On 29 April, UNHCR welcomed the Royal Thai Government’s (RTG) official move to formally join membership to the Global Alliance to End Statelessness, demonstrating the country’s continued commitment to resolving and preventing statelessness.
The Global Alliance to End Statelessness, which will be launched in October 2024, is a new initiative that by 2030 seeks to accelerate solutions to end statelessness by 2030 through a collective multistakeholder approach, which and respects the experience of those who are stateless and formerly stateless.
The Global Alliance will seek to build on the concrete gains and momentum generated by the #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024 and serve as a platform to increase collective advocacy efforts, catalyse political commitments to address the problem and accelerate the implementation of concrete solutions to statelessness.
Thailand has one of the world’s largest stateless populations, with over 500,000 registered stateless people residing in the country. The stateless population is mostly comprised of ethnic minorities. Many live in remote areas where they can face challenges in accessing civil registration nationality procedures and other government services.
While Thailand is not a party to either of the United Nations Statelessness Conventions, it has made significant commitments to address statelessness. “Thailand made ambitious pledges during the 2023 Global Refugee Forum,” explains Ms Tammi Sharpe, UNHCR Representative in Thailand. “We welcome the country’s assurances to establish a National Action Plan to reduce statelessness and enhance access to civil registration services for stateless persons with special attention given to children and the elderly. The pledges also included a review of laws and regulations to facilitate access to legal residence, nationality and civic rights.”
Thailand has also undertaken reform of nationality and civil registration laws since 2008 to improve access to nationality, and since 2005 has had in place a nationality strategy to address statelessness. These efforts have contributed to over 80,000 registered stateless persons acquiring Thai nationality since 2013.
Cher Wu, former stateless, obtained Thai nationality in 2021 and subsequently solved the legal status of her five children: “I just want them [other stateless people] to get their IDs quickly like me. My children can go wherever they want now and have no problem studying. They are so very happy now. We’re comfortable. I wish everyone could be like this.”
Still, work remains to be done. Stateless people in Thailand continue to face challenges in exercising some of their basic rights, including freedom of movement, access to public services and public social protection mechanisms. Moreover, there is the need to resolve the legal status of more than half a million stateless persons.
By joining the Global Alliance on Statelessness, Thailand has signalled its intention to end the plight of statelessness and committed to playing an active role in fulfilling the mission of the Alliance.
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