Vilawan Mangklatanakul

Her Excellency Vilawan Mangklatanakul
Director-General, Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand
In office 2019–present
Personal details
Born	(1964-07-13)13 July 1964 Thailand
Alma mater	Thammasat University (LL.B.) University of London (LL.M.) (Ph.D.)

Vilawan Mangklatanakul is a Thai lawyer-diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand. She joined the Foreign Service in 1995 and is the current Director-General of the Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok, Thailand. In January 2021, Mangklatanakul was nominated as Thailand’s first woman candidate for the International Law Commission for the term 2023-2027. She is the only woman legal expert to be nominated from the Asia-Pacific States for the International Law Commission in this election.

Early life and education

Vilawan Mangklatanakul was born on 13 July 1964 in Thailand. Having graduated from Thammasat University with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), Dr.  Mangklatanakul continued her study in the field of International Business Law and later received Master of Laws (LL.M.) at Queen Mary College,  University of London. In 1997, she completed her Doctor of Philosophy in Law (Ph.D.) at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the University of London.

Academic career

Vilawan Mangklatanakul started her academic career in 1994 as a guest lecturer on international law at Thailand’s leading universities, including Chulalongkorn University, Thammasat University and Ramkhamhaeng University, and featured in both domestic and international seminars as well. Dr. Mangklatanakul has also served as a Co-supervisor and Dissertation Examiner, Graduate Programme of the Faculty of Law at various universities in Thailand.

Professional career

Vilawan Mangklatanakul embarked on her diplomatic profession after joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995. Throughout her career, Dr. Mangklatanakul has leveraged on her legal expertise on many areas of international law including law on diplomatic relations, treaty law, law on international organisations, State immunity, international dispute settlement as well as on international trade and investment related matters. She has held several key positions. From 2014 to 2015, she was Director of the Office of Policy and Planning. From 2015 to 2018, she was Deputy Director-General of the Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs. During 2018 to 2019, she was Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs. Since 2019, Dr. Mangklatanakul is the first woman to serve as Director-General of Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs.

Furthermore, she has also actively engaged in various negotiations and conferences at the international level, notably at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) and other multilateral fora. Most prominently was her role as the chief negotiator for Bilateral Investment Agreements (BITs) and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), advocating for investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) reform, while maintaining a keen interest in alternative dispute settlement as well as international trade law and its impact from climate change.

In January 2021, Mangklatanakul was officially nominated as the Thai candidate for the International Law Commission (ILC) for the term 2023-2027, the election will be held in November 2021 during the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

In addition to her role of legal adviser to the Royal Thai Government, Mangklatanakul has also served as a core member in both public and private entities, including the Thailand Arbitration Center Board of Directors, the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority Board, the Anti-Money Laundering Office and most recently the Parliamentary Committee on the Impact of Thailand Accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). She also served as an Associate Judge of the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court of Thailand during 2003-2008 and is currently listed on the Thai Arbitration Institute’s roster of arbitrators specialised in international trade law.

The 2021 International Law Commission (ILC) Election

In the context of the election of the International Law Commission, the Royal Thai Government has continued to nominate its candidates for the ILC Membership with former Thai ILC members, namely, H.E. Dr. Thanat Khoman, former Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Sompong Sujaritkul, and Dr. Kriangsak Kittichaisaree. For the upcoming 2021 election of the International Law Commission, the Government of Thailand has officially announced Dr. Vilawan Mangklatanakul in January 2021 as the first woman candidate to continue the legacy and added resolve of achieving gender balance. In this latest election, Dr. Mangklatanakul stands as the only woman candidate from the Asia-Pacific Group, of which eight seats are up for election.

At the core of her campaign for the International Law Commission Election, Dr. Mangklatanakul believes that “international law is key to maintaining a balanced and inclusive international order and strengthening responsible international cooperation for the benefit of humankind.” This spirit has been reflected in her mission statement, highlighting her keen interests in resolving today’s global issues in a pragmatic “win-win” fashion, especially on topics within the scope of ILC’s work, such as the law of treaties in the digital age and the contemporary use of non-legally binding instruments. Furthermore, she is also keen on matters related to international law, covering sea-level rise, pandemics, fair and equitable treatment standard in international investment law and growing interest in cyber-security among others. This has led to a series of her campaign activities, including an interview with the NBT Foresight, a public webinar on the topic “Women in Law: Asian Perspectives,” an academic conference on the topic “Online Roll-out of the ASEAN Gender Outlook and A Dialogue to Promote Gender Equality towards Achieving the SDGs,” and most recently, virtual talks in “Interactive Dialogue with Dr. Vilawan Mangklatanakul.”

