Thai blind senator elected to UN body

BANGKOK, September 15 (TNA) - A blind Thai senator, Monthian Buntan, has been elected to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWD). Thai Foreign Ministry Spokesman Thani Thongphakdi told reporters on Friday that the Thai blind senator and another candidate from the United Kingdom were elected to the UN body with the majority vote at a recent selection meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. Thani, who is also Director-General of the ministry's Department of Information, said that the Thai blind senator and eight other elected candidates will resume the job early next year, replace the existing nine members of the UN body whose four-year term expires on December 31, 2012. (TNA)