NO NAME, NO RIGHTS: THE LONG ROAD TO THAI CITIZENSHIP
When Noknoi attended high school in northern Thailand, she dreaded roll call every morning, when the teacher would call her first name and then say nahm somut, or “made up name” — the standard suffix for stateless children.
Thai students would snigger, and Noknoi and other stateless children were often teased by students and teachers alike, she said.
“Being stateless meant having no identity,” she said. “We were reminded of that every day, with even our names taken away — we were nobody.”
Noknoi, who asked that her surname be withheld due to the sensitivity of the topic, was born in a village in Mae Hong Son near the border with Myanmar.
Her four siblings were also born in Thailand. But because their parents were from Myanmar, they were not recognised as Thai citizens until a few months ago — nearly three years after Noknoi applied for citizenship for all five of them.
They were among the 487,000 stateless people registered with the Thai government this year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Activists say the actual number may be more than 3 million.
Stateless people include indigenous hill dwellers and children of migrants who were born in Thailand. They have limited work options and are barred from voting, travelling outside their province, and from buying land.
They are even worse off than the tens
of thousands of refugees from Myanmar who live in camps in Thailand where they are registered with the UNHCR and served by aid agencies, activists and analysts say.
“In a school uniform, stateless children can appear and feel undifferentiated to Thai citizen students,” said Janepicha
Cheva-Isarakul at the Victoria University of Wellington.
“It is only around the teenage years that they become more aware of the limitations of their status and start learning about possible legal pathways to becoming Thai citizens. But it is a complex system of unevenly applied regulations.”
Many stateless people in Thailand are from areas where boundaries with neighbouring countries have changed, or who have crossed the border for work or a better life. About 100,000 refugees from Myanmar remain in camps after fleeing six decades of war between the military and ethnic armed groups in the neighbouring country.
“Of those who were born here, few have birth certificates, land titles or other documentation for Thai citizenship, so they remain in limbo,” said Matcha Phorn-in, an activist who works with stateless people.
In recent years, the government has amended the Nationality Act to make it easier for displaced Thais to get citizenship. But it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which spells out legal obligations to refugees.
Since 2005, all stateless people have been given access to basic education and healthcare, and authorities have pledged to develop a screening system to curb trafficking, which is a major risk.
State hospitals now issue birth certificates to all children born in Thailand, and there are more job options for stateless people who were once limited to 27 lowskilled occupations.
The military government that took power in 2014 has committed to “zero statelessness” by 2024.
But applying for citizenship remains a “challenging and complex” process, said Janepicha.
While authorities recognise citizenship by descent and by territorial birth, applicants must present birth certificates, their parents’ identity papers, and get the village head to attest they are a member of the community.
“A process that relies heavily on documents as absolute proof of identity risks placing blame on the people for not having the documents, rather than questioning why they did not have the documents to begin with,” Janepicha said.
The documentation is comparable to that required in other countries, and applications are considered “on a case-by-case basis”, said Venus Srisuk, director of the Bureau of Registration Administration. Thailand has given about 100,000 people citizenship since 2008, making it the regional leader, according to the UNHCR.
Noknoi applied for citizenship three years ago, when she started college. It took her two months to get birth certificates for herself and her siblings, and several trips to village and district offices to complete paperwork that ran into nearly 50 pages for each, she said.
“I could only do it because I was educated, was aware of my rights, and had help. Most others are not in that position,” she said.
“At times, I thought I would die before we got citizenship. Even now, I am afraid it can be taken from me,” she said.
Changes in the citizenship laws in 2016 opened up a path for 80,000 stateless people, with requirements such as loyalty to the monarchy, good conduct and educational achievement.
But the conditions are subjective and based on “deservedness” rather than a fundamental right, said Matcha.
The issue came into focus after the dramatic Tham Luang cave rescue in Chiang Rai. Three of the 12 young footballers saved, as well as their 25-year-old coach, were stateless, though they were born in Thailand.
Just weeks later, they were granted citizenship after officials fast-tracked their applications.
“Congratulations to those who get citizenship by being deserving, but it is a double standard,” said Matcha.
“Should everyone have to be rescued from a cave to be found deserving?”
“At times, I thought I would die before we got citizenship. Even now, I am afraid it can be taken from me” ‘NOKNOI’ College student