The fourteenth Asia Dialogue on Forced Migration (ADFM) meeting was convened on 21-22 August 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand, with representatives from refugee communities, government and civil society from eight countries across the region.
The meeting marked ten years since the 2015 Andaman Sea Crisis and eight years since the Myanmar military pushed hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. It also comes in a year where deaths in the Andaman Sea are the highest they have been in ten years, and when the global humanitarian and refugee systems are experiencing major funding cuts.
These cuts are already having an impact on the most vulnerable across the region. The meeting identified high level trends, namely that even without further displacement there will be increasing pressure on the humanitarian system including refugee camps, urban refugees and internally displaced people; and that displaced people will be increasingly vulnerable to trafficking, smuggling and related exploitation, and we’ll likely see an increase in dangerous maritime movements and deaths at sea.
Over the two-day meeting, participants concentrated on opportunities to address these risks at three levels:
The meeting identified some concrete opportunities to advance many of these ideas, and organisers welcomed the announcement from the Thai Government on 26 August that they will allow refugees living in camps on the Thai-Myanmar border to work legally. This is a very welcome step that will empower refugees and allow them to build skills for the future and be self-sufficient, and will ease the financial burden on the Thai Government, reduce illegal activity and strengthen stability.
Several attendees at the ADFM Meeting then travelled to Cox’s Bazar for a ‘Stakeholders Dialogue’ on 23-25 August in the lead up to the High Level Conference on the Rohingya taking place at the United Nations General Assembly in New York at the end of September. The need for a high level conference on the Rohingya has been recognised by the ADFM since 2020 and it is hoped that attendees will recommit to addressing the crisis, including through measures that create conditions in Rakhine State that are conducive to safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable repatriation.
The ADFM Dinner on 21 August featured an expert panel of Kannavee Suebsang MP from Thailand, Phil Twyford MP from New Zealand, and Hafsar Tameesuddin, Rohingya advocate now living in New Zealand. Panellists shared the personal stories that inspire their advocacy, discussed challenges and how they maintain optimism.
The 14th ADFM meeting was the first to be convened following an external review of the forum, which has been running for a decade. The review found that 75% agreed the ADFM had had a positive impact, 75% agreed it has a high degree of legitimacy, and 89% agreed there is ongoing need for an initiative like the ADFM. Fifty-two percent agreed or strongly agreed that they had seen real-world positive changes from ADFM discussions. The review encouraged the forum to continue its work but make some adjustments, including:
The review also recommended the ADFM Secretariat follow up more regularly with participants between these meetings, which we look forward to doing over the coming months.
The Asia Dialogue on Forced Migration (ADFM) was established in 2015 to be an independent Track 1.5 forum for genuine dialogue on the critical forced migration issues facing the region. The ADFM has contributed to changes in governance, policy and practice benefiting refugees, stateless, and trafficked persons, in partnership with the region’s institutions and national governments.
The ADFM Secretariat is convened by CPD in Australia, in collaboration with partners from the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia and the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies. We are very grateful for their ongoing partnership and support of this work, which could only be achieved through this unique collaboration.
