NHRC builds partnerships to protect migrant children

The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand has successfully advocated for migrant children to be removed from immigration detention and live in community-based housing while their family's situation is resolved.

Migrant children who accompanied their families were, in the past, routinely detained with their parents in overcrowded immigration detention centres while they waited to be returned to their country of origin or be transferred to a third country, the Commission said.

"This resulted in dire situations for many children, flocking together in crowded places, losing the opportunity to study and prone to various forms of human rights violation," the Commission said.

To protect the rights of might children, the Commission recommended that the government consider alternative means of detention where children could stay with their families in a more suitable environment.

On 21 January 2019, following an instruction from Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, all key government agencies signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Determination of Alternative Measures and Approaches to Detention of Children in Immigration Detention Centers.

This includes the Royal Thai Police (the Immigration Bureau), the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor

"Thailand now has no migrant children living with their families in detention centres," the Commission stated.

"It is considered a significant progress in protecting basic rights of all children in the country."

Date: 19 June 2019

Source: National Human Rights Commission of Thailand