Although the migrant crisis has ebbed, United Nations agencies are urging Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations meeting again Thursday to follow through on measures agreed to at May’s emergency summit on illegal migration in Bangkok.
Kuala Lumpur will play host to Thursday's meeting on how to deal with the flow of Bangladeshi and Myanmar migrants through Thailand into Indonesia and Malaysia. Bangkok will send Pol Gen Jakthip Chaijinda to represent Deputy Prime Minister for security and defence Prawit Wongsuwan.
The UN's Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, International Organization for Migration, Secretary General for Migration and Development, and UN Office on Drugs and Crime and other agencies said most of the 17 recommendations agreed to at the May 29 Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean in Bangkok have not yet been implemented.
They urged Asean countries to "move meaningfully forward" which include implementing port checks to identify illegal migrants.
"The five UN agencies and the SRSG have urged the relevant states to act quickly and consistently, providing access for relevant national and international actors ... to the refugees and migrants to avoid the use of immigration detention," a joint statement released Thursday said.
"We call on states to implement UNODC's recommendation to network ports and border crossings for operations to share information and improve policies in line with country commitments to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime."
The May 29 meeting was called by Thailand after thousands of Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslim migrants were stranded at sea after Thailand launched a widespread crackdown on human traffickers following the discovery of mass graves at abandoned people-smuggling camps in the South May 1.
Thousands of migrants, many of them abandoned by traffickers at sea, washed ashore in Malaysia and Indonesia while more reversed course and returned home, ending the immediate crisis.
While the life-threatening crisis has ended, the UN agencies urged countries in the region "to expand avenues for safe and legal migration, including for family reunification and labour migration at all skill levels, while stepping up law enforcement".
"This includes prosecution of individuals involved in human trafficking and migrant smuggling syndicates ... in a manner fully consistent with international standards for human rights in the administration of justice."
The UN agencies also called for intensified efforts to identify and respond to the drivers and root causes of irregular migrant, as recommended at a May 20 meeting between the foreign ministers of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, and the protection of the human rights of all migrants and refugees in Myanmar and Bangladesh.