Summary of Weekly Press Briefing

Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 15:00 hours

Press Conference Room, MFA and via MFA Facebook Live

 1. Thailand’s ranking in the U.S. Department of State’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report

• On 19 July 2022, the U.S. State Department released the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report (2022 TIP Report), which assessed the trafficking in persons situation around the world. The 2022 TIP Report placed Thailand in Tier 2, upgrading from Tier 2 Watch List in the previous year. The Report noted that the Thai government made significant and increasing efforts in combatting human trafficking, in which key progress included the increasing numbers of trafficking investigations and identified victims, the finalization of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) which extends the reflection period to 45 days, the establishment of a new human trafficking victim identification center, the development of guidelines for victim identification in labour trafficking and forced labour in accordance to the anti-trafficking law, as well as the prosecution and sentencing of complicit officials.
• The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented the 2022 TIP Report Heroes awards to honour 6 individuals with outstanding contribution to the fight against human trafficking. Mrs. Apinya Tajit, Deputy Director of the Stella Maris Seafarer’s Center, Thailand, was honoured as one of 2022 TIP Report Heroes for her outstanding achievement in providing assistance to forced labour victims, particularly in fishing industry. Mrs. Tajit has been working closely with relevant agencies in combatting trafficking in persons. Amb. of Thailand to the U.S. attended the 2022 TIP Report launch and TIP Report Heroes ceremony to extend his congratulations.

2. DPM/FM participated in the virtual COVID-19 Global Action Plan (GAP) Ministerial Meeting (19 July 2022)

• DPM/FM participated in the virtual COVID-19 Global Action Plan (GAP) Ministerial Meeting, together with ministers from more than 20 countries and relevant international organizations, following the invitation of FM of Japan, and the U.S. Secretary of State.
• DPM/FM reiterated Thailand's commitment to work with the international community to end the pandemic soonest by implementing measures based on the whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to ensure comprehensive responses to the pandemic and reduce pressure on stretched health systems and engage communities to help mitigate from COVID-19, both physical and psychological, on the populations, including the vulnerable.
• DPM/FM made three suggestions as longer-term priorities for the international community, namely (1) strengthening the preparedness capacity of health systems through the progressive realization of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), improving public health competency and availability of health workforces in low and middle-income countries; (2) ensuring sustainable and equitable access to medical countermeasures while focusing on increasing global manufacturing capacities of medical countermeasures in developing countries and strengthening supply chain resilience, which would help tackle a surge in domestic and global demands; and (3) investing in training and capacity building of healthcare workers at home, in the region and at the global level.
• Thailand joined the GAP movement to end the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and push forward progress in the preparedness of health systems. In this regard, Thailand has joined Line of Efforts (LOE) 4: Support Health Care Workers under the GAP initiative.

3. DPM/FM participated in virtual meetings of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (13-15 July 2022)

• DPM/FM participated in the Ministerial Segment of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2022 (HLPF2022), held at UN Headquarters in New York during 13-15 July 2022, via video conference.
• The theme for this year’s HLPF was “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. This year’s Forum reviewed in-depth Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality), 14 (Life below Water), 15 (Life on Land), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
• DPM/FM delivered pre-recorded statements at three sessions: (1) Message from the regions, presented the report of the 9^th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD), held in Bangkok; (2) Group of Friends of UHC and Global Health; and (3) General Debate of the ECOSOC High-Level Segment.
• The HLPF2022 was of particular significance as it was held in tandem with Thailand’s Vice Presidency of the ECOSOC and Chairmanship of the ECOSOC’s Coordination Segment. Amb. and Permanent Representative of Thailand to the UN, in his capacity as Vice President of the ECOSOC, delivered a statement at the opening ceremony of the HLPF2022 on 5 July 2022. “Aespa”, a k-pop girl group, also attended the opening ceremony, causing HLPF2022 to go viral among youth through social media.
• More information on Thailand’s progress in advancing the SDGs can be accessed through the QR Code below or at the following link: 

4. Thailand elected as a Vice-Chair of the 55th Session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law: UNCITRAL (27 Jun – 15 Jul 22)

• Suphanvasa Chotikajan Tang, DG of the Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs, was elected as a Vice-Chair of the 55th Session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law: UNCITRAL, which was the first meeting after Thailand has been elected for the 7th term.
• The Thai delegation made interventions on several issues of particular interest to Thailand which were under the consideration of the Commission, namely, the progress of Working Group I concerning Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Working Group III concerning the reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement as well as the possible topics for future work of Working Group II (Dispute Settlement).
• This year also saw the completion of several new instruments with the Commission having approved the draft Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships, the Recommendations to assist mediation centres and other interested bodies with regard to mediation under the UNCITRAL Mediation Rules, and the Model Law on the Use and Cross-border Recognition of Identity Management and Trust Services.

Weekly Press Briefing: https://fb.watch/eoOGCsqUKO/

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Press Division

Department of Information