Stateless status to change

Two boys and coach in cave rescue may get Thai citizenship in six months

BANGKOK: Two of the 12 boys and their 25-year-old coach, who were rescued from a flooded cave in Thailand, will receive legal help in the nationality verification process and if all goes well, they may receive Thai citizenship in six months.

Thailand’s Interior Ministry and the Children and Youth Department confirmed that coach Ekkapol Chantawong and two of the boys, Pornchai Kamluang and Adul Samon, are stateless following media reports of their plight and the difficulties faced by 500,000 stateless people living in Thailand.

The authorities have promised to provide the trio legal assistance in the nationality verification process.

If everything goes smoothly, all of them will have Thai nationality within six months.

The stateless people, mostly ethnic minorities living near the border areas, have to endure restrictions in many aspects of their life because they are denied certaom rights and opportunities.

Activists said many stateless people have to wait for a decade to get Thai citizenship because of the slow verification process.

Surapong Kongchantuk, a prominent activist on human rights and nationality issues, said although the Thai government provides basic rights, including compulsory education and healthcare for all people in Thailand, the lack of citizenship means stateless people are denied access to fundamental rights such as travelling abroad, higher education or employment in some careers.

According to Surapong, stateless people can ask for nationality verification at their local administrative organisation to get Thai citizenship.

They must provide proof of their birth and lineage, and that they were born to a Thai national parent. Ethnic minorities born in Thailand are eligible to get Thai nationality.

Otherwise, they can submit a bachelor’s degree or diploma or ask for a special grant from the government to get Thai nationality, he said.

Despite this, Surapong said, “The procedure to verify and seek Thai nationality is slow and complicated as administrative groups often do not have enough staff to deal with the overwhelming number of requests for nationality verification.”

Some people have to wait for over 10 years to get Thai nationality and a Thai citizen identity card.

Legal Status Network Foundation chairman Santiphong Moonphong also said that due to the complications and the long period of time it takes to get Thai nationality, many stateless youths lose opportunities.

In the case of Ekkapol, despite having been praised for helping his young charges survive inside the cave for nine days before they were discovered by rescuers, he cannot yet gain his full coaching qualifications. Ekkapol is an ethnic Tai Lue.

Santiphong said he hoped the nationality status of the three survivors would bring the problems of stateless people to public attention and secure prompt solutions from the government.

Administrative groups often do not have enough staff to deal with the overwhelming number of requests for nationality y verification.

Surapong Kongchantuk