After lots of preparations and a fair
amount of stress Jess, Plaii, P Eid and I (Chiang Mai based secretariat) were
off to Bangkok for the symposium. We left on Sunday the 25th of
February and arrived at hotel Ibis around five in the afternoon. The hotel was
lovely, situated right by the river with a great pool and nice meeting room
arrangements. On Sunday we only did a few preparations such as printing
registration forms and making sure that everything was ready for the next day.
On Monday, the whole day consisted of internal MMN meetings discussing how the
week would pan out and who was to do what. One of my main tasks was to take
pictures during the symposium, for later documentation. I was also placed at
the registration desk every morning, making sure that the participants signed
in, that they received the symposium packs and whatever information they needed.
The title of the symposium was “Mekong
Symposium on Migration Migrants from the Mekong Neighbourhood Living Together
Seeking Effective Responses to Enable Integration and Social Cohesion.” So the
theme was about migrants and local people living together rather than alongside
each other. The Mekong Migration Network brought together 72 representatives of
governments, academic institutions, INGOs, NGOs and migrant groups from
Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar/Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan province of
China, to share their perspectives on how migrants and host communities can
live together. The purpose of the symposium was for the participants to jointly
developed strategies and recommendations to enhance social cohesion in the
Mekong region and enable migrant and host communities to live together
peacefully and in harmony.
Seeing as I was taking most of the photos I
got to sit in on all the plenaries and see most of the resource persons speak. Even
though discussion among governments and civil society concerning labour
migration has increased, there is still a lack of discussion about social
cohesion and living together in the Mekong, and more broadly in ASEAN. It was
therefore incredibly insightful to hear people from such different backgrounds,
talk and discuss about living together in the Mekong. Some of the speakers were Ms. Jackie Pollock
from MAP Foundation; Ms. Puja Kapai, associate professor from the University of
Hong Kong; Mr. Precha Soravisute from the Ministry of Social Development and
Human Security, Royal Government of Thailand; Mr. Luca Pierantoni from the
Delegation of the European Union to Thailand; H.E. U Myint Thein, the Deputy Minister
from the Ministry of Labour, Government of Republic of the Union of Myanmar; H.E. Ms. Chou Bun Eng, Secretary of State, Ministry of Interior, Royal Government of Cambodia and Mr Jai Sak, migrants representative.
It was also very interesting to see from
the inside how such an event is organised, how it works and what comes out of
it. At the end of the Symposium there was a press conference where the outcome
and recommendations developed during the three day event were presented. The
recommendations were many, targeted at community, national and regional actors,
so the presence of media, government officials, and lots of civil society
organisations was therefore key when adopting and presenting the
recommendations.
So it is safe to say that the week in
Bangkok has taught me so much and given me and experience I will never forget. Because
MMN is a small organisation they do not have the opportunity to host such
events very often, the timing of my placement with MMN has therefore been
perfect. In the week to come I will be working on the donor report for the
Symposium, which I am very excited for.
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H. E. Ms. Chou Bun Eng |
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H. E. Ms. Chou Bun Eng |
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Symposium Participants from Burma, with Mr. Precha Sorivasute (second from the left) |
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Ms. Anna Olsen (ILO) and H.E. Ms. Chou Bun Eng |
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Mr Mom Sokchar and Mr. Michael Hewitt |
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Ms. Huynh Thi Ngoc Tuyet |
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The week was very intereting, but also tiering |
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Ms. Ninpaseuth Xayaphonesy From Lao Women's Union |
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Mr. Jai Sak, migrants representative |
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Mr. Mom Sokchar and Ms. Reiko Harima (MMN Regional Coordinator) |
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H. E. U Myint Thein, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Labour, Myanmar |
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Drinks reception after the press conference |
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The meeting room |