The unicef office liases with the Thai government to inter alia set up systems for child protection. The work they do is direct [helping drive and frame policies eg birth registrations and the juvenile justice system]; as well as indirect [social worker scheme which comes under the ministry of social development and human security]. Unicef also partners with select NGO’s to give an indirect support to fill gaps/vacuum. Unicef works in 17 of the 76 provinces of Thailand to make the district offices aware of the need for child protection and help plan programmes in that area. The Country Programme for Thailand is planned for a period covering 5 years where a situational analysis is made [current period commenced in 2012 to determine 2016].
After ten years of consistent work Unicef has succeeded in achieving Birth Registrations. During the Northern Thailand Field trip we came across the problem of statelessness, migration making people vulnerable to human trafficking and abuse. These people because they have no nationality and documents are unable to access services eg health care and schooling. Due to the new policy driven by Unicef, all children born in Thailand are to receive birth registrations. Whilst this ensures them access to minimum services, it is not synonymous with granting nationality, but a step in the right direction to attaining nationality. The state also benefits through this policy since they are able to have a better head count in their country. Unicef in next phase hopes to make process of registrations as a one stop shop at the hospitals itself rather than expecting parents to approach the district office of the ministry of public health or the ministry of interiors.
To encourage working mothers who don’t have the time to breast feed their children, unicef partnered with DTAC to send out sms’s to parents spreading awareness of benefits of breast milk as opposed to powdered milk. They worked with the government to curtail advertisements on powdered milk. Unicef also has a “Friends of Unicef” programme where celebrities are brought in to spread messages of public importance.
Unicef focuses on Prevention aspect of child protection by strengthening at a structural level. “The child support grant scheme” which gives welfare [economic and psychological counseling] to alleviate poverty which go a long way in ensuring that children receive an education rather than becoming bread winners for the family.
The Social worker Scheme is another area where Unicef strengthens the government [Ministry of Social Development and Human Security], by organizing training for the Social workers in the field who may not only be working for child protection but also with the aged, the disabled and with women. By inviting experts from other jurisdictions to share their knowledge with local social workers, the system receives strength due to Unicef contributions. Recently an Act has been passed – “Social work Professional Act” which aims at setting and maintaining standards to be followed by Social workers.
Unicef aims to gradually convert the Juvenile Justice system into a restorative justice system by Advocacy ie from punishment to protection. Whereas earlier the juvenile age was fixed at 7 years [where the offender would share jail with an 18 year old], now the age has been increased to 10 years.
It has been an eye opening meeting for me to visit the Unicef today and iam extremely grateful to Sirirath for sharing information with me.