BANGKOK, 26 May 2015 – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanasak Patimaprakorn hoped that the Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean on 29 May 2015 in Bangkok would be able to draw up urgent assistance plan for migrants still adrift in the sea without causing any conflicts between participating countries in the region.
According to the minister, twenty countries have accepted to attend the meeting, and senior and operational officials from seventeen countries directly involved in the problem. The United States, Switzerland and Japan will also send their observers. Representatives from international organizations namely UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will also attend the meeting.
The meeting’s agenda has included so far three topics. The first one is the humanitarian assistance to be extended to irregular migrants in the open sea. The second is tackling the problem at its roots including shutting down human trafficking network in the region. The last one is finding a consensus from all relevant countries to share the responsibility without causing any conflicts.
“Thailand expects these countries to contribute to concrete and sustainable solutions to the issue,” said Gen Tanasak.
On the part of Thailand, the government has just set up an offshore operation base in order to give humanitarian assistance to Rohingya people especially those remaining adrift in the sea. Aerial and marine patrol units will be sent out to monitor Thai waters. An official ship, likely to be Thai Navy’s HTMS Angthong 791, will perform as “Floating platform” to give them basic helps.
The assistance covers foods and medicine while human-trafficking investigative team will screen the migrants and send them to Malaysia and Indonesia which have agreed to to take care of them for a certain period. All of these operations by the Thai government have already begun and will run until monsoon season comes.
