A group of officials at the National Human Rights Commission have expressed discontent in a letter sent to the media over the fact that two members of the Nitirat group were invited to give lectures in the orientation for new recruits on 13-14 Jan.

The group said that it was very inappropriate for the office to have invited Nitirat members Worachet Pakeerut and Piyabutr Saengkanokkul from Thammasat University as guest lecturers, because the Nitirat group had a clear agenda to amend Article 112 of the Criminal Code.

Piyabutr, in particular, expressed views obviously offensive to the monarchy at a forum at the Faculty of Political Science of Chulalongkorn University on 27 Dec 2011, the group said. (see clips of the forum)

‘To invite Nitirat members to lecture newly recruited government officials contravenes Article 37 (3) of the 2011 Parliamentary Public Officials Regulations Act, which stipulates as a qualification for those entering government service that they must sincerely believe in democracy with the King as head of state,’ the letter said.

According to their letter, the National Human Rights Commission has appointed Jon Ungphakorn to head a working group on amendments to Article 112 of the Criminal Code and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act with a budget of 362,000 baht.

According to the orientation schedule attached to the letter, Worachet Pakeerut was to lecture on human rights under international obligations, the Constitution and the National Human Rights Commission Act, while Piyabutr Saengkanokkul was to speak about the protection of human rights by the European Court of Human Rights.