High-Level Meeting with the RGC on Joint Program to Support Returning Migrants during COVID-19 Crisis and its impacts - IOM

Your Excellency Samdech Krolahom Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Ministry of Interior,

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the UN development system in Cambodia and representing the four agencies under the UN Joint Program (WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF and IOM) , I am pleased to present to you the UN Joint Programme to Support Returning Migrants in response to COVID-19 crisis and its impacts.

I would like to start by expressing sincere appreciation to the Royal Government of Cambodia, particularly to the Ministry of Interior for their commitment and leadership in formulating the Joint Programme.

The UN in Cambodia secured support from the COVID-19 Multi Partner Trust Fund which was established to quickly respond to the pandemic, which started as a health crisis but transformed into a socio-economic crisis. Through a development emergency approach, the Fund demonstrates the UN’s joint efforts as a whole at country and global levels, in the spirit of the UN reform. In its first call for proposal, the Fund requested to develop a joint programme for immediate interventions based on the principle of ‘Building Back Better’ in a more equal and sustainable way.

The joint programme for Cambodia was approved with the budget of USD 1 million for the implementation period by the end of 2020.

Under the overarching goal of protecting returning migrants and host communities from the risk of a large-scale transmission of COVID-19 and continuously providing them with the essential socio-economic services, the program will improve access to COVID-19 information, prevention and mitigation measures for returning migrants at both formal and informal points of entry and quarantine facilities.

Secondly, the program will also provide essential healthcare services such as mental health and GBV support, child and maternal care through improved identification and referral for 200,000 most vulnerable populations amongst returning migrants and host communities at quarantine facilities and areas of returns. The UN will support the deployment of additional social workers in selected districts in the provinces of Siem Reap, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey. This support will be limited within the timeframe of the MPTF programme, but will provide a great opportunity to strengthen the government mechanism at sub-national level for the delivery of social services.

Lastly, the program will mitigate mid- and long-term impact of COVID-19 on most vulnerable migrants through provision of individual or community economic reintegration package which is specifically designed for migrants including women or women headed households to support income generating activities, tailored to the available resources within the province and market viability.

The proposed interventions follow the guiding principles from the Cambodia Master Plan for COVID-19[1], as well as the UN framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19 and will be implemented in three major provinces of Cambodia (Banteay Meanchey, Battambang and Siem Reap) which received a high number of returning migrants.

The uniqueness of this joint programme is its focus on client (beneficiaries) orientation and its aim to tap into their potentials to ‘build back better’. Furthermore, given that the returning migrants/ new arrivals in the community were not included in any of the existing mechanism or program, the interventions proposed will fill in the existing gaps and respond to the migrants’ immediate needs. At the same time, these interventions assist successful reintegration of the migrants into the host communities so that they would not risk illegal migration back to Thailand.

In the longer run, the joint programme will aim to achieve sustainable migration and better border management. Also, it will tap into migrants’ newly acquired knowledge, experiences and other assets from abroad to ‘build back better’ by creating a more sustainable, resilient and inclusive societies.

To complement with the Royal Government in essential health and social services, the UN recommends strengthening the coordination of joint planning and implementation of this programme through the existing national and sub-national COVID-19 structures already established by the RGC and:

1. Formulation of Joint Steering Committee co -chaired by RGC and UN Resident Coordinator with members from representatives of key line ministries and UN Joint Program Team (IOM, WHO, UNFPA and UNICEF) including roles and responsibilities of each ministries to support on the implementation of the UN Joint Program at sub-national level.
2. Technical Working Group consist of focal points/ representatives from each key line Ministries follow-up meeting to discuss roles and responsibilities for the joint implementation of the program including finalization of districts in each three provinces and sub-national coordination and support and recommendations.  These will include:
3. Continued support by ministries and provincial officials to implement existing policies
4. Support sub-national administration in facilitating the implementation of the programme, including cooperation in data collection for the rapid assessments to be conducted
5. Ensure that marginalized groups previously not included or identified as vulnerable are included in the existing policies

Under the leadership of Ministry of Interior and the participation by the line Ministries and the three provincial governments, our joint approach can make the case for similar investments, including for sustainable migration, by other development partners. The UN’s initial support will also help the Royal Government to save the cost for maturing the existing coordination mechanisms, including through capacity building support by the UN in Cambodia.  

Your Excellency Deputy Prime Minister,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the UN Joint Program, we would like to request the following:

1. Appoint designated focal points/representatives from key line ministries including identifying roles and responsibilities on the UN Joint Programming
2. Designate members of Joint Steering Committee from key line Ministries
3. Support to the specific requests on official communication regarding data, continued discussion with relevant ministries on the formalization of the position of social work in delivery of services at the sub-national level, and collaboration with relevant authorities to support ensuring safety and access to necessary services by women and children in quarantine facilities
4. Review existing policies and guidelines to strengthen systems, address migration challenges and opportunities and develop tailored solutions that harness the benefits of migration including managing migration flows and border management.
5. Organize follow up discussions and specific consultation on UN support to RGC on socio-economic response and recovery plan

In the longer run, our joint efforts, in particular local government leadership and multisectoral approach, are vital to strengthening national and local preparedness and response capacities and mechanisms, including for future response to similar crises.

The UN is committed to supporting the Royal Government and the people of Cambodia during this unprecedented crisis. We look forward to our continuous consultations with Your Excellency Samdech Krolahom and Your Excellency Deputy Prime Minister and key Ministries in ensuring that the most vulnerable and marginalized populations are also integrated in all policies and guidelines, leaving no one behind.

Thank you.