatar, Apr 10, 2015 (Korea Bizwire) –HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand, underscored the importance of education in fighting crime in the recent Doha Youth Forum on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
“The best tool to combat crime is education,” said Princess Bajrakitiyabha. “It is also the best means to unlock the human potential.”
Princess Bajrakitiyabha cited the efforts of the Qatar Government, through the Qatar Foundation, Qatar’s Ministry of Interior and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, to promote a culture of lawfulness through education as part of the overall strategy for sustainable development.
She encouraged the delegates to use the Forum to initiate intercultural dialogue and friendships, debate, propose practical recommendations and utilize the experience to become role models for other young people.
“You have to be more than just innovative. You have to be citizens of action and reflection.”
A UN Goodwill Ambassador, Princess Bajrakitiyabha is the only child of HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajralongkorn. She has a PhD in law from Cornell University.
Her involvement in a nationwide public awareness drive on violence against women in Thailand collected over three million signatures for the UN Women’s global “Say NO to Violence Against Women” campaign.
Apart from promoting the rights of crime victims, Princess Bajrakitiyabha also assures that female convicts are treated fairly while incarcerated and are adequately prepared for rehabilitation.
She runs the “Kamlangjai” or “Inspire” project for Thai women in jail. The project assures adequate assistance while they are in correctional facilities and prepares them to mingle with society once they are released. Her project ELFI (Enhancing Lives of Female Inmates) proposes new rules on the treatment of women prisoners and non-custodial measures for women offenders.
Similarly, the State of Qatar continues to enhance its focus on women empowerment through the constitution and legislations. In the 59th UN session on the status of women held in New York recently, HE Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, Qatar’s permanent representative to the U.N. said Qatar was keen to exercise equality between citizens and has worked to integrate women issues, particularly those related to providing proper work and enhancing social protection for women in all strategies and national plans.
Qatar has also adopted a preventive policy to protect human rights in general and women’s rights in particular in the form of Qatar National Vision 2030, with one of the pillars being the promotion and empowerment of women.
Thailand and Qatar have an enduring relationship going back to the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1980. The two countries have a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the field of health; an agreement on recruitment of Thai workforce in Qatar; cooperation in the cultural and trade field and investment in agricultural products and commodities. Twelve percent of Thailand’s population are Muslims, and is the sixth largest exporter of Halal products in the world.
Source: The Asia Corporate News Network (ACN Newswire)