Selected academic writings

• “Thailand’s First Treaty Arbitration: Gain from Pain, 2011” in Investor-State Disputes: Prevention and Alternatives to Arbitration II, Proceedings of the Washington and Lee University and UNCTAD Joint Symposium on International Investment and Alternative Dispute Resolution, held on 29 March 2010 in Lexington, Virginia, USA, UNCTAD, 2011, pp. 81-86;
• “From Colonization to Globalization From FCN (Treaties) to BIT: the Principle of Non-Discrimination”, Saranrom Magazine Vol. 67, 2010, pp. 75-78;
• Study and Analysis of FTA: Legal Implication and Enforcement, prepared for the Bank of Thailand, 2010;
• “Appellate Body and the role of judicial activism: necessity or choice?”, Liber Amicorum in honour of Professor Dr. Arun Panupong, Faculty of Law, Thammasat University, 2007, pp. 324-330;
• Study of three UN Conventions: Research on Legal Structure for developing Strategic Cluster Partnerships, prepared for the National Science and Technology Development Agency of Thailand, 2006;
• Research on the Law of International Sale of Goods, prepared for the National Research Council of Thailand, 2005;
• “UN Convention on Assignment of Receivables in International Trade”, Journal of Intellectual Property and International Trade Law, 6th Anniversary Special Edition, Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court of Thailand, 2003, pp. 207-219.

Conferences, Workshops and Seminars

• Speaker, “COVID Legal Drive - FDI Opportunities to Asia Pacific after COVID-19”, Asiajuris Webinar Series, 21 September 2020.
• Panelist, “COVID-19 responses by governments and their interaction with the current international investment law regime” and “Strategizing next steps for UNCITRAL ISDS reform”, 13th Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators Webinar, co-hosted by Department of International Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), 3 September 2020;
• Moderator, “Panel on the lack of predictability, correctness and coherence”, Intersessional Regional Meeting on Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Reform, organized by UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific and the Government of the Republic of Korea, Incheon, Republic of Korea, 10-11 September 2018;
• Panelist, “Rule of Law – Role in Attracting Trade and Investments in ASEAN Free Trade Agreements and Bilateral Investment Agreements in ASEAN Countries”, co-hosted by ASEAN Law Association and Council of ASEAN Chief Justices, Singapore, 25-28 July 2018;
• Speaker, “‘Nationality Shopping’ BIT by BIT: Thailand and Multinational Enterprises”, Trade and Development Regional Forum 2016 – Sustainable Trade and Investment in Asia: Time for Actions, organized by International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD), Geneva, Switzerland, 28-30 September 2016;
• Speaker, “Panel Discussion on CISG: Progress and Issues in implementation”, Seminar on 35 Years of the CISG: Achievements and Perspectives, organized by the UNCITRAL and the Government of Singapore, Singapore, 23-24 April 2015;
• Speaker, “Advancing Mediation in International Investment Disputes”, 107th American Society of International Law Annual Meeting, Washington DC, USA, 3-6 April 2013;
• Moderator, Seminar on Investor-State Dispute Settlement under the EU investment regime, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, the Royal Thai Embassy in Brussels and the Mission of Thailand to the European Union, Bangkok, Thailand, 27 March 2013;
• Speaker, “Does ACIA bring a new dimension to international investment agreements? Technical aspects of ACIA and implementation plan of ACIA”, ASEAN- OECD Investment Policy Conference, hosted by the ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, Indonesia, 18-19 November 2010;
• Panelist, “Experiences of Stakeholders in Investment Arbitration and Dispute Resolution - Pitfalls and Successes”, Joint Symposium in International Investment Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution, organized by UNCTAD and Washington and Lee University School of Law, Lexington, Virginia, USA, 29 March 2010;
• Keynote speaker, “Thailand’s Experience on Investor-State Dispute Settlement” and Commentator, “Expropriation”, APEC-UNCTAD Regional Training Course on the Core Elements of International Investment Agreements in the APEC Region, organized by the Secretariats of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and UNCTAD and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 15-19 June 2009;
• Speaker/Discussant, “Elements of investment liberalization”, Forum for Developing Country Investment Negotiators, co-hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 1-2 October 2007.