On December 26, 2022, Mr. Somsak Suwansujarit, Chief Ombudsman of Thailand and Gen. Anuphong Phaojinda, Minister of Interior, presided over the signing ceremony of  the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to effectively enhance the capacity in handling complaints in order to address people’s grievance or unfairness. With Associate Professor Issaree. Hunsacharoonroj and Mr. Songsak Saicheua, Ombudsmen of Thailand, along with the executives of both organisations attending the signing ceremony. Pol. Col. Keirov Kritteeranon, Secretary-General of the Office of the Ombudsman represented the Office of the Ombudsman and Mr. Chaiwat Chuenkosumn, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Interior represented the Ministry of Interior to sign the MoU.

As the Office of the Ombudsman is located in the capital of Thailand without any branches in other regions, the Ministry of Interior works closely with provincial administration and local administration to deliver public services from the central government to the people. In addition, the important roles of the Ministry of Interior are to perform its duties in treating suffering, and nourishing happiness for Thai citizens.

Therefore, this MOU between the Ombudsman of Thailand and the Ministry of Interior came into existence from the awareness of the importance of developing collaboration with other organisations to redress grievance or unfairness, to protect the rights and liberty of the people across the country, as well as to improve swift and effective public services.

The integration of working methods and cooperation under the jurisdiction of both organisations can be categorized into three fields of operation as follows:

1. To jointly develop systems for connecting database and transferring complaints and to introduce the systems to the public service centers (Damrongdhama Centers located in Districts and Provinces of Thailand, Damrongdhama Center of Department of Provincial Administration, Damrongdhama Center of Ministry of Interior and the Office of the Ombudsman).
2. To promote an effective delivery of public services in solving people’s grievance or unfairness and to become a network for good governance and justice within the society.
3. To jointly improve a better understanding of both organizations’ staff and the public about the mandates, operational procedures for the protection of rights and liberty and to solve problems relating to grievance or unfairness in accordance with the instructions and principles that will be cooperatively developed in the future.

In terms of the cooperative development of the Information linkage system, both organisations currently have developed the system, namely Ombudsman Complaint Coordination (OCC) to connect the database and transfer complaints between the organisations. After the end of the MOU signing ceremony, the video conference was held to introduce the governors of all provinces in Thailand, as well as the staff of Damrongdhama Centers to the knowledge and instructions of Ombudsman Complaint Coordination. The system will facilitate the process of transferring of complaint cases from Damrongdhama Centers to the Office of the Ombudsman swiftly and this process will truly elevate the capacity in redressing people’s grievance or unfairness all over the country.