Ad Hoc Group
In 2009, Ministers at the third Bali Ministerial Conference, April 2009, requested the co-chairs of the Bali Process Steering Group to make available the Ad Hoc Group (AHG) mechanism to comprehensively address situations on a case-by-case basis upon the request of most-affected countries, and to report developments to the wider membership of the Bali Process as appropriate.
Ministers further defined the AHG's terms of reference as follows:
- to develop practical outcomes at the operational level to assist countries to mitigate increased irregular population movements;
- to enhance information sharing arrangements between most-affected countries; and
- to report to Co-Chairs through the Steering Group with concrete recommendations to inform future regional cooperation on people smuggling and trafficking in persons.
At the Fourth Ministerial Conference, held in Bali in March 2011, it was agreed that the AHG be retained as an effective mechanism through which to develop and pursue concrete recommendations to inform future regional cooperation on people smuggling, trafficking in persons and irregular movements.
It was also agreed to draw participation for the AHG from the ‘most-affected countries’, and that the AHG be expanded, as determined by the Steering Group, to other interested Bali Process members and participants.
Ministers tasked officials from AHG countries and other interested countries to operationalize the Regional Cooperation Framework in conjunction with the UNHCR and IOM, as appropriate, through bilateral and multilateral arrangements.
The 14th Ad Hoc Group Senior Officials’ Meeting (AHG SOM) of the Bali Process was held in Da Nang, Viet Nam, on 23 July 2019. The meeting reviewed developments in the Bali Process region and examined Bali Process cooperation and capacity building activities since the Seventh Bali Process Ministerial Conference on 7 August 2018.
