OPINION

Andrew bows out

Re: "What we know about the downfall of Andrew, born a UK prince", (Life, Oct 31).

The Epstein story has claimed another major victim, following Epstein's suicide in a cell, Ghislaine Maxwell's imprisonment and also Virginia Giuffre taking her own life although really only Giuffre could be considered a victim. The latest to have their life disrupted by this case is the now ex-prince Andrew, 8th in line for the monarchy, who denies all accusations against him.

Andrew, now just Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, has been stripped of all of the titles, honours and privilege that come with being born in the right family. He will also have to move out of a 30-room mansion and be sent to a "small" house hidden away from public view.

Who will be the next person named on this list of sadness and abuse? There are many other names that have been mentioned but until the "Epstein Files" are fully released there will be little clarity, just a lot of malicious and maybe accurate gossip.

Credit where it's due

I wish to bring the attention of your readers and the public to a practice visible for many years as an unspoken aberration.

Often, the UN, international agencies and various embassies use local people for free without remuneration or payment for services, even if the work entails making use of the know-how or copyright of local people. Many interns of the UN system are unpaid and are expected to pay their way to help the UN system.

One example is when the UN or embassies organise conferences in this country, fly in international participants who are paid per diem and use local people to give lectures or presentations without pay.

Worse still, the latter are expected to pay their own travel costs to the various conferences to "share their opinions and know-how" without support for travel costs and related expenses.

Recently, I was confronted with such a situation when one embassy requested my help to make a nearly one-hour presentation for free, and when I requested a car to travel to the conference venue, the answer was no.

Upon negotiation, staff of the conference organisation wrote telling me to take a taxi and bring us the receipt, knowing full well that local taxis do not give a receipt.

I then wrote to the ambassador asking for help concerning the transport. The next day at the conference, that staff accosted me with a menacing look and uttered: "You wrote the note to the ambassador about the transport!", as though it was a guilty gesture on my part to ask for transport.

So, when we seek a modicum of help or justice, we are harassed!

It is high time for the UN, international agencies and embassies to adopt a code of conduct governing their exploitation of local know-how in Thailand (and other developing countries).