A/HRC/30/28 21. The moderators asked the fourth panellist, Mr. Muntarbhorn, to share his experience as a former Member of the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights, especially regarding the main challenges in ensuring impact of projects on the ground. 22. Mr. Muntarbhorn identified five initial considerations that should be kept in mind when examining the effectiveness of technical cooperation initiatives in the field of human rights. Firstly, in less open settings, the promotion and protection of political rights was often quite difficult. However, there was still a lot of space to enhance protection, particularly with regard to economic, social and cultural rights, with an emphasis on poverty and specific groups such as women and children, as well as aspects of environmental protection. Secondly, in all settings, there was the challenge of discrimination, and this was being tested by the need to protect not only the nationals of the country, but also non-nationals, such as refugees and migrant workers. That was one reason why human rights programmes should be anchored in the principle of non-discrimination both in spirit and in practice. Thirdly, United Nations-backed funds and programmes should reach out not only to government officials and ministries, but also to non-governmental actors and civil society at large, with due regard to gender sensitivity and child responsiveness, as an invitation to find creative ways to support these groups. Fourthly, the establishment of United Nations human rights presences in countries that have difficulties meeting their obligations was a welcome development. This was being done directly through OHCHR offices or, more indirectly, through United Nations country teams or human rights advisers. The successful mainstreaming of human rights, in turn, depended on the following: the presence of good laws, policies and plans; enforcement; strong and capable institutions and personnel, including national human rights institutions; resources and national budgets; good information and monitoring; good education and capacity development; and good participation and networking between various stakeholders. The sustainable development goals presented a golden opportunity to make real progress in all these areas. 23. Mr. Muntarbhorn noted that in Thailand, policies and plans, especially national human rights action plans, had proven to be very useful entry points. Since 2001, the country had already developed three such plans. The strength of the first plan was that it had been designed based on broad participation and consultation, matching national standards with international law. It also aimed at providing various groups with enhanced protection. However, the main weakness of the plan was poor coordination. 24. The second plan provided for participation by a broader segment of the population. The third, and current, plan was much better prepared, through a strong participatory and consultative process, coupled with a good database and analyses by universities. Importantly, the Ministry of Justice was now the main coordinator of implementation and received regular reports from other line ministries every year as an important means of monitoring and accountability. 25. Mr. Muntarbhorn finally proposed to test the implementation of these measures against a set of five questions: (a) who, for whom and with whom; (b) what rights; (c) how to implement; (d) where and when; and (e) by what means. With regard to the first question, the plan targeted State authorities, in particular key actors with considerable human rights impact, such as the Ministry of Defence. The activities under the plan would target women and children, as well as asylum seekers, persons with disabilities, drug addicts undergoing rehabilitation and, as an innovation, issues related to sexual orientation, such as civil unions. The plan would further be broadened to cover persons deprived of their liberty. 26. It opened up opportunities for stakeholder participation, particularly cooperation with civil society and the business sector, along with international cooperation. As to which 6