Kittipong Kittayarak
November 16, 2016Kittipong Kittayarak has long been involved in judicial and criminal justice reform in Thailand. He has made substantial contributions to the improvement of the Thai judicial system through his roles in a number of national bodies. He has been known as one of the champions for the reform of the Thai criminal justice system towards due process and the rule of law, and for pioneering the implementation of the restorative justice and community justice programs in Thailand. In the area of peace and reconciliation, Kittipong was actively engaged in the National Reconciliation Committee, which focused its work on conflicts in the deep south of Thailand as well as the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT). After completing his six-year term as the Permanent Secretary for Justice, in February 2015, he assumed a new role as the Executive Director of the Thailand Institute of Justice, a public organization working in the promotion, research and capacity-building activities in accordance with the justice-relates UN standards and norms. Currently, he is a special advisor to Thailand Institute of Justice. He holds J.S.D. from Stanford Law School, LL.M. from Harvard Law School, barrister-at-law from The Thai Bar Association, LL.M. from Cornell Law School, and LL.B. from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.