A FIRST FOR ‘FRIENDS’ IN THAILAND
Friends-International has become the first international NGO in Thailand to sign up to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which brings together the Royal Thai Government and other agencies to address the issue of the homeless, beggars, and victims of trafficking in the Bangkok Metropolitan area.
The formal signing of the ‘MOU on collaboration to put order to begging homeless in Bangkok Metropolitan’
Ms Vuthaya Charoenpol (centre) of FI's 'Peuan Peuan' program addresses the signing ceremony attendees
took place on Monday 13th September 2010 at the Prince Palace Hotel in Bangkok, where ‘Peuan Peuan’ program manager Ms Vuthaya Charoenpol signed on behalf of Friends-International (Thailand). Other signatories in attendance included representatives from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MoSDHS), the Royal Thai Police, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), and local NGO’s Foundation for the Better Life of Children and The Mirror Foundation.
The MOU has four specific objectives –
1) To determine policy and procedure among agencies on outreach operations
2) To share information and facts on the homeless, beggars and human trafficking victims among partners
3) To support and organize an operational unit for the homeless and beggars, and to classify human trafficking victims
4) To provide protection and social support to the homeless, beggars and human trafficking victims via referral services among partners
The Friends-International ‘Peaun Peaun’ program has been operational in Thailand since 2006, initially in Bangkok but now also on the Thai/Cambodian border at Aranyaprathet. You can find out more about this program and its activities here.
