On 15 November 2013 the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ) hosted an international conference entitled “The Bangkok Dialogue on the Rule of Law: Investing in the Rule of Law, Justice and Security for the Post-2015 Development Agenda” at Siam Kempinski Hotel, Bangkok. The event brought together leaders from government and other sectors, academics and civil society representatives to exchange experiences and knowledge on the importance of the rule of law as well as the crucial linkage between the rule of law and sustainable development.
The Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ) in partnership with Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-organized the event, resulting in an impressive list of speakers and participants. On this occasion, Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol presided over the conference and delivered the keynote speech.
The Bangkok Dialogue consists of three sessions with three different topics:
- The need for the rule of law, justice and security in the post-2015 development agenda – Dialogue with political leaders
- The relationship between the rule of law and sustainable economic development – Dialogue with academics
- The role of civil society and the private sector in advancing a new global rule of law agenda – Dialogue with civil society leaders
The distinguished speakers and panels include Tshering Tobgay (Prime Minister of Bhutan), Marty Natalegawa (Minister of Foreign Affairs – Indonesia), José Ramos-Horta (Former President of East Timor, Noble Peace Prize Laureate and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau), Katsuyuki Nishikawa (Vice-Minister of Justice for Japan), Yury Fedotov (Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Director General of the United Nations Office in Vienna), Tun Shin (Attorney General for the Union of Myanmar), Gareth Evans (Chancellor of Australian National University and former Foreign Minister of Australia), David Kennedy (Director of the Institute for Global Law and Policy and Professor of Law at Harvard University), Mark Lagon (Adjunct Senior Fellow for Human Rights at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Ambassador-at-Large on Human Trafficking), William Neukom (Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the World Justice Project and former President of the American Bar Association), Sarah Cliffe (United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Civilian Capacities), Tariq Khosa (Former Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency and National Police Bureau of Pakistan and Executive Board member of Interpol), and Roberta Clarke (Regional Director of UN Women for Asia and the Pacific).
The Rule of Law is at the heart of the United Nations’ agenda in its role as the guardian of international legal frameworks. “Investing in the rule of law, crime prevention and criminal justice is not only essential, but indispensable, to the path of sustainable development,” said Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol. It is, therefore, the time for all Member States to advance an integrated development agenda into a reality.
“Together, we can build a strong culture of lawfulness so that our future generations can benefit from our endeavor,” HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha further said.
Meeting summaries will be available soon.
For further information, please visit http://www.bangkokdialogue.org/
