United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Oct 2014
InterWorks conducted a 9-day Asia-Pacific Emergency Management (APEM) Platform Field Exercise in Suan Son Pradipat and Fort Thanarat, Thailand from 12-20 October 2014 for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and a core group of government and civil society partners. This was the second such field exercise for UNHCR and its APEM Platform partners.
The APEM Platform field exercise focused on large-scale refugee emergencies – where populations flee across international borders – while also addressing humanitarian response in the context of internal displacement, within national borders. Field-based simulations were carried out in cooperation with the Royal Thai Army, utilizing its light infantry training facility at Fort Thanarat.
The intensive field exercise focused on life-saving humanitarian response in the context of natural disasters, armed conflict and large-scale human rights violations. Thirty-three participants from emergency management institutions in 15 countries in Asia and the Pacific participated. The APEM Platform was launched in November 2012, and includes 38 leading government and civil society institutions, who work closely with UNHCR. These partner institutions operate throughout the region – ranging from Central Asia to the Pacific Islands – and form a key part of the inter-agency network of the UNHCR Regional Centre for Emergency Preparedness (eCentre) based in Tokyo, Japan. Several APEM Platform institutions are working with UNHCR in ongoing humanitarian operations, including in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Philippines. Others are working with UNHCR and partners to prepare for possible emergencies in the future.
I have a lot of experience in several areas and I still felt that I learned something new in every session and every day – both from a new knowledge, a better way to do something, and even a better way to train. It was great and thank you very much.
– Workshop participant
