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Writer's pictureManushya Foundation
Apr 3, 2023

“How Manushya developed the independent civil society-led National Baseline Assessment on BHR for TH











#ManushyaInTheNews 📢 Emilie Palamy Pradichit, Founder and Executive Director of Manushya Foundation, was interviewed by the Danish Institute for Human Rights to inform its new publication on National Baseline Assessments on Business and Human Rights (NBA-BHR) of February 2023 about the case of Thailand.


🚨 During the interview, she shared the story about how Manushya Foundation was the architect of the independent CSO-led NBA-BHR for Thailand and the importance of putting communities at the center of the NBA.


⚖️What is an NBA-BHR?

The objective of an NBA-BHR is to assess the current level of implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in a given state and to inform the formulation and prioritization of actions in a National Action Plan (NAP) on BHR to address the human rights impacts of business.


🤝 In 2017, Manushya facilitated an inclusive community mobilization to create the Thai BHR Network to voice civil society’s demands in the NBA-BHR, released in 2019. With Manushya's vision to reinforce the power of local communities, we were able to collaborate closely with grassroots organizations as they were more trusting in an independent NGO than in local authorities.


✊🏼 Manushya and the Thai BHR Network successful influenced the priority areas of Thailand's NAP-BHR, as the government simply copied those from our independent CSO-NBA: (1) Labour rights; (2) Environment, natural resources and community rights; (3) protection of human rights defenders; (4) Extraterritorial obligations and Thai-outbound investments.


⛔ But in reality, besides copying the priority areas identified in our CSO-led NBA-BHR, the Thai government's first National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP-BHR) released in October 2019 is an empty promise! It is a workplan for meetings - including only weak voluntary actions that barely promote responsible business and don't hold companies accountable, even failed to tackle corporate impunity & bring justice to local communities & marginalized groups!


🚨 Worse, the implementation of the NAP-BHR has not bring any positive changes on the ground! Why? Indigenous peoples' rights, sex workers rights, mandatory human rights due diligence, and anti-SLAPP law were not included in the NAP-BHR.


#WeAreManusyhan ♾️ Equal Human Beings


✊This is why we are now calling on the Thai government to stop #StopNAPping, and instead enact mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (mHREDD) to guarantee real corporate accountability, with affected communities at the center!




While you are here:

Read more about our BHR strategy and our work fighting for real corporate accountability:



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