The PCR held a seminar to debate the charter draft on provisions regarding rights and liberty of the people.

Pairoj Polpet, former Legal Reform Commission member, summed up the document written by the Constitution Drafting Commission led by Meechai Ruchupan as increasing power of the state and reducing the people’s power and their rights.

He said that unlike the 1997 and 2007 charters, the draft contained no provision that stated the government must protect human rights and liberty. It also empowers state officials to have the right to develop local communities and manage national resources.

The charter was also weak on decentralisation and no provision stated how much funding local governments should receive.

The checks and balances stressed giving too much power to independent agencies such as the Constitutional Court, the Election Commission, the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the State Audit Commission. These agencies should not interfere in politics, Pairoj said.

The draft also downgraded the National Human Rights Commission by depriving it the right to check if the government violates human rights and liberty.

The charter draft empowers the National Reform Steering Assembly to drive reform. However, the majority of the assembly’s members are bureaucrats, and this could lead to problems, he said.

Former charter writer Buntoon Srethasirote said he wondered if the CDC “froze” human rights out of this charter draft because it wanted it to be rejected.

He said that in the earlier charters, human rights were blossoming, but this draft blocked people from participating in politics and deprived them of their basic rights.

He said the charter over-stressed anti-graft measures and addressed the country’s structural problems without paying attention to power abuses by the state and bridging social and economic gaps. “This charter is a power-centralisation mechanism, as it ignores decentralisation and the public’s roles and participation in politics,” he said.

Buntoon expressed concern about the lack of a checking mechanism on independent agencies.

CDC spokesman Norachit Sinhaseni insisted yesterday that the new draft constitution fully addresses people’s rights and freedoms.

Those concerned should reread the draft, as many such rights have been transferred to the chapter on the state’s duties due to the different approach taken on framing constitutions.

For example, the public’s right to access government information from a state agency, state enterprise or local government organisation was explicitly stated in previous charters.

However, the current draft charter says the state has the obligation to provide such information to the people.

Other rights, including the freedom of expression, are still stipulated under the chapter on rights and liberties in this new version, he said.