Global Commitments, Local Actions: Thailand’s Model for Alternatives to Detention

The use of immigration detention is a critical issue that impacts millions of migrants and refugees throughout the Asia-Pacific region, especially children, who are among the most vulnerable.

In Thailand, the risk of arrest and detention for irregular migrants, including refugee children, was exceedingly high. Hundreds of such children were detained annually for months or even years. Often, children were kept in the same cell as adults, deprived of many of their necessities. Over the past decade, policies such as the Memorandum of Understanding on the Determination of Measures and Approaches to Alternatives to Detention of Children in Immigration Detention Centres, known as MOU-ATD, along with its Standards of Operating Procedures (SOP), the National Screening Mechanism (NSM), and the National Referral Mechanism for Victims of Trafficking in Persons (NRM), as well as the in-country migrant registration scheme have been developed, aim to address issues of irregular migration, reduce vulnerability, and limit the use of immigration detention, particularly for migrant children and their families.

Today, Thailand has made significant progress in reducing child detention through Alternatives to Detention (ATD). Since the introduction of the MOU-ATD policy in 2019, nearly 2,000 migrant and refugee children and their caregivers have benefitted from rights-based and community-based ATD, rather than being placed in detention centres.?

Alternatives to detention for children in Thailand have come a long way since they were first introduced. Different approaches and strategies Thailand applied to make this far:

• Global to local: Thailand has shown its political will and made several commitments to the international community to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the ATD programme. These international commitments align with the UN Convention on the rights of the Child (CRC), Global Compact for Migration (GCM) and the Global Compact for Refugees (GCR), ASEAN Declaration on the Rights of Children in the Context of Migration. These commitments serve as a benchmark for Thailand, enabling all stakeholders to mobilise resources and collaborate towards common goals.
• A whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach: Through implementing MOU-ATD, Thailand fosters meaningful collaboration among government agencies, international organisations, and local civil society—including NGOs, CBOs, faith-based groups, and academics—promoting a holistic and sustainable methodology.
• Evidence-based: ?Thailand developed the MOU-ATD Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Framework for its use and subsequently evaluated the ATD programme in 2023. The evaluation results enable Thailand to make strategic decisions to enhance the ATD programme and address existing gaps and challenges.
• Learning by doing: Thailand’s commitment to ongoing learning through practical experience fosters continuous improvements, particularly in the integration of migrant children into national child protection systems.
• Peer learning: Thailand has consistently engaged in peer-learning opportunities bilaterally and multilaterally, not only to acquire promising practices from other countries but also to share its own experiences and offer support in return. This enables Thailand to take on international and regional leadership regarding the issue while continuously learning and evolving.

While Thailand’s example is not perfect, and many migrants and refugees, including some children, remain detained, the Second Asia-Pacific Regional Review of the GCM between 4-6 February 2025 allows us to reflect on our efforts and celebrate the successes achieved through the hard work and dedication of many individuals involved in the development of ATD in Thailand. Moving forward, it is crucial to continue its approaches and strategies to strengthen the rights-based and community-based placement model, expand the ATD programme to all children and other vulnerable groups in the migration context, and ensure that no one is detained simply because of their immigration status.

About the Author: Mic Chawaratt is a Migration Expert with two decades of experience in humanitarian aid, human rights, and development in Asia and Africa. Currently, he is a Programme Manager for the Southeast Asia subregion at the International Detention Coalition and the Co-founder of Thailand Migration Reform Consortium.