Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam and Laos: Facts and figures for 2018

In 2018, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provided financial, material, educational and other support to meet people's needs. This included microeconomic and microcredit programmes, detention-related activities, workshops on international humanitarian law (IHL), educational and vocational support, collaboration with National Societies and the Physical Rehabilitation Programme (PRP).

We also supported the Cambodian and Thai authorities' efforts to improve infrastructure and public health in prisons and strengthened our existing network of regional experts who help the ICRC's efforts in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.

Here is an overview of what we achieved in 2018:

Economic security

• 62 families in the Southern Border Provinces (SBPs) received equipment to set up their own businesses such as bakeries, grocery shops and tailoring.
• 22 people in the SBPs received vocational training.
• 74 people participated in accounting and marketing courses.

Detention-related activities

• 209 phone calls were facilitated between migrant detainees and their families in Thailand.
• 560 detainees, including 60 minors, benefited from the prison education programme in Cambodia.
• 10,100 detainees' living conditions were improved in Cambodia.
• 48 architecture students from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi took ICRC-facilitated lectures as part of their prison design course.

International humanitarian law

• 311 security officers in Thailand, Viet Nam and Cambodia participated in eight police and law enforcement workshops.
• 300 military officers from all four countries participated in ten events about IHL and other regulations' applicability.
• 115 students participated in national IHL moot court competitions in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
• 15 students and three professors attended the Asia-Pacific IHL moot court competition in Hong Kong.

Health

• 53 people, wounded from fighting and mines in Myanmar, received life-saving medical care in 11 hospitals in north Thailand.
• 25 people from the fields of public health and international affairs, as well as government officials from different countries in the Asia-Pacific, attended the international postgraduate course on health in detention at Thailand's Thammasat University.

Collaborating with National Societies

• 693 Red Cross (RC) staff and volunteers from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam attended training workshops on basic first aid, landmine-related risks, emergency response and reuniting separated familied.
• 211 people benefited from the Cambodian Red Cross' micro-loan programme and the Vietnamese Red Cross' livelihood projects implemented with ICRC financial support.
• 10,000 people, including government officials, students as well as RC staff and volunteers, attended information sessions on IHL that were organized by the ICRC and National Societies in the four countries.

Physical Rehabilitation Programme (PRP)

• 12,200 disabled people benefited from the rehabilitation services at the Battambang and Kampong Speu centers in Cambodia.
• 72 disabled children received school materials, uniforms and transportation for their education.
• 23 physiotherapy students received scholarships to pursue associate and bridging degree programmes.
• 25 disabled women received support to participate in wheelchair basketball.
• 58 people with disabilities received grants to start or improve their businesses.
• 56 people were referred for vocational training.
• 27 people were introduced to employers as part of the social inclusion programme.
• 7 people from the health ministry in Laos received sponsorships to study prosthetics and orthotics in universities in Bangkok and Hanoi.