An interview with Kritaya Archavanitkul, demographer and human rights activist
"Emerging Issues in Human Rights in Southeast Asia"

Conversations with History
Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Part 5 - How to Help

Now you work primarily in Thailand, and you study there and so on. What if people hear this story and they're outside of your own country, they're outside of Asia. Can they make a difference in the work? And how can they help make a difference?

In what way?

Well, through financial contributions, through reading, through public education in their own countries. I mean, one thing that comes to mind, in referring back to your earlier talk there was a suggestion that lobbying the United States government from America may help at a critical time if the American government will then lobby your government. So I guess, I just want people to be left with a sense that even though your country is in Asia and your work is in Asia, the way international communication works now, there are ways to help. I think that's implicit in what you're saying.

I have a mental block with the word "help," because to me the word seems to imply that you have a different status. What I would suggest, I think the proper term is "support." So the question is how to make people in different countries support us, support the movement, support the idea. I think we can do it many ways. You can financially support us, in terms of investment in education for the young girls in some areas that have no access to primary education. Or you could even have a protest in your county. I saw once on an Internet home page, "Don't buy Thai." It said not to buy Thai because in Thai society they have lots of Thai prostitutes and child labor. Protesting this way, you can support us indirectly. You may get some government departments who listen to this Internet message and try to fight back. But also you would provide pictures from Thailand to the users in the United States so they can learn what is happening in Thailand. But the users themselves, the people themselves, also have to bear in mind that you have to check the information. I don't say that "Don't buy Thai" is 100% correct or 100% incorrect but the message makes many people concerned about what's happening in Thailand. So that's one way to support what we have to work for.

I have one final question and a comment. The comment is that, doing this work, running through all this is a great amount of courage on your part, and I wanted to acknowledge that. And I want to ask you what you would like best to be remembered for in doing this work and being involved so much as a human rights activist? Where do you want to make your mark in all of this, what would you like to be remembered for?

It's a very difficult question to answer. I think that I need to do a lot more to meet the requirements of the award that I will receive tonight. But if people would like to remember, don't think only of me; there are many people who work like me. I am just a lucky case to have a chance, and opportunity to talk on this video. But there are many thousands of people around the world, the small people that work in the field, who confront the problem without notice. But with these various people working throughout the world, there is a positive movement for promoting human rights in the world. So, don't remember me. Remember what the people in the world do for human rights.

Dr. Kritaya, thank you very much for being here today. And thank you, Gaye, for helping us with the translation. And thank YOU for joining us for this "Conversation on International Affairs."

© Copyright 1996, Regents of the University of California.

Full text of this interview is available online at: http://conversations.berkeley.edu/content/kritaya-archavanitkul/

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