On October 30, 2019, at 10.00 hours, Assistant to the Permanent Secretary of Labour Mrs. Phattana Phanfak chaired the working group meeting on for the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and Global Compact on Migration (GCM) for the second time. The meeting took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whereby the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mrs. Kanchana Patarachoke) chaired the meeting.
This meeting discussed and requested comments from the working group as follows:
1. Progress of Thailand’s actions in accordance with the objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration totaling 23 items.
2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will propose to the Cabinet, to request funding for safe, orderly and regular migration, in the amount of USD 25,000, for a one-time payment (not bound with the next fiscal year). The fund is a new and Thailand will be the third country to support the establishment of the fund.
3. Joint consideration in drafting the UN Network on Migration, which has 4 main plans: (1) Establishing capacity building mechanisms (2) Potential development of the GCM implementation (3) Assignment of agencies under the United Nations to have the same guidelines for migration (4) The development of operational processes within the network including 6 important missions as follows: (1) Promotion and formulation of migration policies based on facts and information (2) Protecting the safety and well-being of migrants (3) Developing the country’s potential in expanding channels for regular migrants (4) Solving irregular migration problems (5) Increasing regular migration channels and valuable work (6) Improving being a part of society. Thailand may join as a pilot country in some plans that Thailand has concrete development and progress in.
4. Preparing Thailand ‘s declaration and commitment to attend the first Global Refugee Forum (GRF), which will be held from December 17-18, 2019 in Geneva. The Secretary-General of the National Security Council is the head of the Thai delegation which includes various departments such as the Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health.
5. Reviewing the content of the draft pledges to be presented at the first GRF meeting, consisting of 6 main topics, in which the Ministry of Labour is involved as the development of professional skills for refugees in shelters.
