BANGKOK, Jan 24 (TNA) -- Defending his government over recent charges by New York-based Human Rights Watch that Thailand violated several human rights principles last year, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Sunday that some information in the NGO’s report might contain inaccuracies. 

Speaking during his weekly television and radio address, Mr Abhisit said his government has always respected the observance of human rights as well as trying to resolve the ongoing bloody violence in the three southern provinces. In addition the government has been dealing with alleged lese majeste offenders legally and prudently. 

He said the report published by Human Rights Watch may have been written before “special mechanisms” were established by the government to oversee these issues. 

“I’m confident regarding the protection of human rights (in Thailand), otherwise we wouldn’t apply as a candidate for UN Human Rights Committee in which the Cabinet has already approved,” said Mr Abhisit. 

In its World Report 2010 released last Wednesday, Brad Adams, the NGO’s Asia director, said: “While Prime Minister Abhisit sometimes said the right things about human rights in 2009, his actions didn’t match his words. The government continually undermined respect for human rights and due process of law in Thailand.” 

The report charged Mr Abhisit with “not honour[ing] his pledge to uphold human rights principles and international law in 2009. Getting Thailand back on track as a rights-respecting nation in 2010 is crucial both for the country and the region.” 

Vimon Kidchob, director-general of Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Information Department, said Saturday that Human Rights Watch report on problems of human rights abuses were “over-dramatised and over-generalised isolated events and failed to take into account all the facts and the many positive achievements made over the past year”. 

“As a result, it unfairly paints a biased picture, giving the wrong impression that Thailand is backsliding,” she said, adding that the report contained “several exaggerations”. (TNA)