MMN General Conference & the 2nd MMN Vocabulary Workshop, 1-4 September, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Following the MMN Workshop on Migration Trends and Responses in the Greater Mekong Subregion and Beyond, the MMN General Conference was held attended by more than 35 MMN members. The members collectively discussed and updated the MMN Terms of Partnership, reviewed the MMN joint activities in the past two years, discussed thoroughly the implementation of ongoing projects and adopted a plan of action for 2010-2012.

On the 3rd -4th of September 2010, MMN Vocabulary project team members continued to work on the project, “Mekong Vocabulary on Labour Migration”. This project aims to facilitate common understanding of terminologies on migration issues by filling an information gap and providing a forum for informative discussion and collaborative application of these terms among participating civil society groups.

The workshop on the 3rd-4th of September 2010 was the second of its series, following the 1st workshop organised in Bangkok in February 2010 during which time the project partners worked on selection of terminologies and initial definitions. The total number of terms selected for the project is over 140, including terms referring to types of migration/migrants, work, economy, migration policy, administration procedure, health rights, and society in relation to migration/migrants. Project partners formed country teams and each team was assigned a number of terms to draft the definitions from those themes.

During the 2nd workshop, the project partners presented the definitions their respective team has come up with, and discussed with the rest of the project members to further refine the definitions. This process revealed a significant variety in how each term is understood in various GMS countries, reflecting different perspective on relevant issues. The project members discussed how they can further refine the definition. The definitions in English will be finalized by December 2010, and the translation into the six Mekong languages will follow in 2011.

General Conference 2010_a.JPG vocabulary 1 a.JPG vocabulary 2 a.JPG