Suntariya Muanpawong
August 30, 2018Ms. Suntariya Muanpawong is a Chief Judge in the Research Justice Division of the Supreme Court of Thailand. After finishing her Master of Law from Thammasat University and Barrister at Law, she obtained Master and Doctorate Degree in Public Law from Muenster University, Germany. She practiced shortly as a lawyer and was a teacher in a South-East Asian refugee camp. Suntariya spent five years as a legal officer in the Harbor Department, then became a judge at the Court of Justice.
She was the first supervisor of the Judicial Research Institute, where she played a significant role in developing the accountability and responsiveness of the judiciary. Suntariya has joined various human rights programs held by international institutions. She has conducted research projects on court reform, child’s rights protection, gender justice, prisoners’ rights and environmental jurisprudence. As the Chief Judge of the Juvenile and Family Courts, she created some innovative programs to work with the communities. To develop the women’s human rights, Suntariya has worked with prominent scholars and women study institutions. She has also participated in Asian and ASEAN forums on judicial specialization in environmental law. She has been consistently engaged in the justice reform movement in the Thai society. Her main current concern is to democratize the justice system. Her last research paper proposed the people-oriented justice reform model.