The United Nations declared a decade ago that each July 18 should be celebrated as an annual international day in honor of Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state in a fully representative democratic election. United Nations Nelson Mandela International Day falls on Mandela’s birthday, to appreciate his legacy and his values through volunteering and community service. As the United Nations website explains,

Mandela Day is a global call to action that celebrates the idea that each individual has the power to transform the world, the ability to make an impact.

The Mandela Day campaign message is:

Nelson Mandela has fought for social justice for 67 years. We’re asking you to start with 67 minutes.

We would be honoured if such a day can serve to bring together people around the world to fight poverty and promote peace, reconciliation and cultural diversity,” according to a statement issued on Mandela’s behalf.

The Thammasat University Library owns several books by and about Nelson Mandela.

They include The Cambridge companion to Nelson Mandela edited by Rita Barnard; In our time: speeches that shaped the modern world edited by Hywel Williams; Long walk to freedom: the autobiography of Nelson Mandela; Mandela: an illustrated autobiography; Mandela: the authorized biography by Anthony Sampson; Mandela: the authorized portrait by Mike Nicol; Mandela: a critical life by Tom Lodge; Mandela: a life by Adrian Hadland and Sean Fraser; Nelson Mandela: a biography by Martin Meredith; Nelson Mandela by Rowena Akinyemi; Nelson Mandela: a life in photographs by David Elliot Cohen and John D. Battersby; A Prisoner in the garden: the Nelson Mandela Foundation; To the brink: the state of democracy in South Africa by Xolela Mangcu; and a Thai language biography, Khit bǣp Nelson Mandela by Waritsarā Phānuwat.

A range of books are needed because Mandela was a complex and sometimes controversial figure. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the banned South African Communist Party (SACP). After he led a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government, he was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela served 27 years in prison until he was finally released in 1990.

Then he co-led negotiations to end apartheid, leading to a 1994 election at which he became president. With a new constitution, he hoped for reconciliation. During his lifetime, he was considered by many South Africans as an extreme leftist, although internationally he was admired for his activism. Among the honors he received for his fight for human rights and social justice was the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thailand and Nelson Mandela

In January, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University on U-Thong nok Road, Dusit, Bangkok, hosted a special talk on Celebrating 100 years of Nelson Mandela: Champion of Peace and Reconciliation by H.E. Mr. Geoffrey Quinton Mitchell Doidge, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. Mandela was born in 1918.

Last year on United Nations Nelson Mandela International Day, the Royal Thai Embassy in Pretoria and Thai community in South Africa, led by Mr. Paisit Boonparlit, Chargé d’affaires of the Royal Thai Embassy, together with the Prism of Hope, a non-profitable organization prepared and donated 100 boxes of hygiene products to disadvantaged South African children in five schools in Pretoria as well as foodstuff and winter clothes to the Dynamic Women for Children childcare centre.

The activity commemorated the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela and celebrated the 25 year anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Thailand and South Africa. Funds, toiletries and other necessary items were assembled by the Thai community in South Africa and Thai diplomatic staff. Thai businesspeople who live and work in South Africa, mostly in the hospitality industry, provided logistic support. For almost 20 years, Thai businesspeople have helped to boost the South African economy by employing and training hundreds of young South African in professional hospitality skills.

Nelson Mandela in the Kingdom

In Thailand itself in 2016, Nelson Mandela Rules were implemented. Thailand’s Department of Corrections (DOC) and Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ) jointly launched a pilot project to implement Nelson Mandela Rules at Thonburi Remand Prison, considered the Kingdom’s most progressive house of detention. The launch event took place on United Nations Nelson Mandela International Day.

Mandela Rules revise the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held at Geneva in 30 August 1955 and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977. The goal was to improve and update rules by following advancements in correctional sciences, best practices, and all relevant current situations in prison management.

Dr. Nathee Chitsawang, TIJ expert on Mandela Rules implementation was quoted as explaining that the implementation of the pilot prison conforming to the Mandela Rules at Thonburi Remand Prison is our first effort to show other prisons that the project is not out of reach. These rules are neither theoretical nor Western standards which we cannot achieve. This pilot scheme can be a showcase to let all correctional facilities realize that they can do it despite many limitations in terms of budget, personnel and attitudes of staff and society… The attitude of correctional officials is important for the successful implementation of the Mandela Rules. It must be acknowledged by the correctional staff first if they have negative attitudes towards the prisoners on rehabilitation and the prisoner’s rights protection. This is because some officers consider that the Rules make their work more difficult, the application of the Mandela Rules is, as a result, difficult. Thus changing attitudes towards the Mandela’ Rules must be prioritized to adjust in this regard… We look forward to extending the pilot project to other prisons nationwide depending on the condition of each prison. At the same time, the support of the adoption of Mandela Rules to other countries especially in ASEAN countries through sharing knowledge and learning for altogether development is the aim because the countries in ASEAN have commonality in many dimensions. Learning together is therefore very beneficial.

It was expected to take about one year to develop Thonburi Remand Prison as a pilot prison of Nelson Mandela Rules.

In 2014, Thailand was chosen for the Asian launch of the Nelson Mandela Distinguished Lectures at Chulalongkorn University, to underline issues mutually shared by Thailand and South Africa about peace and reconciliation in democratic societies.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)