Measures to deal with Asean irregular migration proposed
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THAILAND yesterday presented a proposal to tackle irregular migration in the Indian Ocean to four other nations affected by the problem.
Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Apichart Chinwanno said the proposal aimed to ease the problem, which was related to human trafficking, via protection, prevention and prosecution.
The proposal came up yesterday as representatives from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar came together for the second Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean.
The meeting attracted 140 participants from 23 countries and 27 organisations and the United States, Australia and Switzerland joined in as observers.
According to Apichart and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, Thailand also wants to push for regional mechanisms to pursue and facilitate concrete actions. However, the yesterday’s meeting did not come to a conclusion on the establishment of regional mechanisms such as a joint committee.
Irregular migration in the Indian Ocean has become a hot issue this year, after dozens of corpses, believed to belong to migrants, particularly Rohingya, were found in Thai-Malaysian border zones.
Apichart, however, announced at the meeting that Thailand had worked on information campaigns to raise public awareness about the risks related to irregular migration.
“We have conducted the campaigns through our collaboration with the IOM and we have provided US$100,000 in funding for the purpose,” he said.He added that Thailand was looking forward to the response from the four other nations affected by the irregular migration in the Indian Ocean as well as the third special meeting on the issue.
