CITIZENSHIP MANUAL OUTLINES LEGAL MAZE FACING STATELESS HILL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 CHIANG MAI 000002

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SMIG ELAB PREF PGOV PREL SNAR KWMN TH BM
KTIP
SUBJECT: CITIZENSHIP MANUAL OUTLINES LEGAL MAZE FACING STATELESS HILL
TRIBES

REF: 08 CHIANG MAI 192 (MINORITY HILL TRIBES STILL PLAGUED BY STATELESSNESS)

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Summary and Comment
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1. UNESCO has collaborated with the Thai Government (RTG) and
an NGO to publish a Citizenship Manual that will serve as a "how
to" guide for government officials and civil society on
citizenship procedures among stateless hill tribe minorities.
Broadly speaking, a highlander who is born in Thailand and has a
father or mother also born in Thailand is eligible for Thai
citizenship. Also eligible are highlanders born in Thailand of
alien parent(s) who entered Thailand before October 3, 1985. In
either case, the onus is on the applicant and parent(s) to
present various pieces of evidence to be verified by local
officials. The Manual does not address the two latest
developments in the evolving legal landscape: the 2008
Nationality Act and 2008 Civil Registration Act, both of which
improve citizenship eligibility for stateless hill tribes.
UNESCO plans to update the Citizenship Manual once clarity is
established on the Interior Ministry's implementing regulations
for the two new laws.


2. Comment. As Reftel notes, roughly half of Thailand's
estimated 900,000 hill tribe minorities lack citizenship,
compounding significantly their disadvantaged status. Thai
citizenship law continues to evolve in a positive direction, as
the RTG collaborates with UN agencies and NGOs. However, the
fact that the Citizenship Manual weighs in at 174 pages
indicates the extreme complexity of the legal regime facing
stateless highlanders. This is due to the plethora of
citizenship-related laws and regulations, and the existence of
substantial gray areas within and among them. This in turn
lends itself to corruption and extortion by local officials,
which compounds other obstacles hill tribe people face in the
citizenship process (e.g., insufficient documentary evidence to
prove eligibility, incomplete and contradictory census data, and
language barriers). The very need for the Manual underscores
another obstacle: responsible officials often lack
understanding of their obligations, and stateless highland
minorities often lack knowledge of their citizenship rights.
The Manual is a positive step in this regard, and will be
bolstered by RTG, UN agency and NGO plans for outreach, training
and education - efforts that Post will seek to support. End
Summary and Comment.

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A "How To" Guide for Hill Tribe Citizenship
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3. Reftel outlined the background and current state of play of
the statelessness that affects roughly half of Thailand's
estimated 900,000-to-one-million hill tribe minorities. The
cable identified encouraging trends in efforts by the Royal Thai
Government (RTG),NGOs and UN agencies to promote citizenship
among stateless hill tribe people. One such effort was the
recent publication of a Citizenship Manual that will serve as a
standardized "how to" guide for government officials and civil
society on registration and citizenship procedures among hill
tribe communities. The Manual was commissioned by UNESCO and
authored by Thailand's Coalition to Fight Against Child
Exploitation (FACE Foundation),with collaboration from the RTG.
The Manual, available in both Thai and English, has already
been distributed to RTG agencies and NGOs. (Note: Post has
pouched several CD copies of the English version to EAP/MLS).

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Clarity in 174 Pages
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4. That the Manual weighs in at 174 pages indicates the
comprehensiveness of the effort, but also the extreme complexity
of the legal regime facing stateless highlanders seeking to
determine their status. In fact, a leading expert on this legal
regime - Surapong Kongchantuk, Vice Chairman of the Law Society
of Thailand's Human Rights Subcommittee on Ethnic Minorities,
Stateless, Migrant Workers and Displaced Persons - has told
Consulate staff that it took him about ten years to develop full
command of the topic of legal status/citizenship for stateless
minorities. The complexity is mainly due to the plethora of
laws and regulations, and the existence of substantial gray
areas within and among them.


5. This cable summarizes the main points of the Citizenship
Manual. We focus on identifying which categories of stateless
minorities are eligible for citizenship or legal permanent
residence, and the requirements for attaining such status. This
analysis begins at para six. But first, a few salient points:


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-- per Reftel, citizenship for Thailand's hill tribe people is
an acquired status that is not automatically conferred by birth
on Thai soil. Determining one's eligibility is an important
first step, but thereafter significant obstacles remain. Chief
among these are: insufficient documentary evidence for
stateless hill tribe people to prove their eligibility;
incomplete and contradictory census data; language barriers;
cautious and/or corrupt local officials; and a complex appeals
process.

