On 8 October 2011, Mr. Thani Thongphakdi, Director-General of the Department of Information and the Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson, responded to media enquiries regarding reports that Medecins Sans Frontieres’ (MSF) had announced their decision to cease all of its activities in Thailand as follows:
1. The Thai side was surprised and disappointed by MSF’s abrupt decision to cease all of its activities in Thailand.
2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still verifying the details regarding the issues faced by MSF, particularly MSF’s scope of work as well as areas of coverage in Thailand.
3. Thailand and MSF have worked closely together over the past 36 years and MSF has never raised a serious concern over its operations in Thailand at the policy level. It is possible that problems related to their work may have occurred at the local level which should have been able to be resolved as both the Thai Government and MSF share a common objective in providing humanitarian assistance despite some differences in approach that may have existed in terms of implementation.
4. At the same time, the Royal Thai Government is mindful that MSF, an organization with personnel and missions around the world, may have had to prioritize its activities and relocate its operations to those areas with more need and urgency than Thailand. Indeed, the situation faced by Thailand has improved much over the past 30 years and now may have received less priority in terms of assistance from MSF.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th