Prateep Ungsongtham Hata

Prateep Ungsongtham Hata ( Thai : ประทีป อึ้ง ทรงธรรม ฮา ตะ , pronunciation: [ pràtʰîːp ʔɯ̂ŋsoŋtʰam haːtàʔ ], also known as "Khru Prateep" - ครู ประทีป , teacher Prateep ; born August 9, 1952 in Bangkok ) is a Thai social activist and former senator . She is the general secretary of the Duang Prateep Foundation .

Life

Prateep was born in a slum in the Khlong Toei district of Bangkok . From a young age she worked hard to support her family and attended evening school on the side. Since illegal slum dwellers cannot get a birth certificate, they cannot attend a regular school. To give the children a chance, Prateep founded an unofficial slum school in 1968 where she taught for 1 baht a day.

When the slum area was about to be cleared, she got the case on the news. Prateep achieved that a nearby area could be settled and organized the move of the slum dwellers.

In 1976 she completed her training with a diploma at the Suan Dusit Teacher Training Institute in Bangkok.

In 1978 Prateep was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Prize for Social Merit. With the money she received, she founded the Duang Prateep Foundation (DPF) and became its general secretary. The name Duang Prateep means flame of hope . This is also the symbol of the foundation. The foundation supports the needs of the slum dwellers. Prateep became known as the slum angel of Thailand .

In 1980 she gave up her full-time teaching job to pursue her work as director of the Duang Prateep Foundation. In the same year she received the Rockefeller Youth Award. She used the prize money to set up the Foundation for Slum Child Care.

In 1987 she married Tatsuya Hata from Japan.

In 1992 she became a leader of the Alliance for Democracy and took part in the mass protests against the military-backed government of General Suchinda Kraprayoon , which were bloodily suppressed in the so-called Black May . In 2000 she was elected to the Senate. There she campaigned for the rights of poor and disadvantaged people at a political level.

Queen Silvia of Sweden awarded her in 2004 The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child .

Prateep supports the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship ("Red Shirts") founded in 2006 . She was a member of the moderate wing of the red shirt during the 2010 riots in Bangkok and viewed militant tendencies in the movement with concern.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Patrick Winn: Thailand. Will It Be Civil War? In: The Atlantic , May 17, 2010.

Web links

• Duang Prateep Foundation (English)
• Friends of the Duang Prateep Foundation, Germany
• Foundation for Slum Child Care (English)
• World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child 2004

Note on Thai names : This article addresses people by their first name.