Sunday's Bangkok gubernatorial election was more a referendum on Thaksin Shinawatra and what happened in April-May 2010 in Bangkok and beyond, than a normal local election where voters decided who should best administer the capital.

There is no city or country in the world where women and girls live free of the fear of violence. No leader can claim: This is not happening in my backyard.

In 2012, two high-profile cases ignited public outrage in their nations, which spread around the world: the shooting of Pakistani schoolgirl and girls’ education activist Malala, and the gang-rape on a bus and tragic death of a 23-year-old student in New Delhi. In every region around the world, countless other cases occurred that did not make global headlines.

(Bangkok, 12 February 2013) - Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a regional human rights group representing 47 human rights organizations from 16 Asian countries including Sri Lanka, has expressed its deep frustration in a statement issued to mark the three years of the abduction and killing of human rights defender Pattani Razeek.  

As much as Bangkok residents may relish the right to decide which Bangkok governor candidate to vote for early next month, the race has become a glaring reminder of inequality on at least two fronts. First, the absolute lack of a level playing field for most candidates and second, Bangkok's sense of exceptionalism - to elect its own governor unlike the rest of the country, which is now taken for granted.