On 18 November 2019, the German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG) at the Thammasat University Faculty of Law will present a special lecture on 70 Years of German Public Law by H.E. Mr. Georg Schmidt, Ambassador of Federal Republic of Germany to Thailand. The event will take place from 1:30pm to 4pm in the Jitti Tingsabhad Room omn the ground floor of the Faculty of Law building, Thammasat University, Tha Prachan campus. All members of the TU community are welcome to register to attend at this link.
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was approved in May 1949 with the signature of the occupying western Allies of World War II, and came into effect later that month.
The TU Library owns several books about German law.
One of the main goals of the Basic Law was to prevent any future dictator from seizing power, as had happened in Germany before and during World War II.
Human rights and especially human dignity were also emphasized in the Basic Law, among other principles.
The Preamble to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany makes this clear. A preamble is an introductory statement in a document that explains its purpose and philosophy. A famous preamble is the Preamble to the United States Constitution, beginning with the words We the People, is a brief introductory statement of the Constitution’s fundamental purposes and guiding principles. The Preamble to the Basic Law reads:
Conscious of their responsibility before God and man,
Inspired by the determination to promote world peace as an equal partner in a united Europe, the German people, in the exercise of their constituent power, have adopted this Basic Law.
Germans in the Länder of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia have achieved the unity and freedom of Germany in free self-determination. This Basic Law thus applies to the entire German people.
As we see, from its beginning, the Basic Law was concerned with human dignity and human rights, both of which were harmed before and during the war:
Article 1
[Human dignity – Human rights – Legally binding force of basic rights]
(1) Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
(2) The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every community, of peace and of justice in the world.
(3) The following basic rights shall bind the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly applicable law.
Article 2
[Personal freedoms]
(1) Every person shall have the right to free development of his personality insofar as he does not violate the rights of others or offend against the constitutional order or the moral law.
(2) Every person shall have the right to life and physical integrity. Freedom of the person shall be inviolable. These rights may be interfered with only pursuant to a law.
Article 3
[Equality before the law]
(1) All persons shall be equal before the law.
(2) Men and women shall have equal rights. The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men and take steps to eliminate disadvantages that now exist.
(3) No person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavoured because of disability.
Article 4
[Freedom of faith and conscience]
(1) Freedom of faith and of conscience and freedom to profess a religious or philosophical creed shall be inviolable.
- Basic Rights 16
(2) The undisturbed practice of religion shall be guaranteed.
(3) No person shall be compelled against his conscience to render military service involving the use of arms. Details shall be regulated by a federal law.
Article 5
[Freedom of expression, arts and sciences]
(1) Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.
Thailand and Germany: international cooperation
As is clear from the busy schedule and Twitter feed of H.E. Mr. Georg Schmidt, Ambassador of Federal Republic of Germany to Thailand,
Thailand and Germany are looking to the future with many cooperative ventures. Much significant progress has been made on many different fields of endeavor.
The Thai-German Railway Partnership was established this year to introduce European standards to the railway sector of Thailand. On November 5, a workshop was held about rolling stock overhaul and maintenance at the BTS Depot, advancing the Thai-German Railway partnership. As TU students may know, in 1999, Siemens Thailand was awarded a maintenance contract for BTS Skytrain that was eventually extended to 30 years.
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe,
Among other visits that HE Ambassador Schmidt made was to The Thai-German Institute, a joint initiative of the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, to train Thai students in advanced manufacturing technology for developing Thai industry. It is an autonomous body outside the formal education system, operating under the supervision of the Foundation for Industrial Development and the broad oversight of the Ministry of Industry.
The Thai-German Institute is located in Amata City, Chonburi.
The Ambassador also noted that for decades, Rodenstock (Thailand) Co., Ltd., located on the Ladkrabang Industrial Estate, has been producing high quality lenses as a subsidiary of Rodenstock, Germany’s leading manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses and frames. The company was founded in the 1800s and now has a worldwide workforce of just under 5000 employees, with representatio in over 85 countries with sales subsidiaries and distribution partners. Its head office is in Munich, Germany.
In addition, energy solutions offered by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy are setting standards in energy efficiency to help protect the climate and save costs in Thailand.
And last month, HE Ambassador Schmidt congratulated Thailand on being the first Asian nation to adopt the stand-alone National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) (2019-2022) as proposed by the Rights and Liberties Protection Department, Ministry of Justice.
Germany has been active in the European Union’s worldwide promotion of developing and adopting NAP. His Excellency the Ambassador added on Twitter: We stand ready to support Thailand to turn the plan into concrete actions!
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)