H.E. Mr. Virasakdi Futrakul, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Thailand led Thai delegation comprising representatives from the National Security Council and the Office of the Attorney’s General to participate at the 6^th Bali Process Ministerial Conference, between 22 - 23 March 2016, at Bali, Indonesia. The mission reiterate Thailand’s role and efforts in addressing the issues of irregular migration, people smuggling, trafficking in persons, and related transnational crimes, together with other countries in the region. 

The Ministerial Conference adopted the Bali Declaration on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons, and Related Transnational Crime, which is the first political declaration for the Bali Process since its inception 14 years ago.  This Declaration underscores the political commitment of the Bali Process’ members to collectively address the issues of people smuggling, trafficking, irregular migration and transnational crimes in the region in an effective manner and serves as the Bali Process’s vision for future undertakings.  The Conference also adopted the establishment of a new consultative mechanism under the Bali Process to respond to future emergency situations in a timely and proactive manner. 

During the Conference, representatives from Bangladesh and the United Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) commended Thailand’s role for hosting the 1^st and 2^nd Special Meetings on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean, and the Special Retreat on the same issue, since May 2015.  Such commendation was also reflected in the Co-chairs’ Statement of the Conference.  These initiatives by Thailand, as mentioned by representatives from Regional Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) during the briefing with relevant Thai agencies on 16 February 2016, are one of the key factors that helped reduce the number of maritime irregular migrants in the Indian Ocean from 31,000 in the first half of last year to 1,600 in the second half.

Moreover, Australia and Indonesia, as the Co-chairs of the Bali Process, incorporated several recommendations from Thailand’s draft Action Agenda, which was proposed during the 2^nd Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean, in the Bali Declaration.  Important recommendations included addressing the problem at the root causes, promotion of safe and legal migration pathways, further capacity building for law enforcement personnel, provision of access for humanitarian organisations to reach migrants and provide humanitarian assistance to them, and recognising the importance of information campaigns as a tool to prevent further movements and to send strong message to human smuggling and trafficking networks of the serious determination of law enforcement efforts against them. 

During the Conference, H.E. Mr. Virasakdi also had bilateral discussions with Mr. Volker Turk, Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, and Mr. William Swing, Director of the International Organization for Migration, during which they discussed different migration situations in Thailand, particularly the displaced persons from Myanmar and urban asylum seekers. H.E. Mr. Virasakdi particularly asked the UNHCR to further assist and alleviate Thailand’s burden in caring for different groups of migrants in Thailand.

The Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs also met with H.E. Mr. Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Fiji, H.E. Mr. Mohamed Saeed, Minister of Economic Development of Maldives, and H.E. Mr. David Adeang, Minister of Justice and Border Management of Nauru, to seek support for Thailand’s candidature for a non-permanent seat of the United Nations Security Council for the term 2017 - 2018.

The Conference was attended by representatives from 45 member states and international organisations, and was co-chaired by Hon. Julie Bishop, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia, and Hon. Retno Marsudi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia.