UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the Royal Thai Government’s decision to withdraw its reservation to Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which relates to the rights of refugee children.
The withdrawal fulfils a key commitment Thailand made at last year’s Global Refugee Forum in Geneva. It also strongly reaffirms that refugee children must be recognized as deserving of the same rights to access education, healthcare, legal protection, family reunification and other essential services as any other child under the CRC.
UNHCR notes that while this move is commendable, its implementation will be key. Thailand’s existing legal frameworks, including the 2019 Memorandum of Understanding on alternatives to detention, the country’s education for all policy, and its National Screening Mechanism, which established a formal process for recognizing and protecting asylum-seekers, were all designed to offer protection to refugees. They reflect Thailand’s commitment to upholding refugees’ rights and well-being despite not being a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention.
By strengthening legal protection and expanding access to essential services, Thailand is moving toward a more inclusive environment for refugee children, aligned with international standards. UNHCR hopes it will bring us closer to the day when no refugee children will be detained in Thailand.
This important development comes at a time when the world faces unprecedented levels of forced displacement, with children disproportionately affected.
Thailand currently hosts over 81,000 refugees from Myanmar across nine temporary shelters along the Thai-Myanmar border, and more than 5,500 refugees and asylum-seekers from over 40 countries who live outside the temporary shelters.
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