-- the very need for the Manual underscores another obstacle:
responsible officials often lack understanding of their
obligations, and stateless highland minorities often lack
knowledge of their citizenship rights. The FACE Foundation
Director notes in the Manual's preface that, despite three years
having passed since the RTG approved its Strategy on Legal
Status and Rights Management for Undocumented Persons, some
government officials working on the issue "still do not clearly
understand how to implement policy under this Strategy."

-- the legal landscape continues to evolve, adding further
complexity. Per Reftel, in 2008 Thailand adopted a Nationality
Act and Civil Registration Act, both of which amend previous
laws and improve citizenship eligibility for stateless hill
tribe minorities. However, the implementing regulations
recently issued by the Interior Ministry are ambiguous in
certain parts; UN agencies and NGOs have requested
clarification. UNESCO plans to update the Citizenship Manual
once clarity is established on the implementing regulations for
the two 2008 laws.

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The Manual Says . . .
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6. The Manual breaks citizenship eligibility into three broad
categories, which we will call A, B and C:

-- Category A: Born in Thailand of Thai parent(s).
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A highlander who is born in Thailand AND has a father or mother
also born in Thailand is eligible for Thai citizenship. That
said, the onus is on the applicant and parent(s) to present
various pieces of evidence to be verified, such as birth
certificate or delivery certificate, household registration,
household survey record, identification card or other personal
records. The controlling law in this case is the 2000
Regulation of the Central Registration Bureau on the
Consideration of Legal Status Registration for Highlanders.
This law stipulates a decision deadline of 60 working days; the
ultimate decision-maker is the chief district officer. The
applicant may appeal a denial.

-- Category B: Born outside Thailand and immigrated illegally.
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People in this category are considered illegal migrants. This
would include the estimated one-to-two million migrant workers,
mostly ethnic Burmese, currently in Thailand. The Burmese
migrant workers are generally not eligible for legal permanent
resident (LPR) status or citizenship, and are beyond the scope
of this cable (and the Manual). However, certain sub-groups of
illegal migrants who entered Thailand BEFORE October 3, 1985 are
eligible for LPR status, with their children (if born in
Thailand) eligible for citizenship (see Cat C). These
sub-groups are:

-- Category B-1. Persons in this group must be
registered as hill tribe people AND hold a highlander
identification card or a household registration. Provided they
entered the country before 1985, they are eligible to apply for
LPR status IF they have lived in Thailand for at least 15 years
or had a permanent domicile in one specific district for at
least 10 consecutive years. Other requirements include having
"interest in using the Thai language," loyalty toward country
and King, a legal occupation and financial stability, and no
involvement with narcotics or environmental destruction. These
latter requirements must be vouched for by at least three
people, two of whom must have local official status. (Comment:
that local officials have this vouching discretion appears to
lend itself to corruption and extortion, both of which are
widely reported by NGO groups).

-- Category B-2. Persons in this group are non-hill
tribe members who nonetheless hold highlander identification
cards. This group is primarily composed of ethnic Shan and
other non-hill tribe minority groups who fled Burma and settled
in northern Thailand's highland areas. The RTG included these

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groups along with true hill tribes in its highlander
registration drive in the early 1990s, and issued the same type
of highlander identification cards to all. Like the hill tribe
people in Cat B-1, the Cat B-2 persons are eligible to apply for
LPR status provided they can prove they entered the country
before 1985 and are currently domiciled in Thailand. Other
requirements largely mirror those in Cat B-1, but with two
differences: Cat B-2 applicants must have "sufficient command
of the Thai language to be able to speak and understand"
(subject to passing a Thai language exam verified by the local
registrar); and must not pose any risk to national security,
have a prior conviction (excepting minor offenses),or be unable
to hold a regular occupation due to physical or mental
disability.

-- Category B-3. This category is essentially the same
as Cat B-2, but covers a different sub-set of three non-hill
tribe minority groups. The first is a small community of
Nepalese immigrants who lived in Burma under British colonial
rule before fleeing to central Thailand after Burma gained
independence in 1947. The second group are ethnic Chinese,
claiming to be relatives of anti-Communist soldiers of Chiang
Kai-shek's Kuomintang, who immigrated to Thailand between the
years 1954-85. The third and largest group are "Displaced
Burmese Nationals," as defined by a 1976 RTG policy declaration.
This group includes ethnic minorities who lived in Burma before
fleeing to Thailand, such as the Hmong, Karen, Shan, and
Mon-Khmer. There has long been overlap and confusion between
this group and the Burmese ethnic minorities described in
Category B-2 above, which complicates claims for LPR status
and/or citizenship.

For Categories B-1, B-2, and B-3, the onus is on the applicant
to present various pieces of evidence for verification. The
controlling laws are cabinet resolutions passed on October 3,
1995 and August 29, 2000. The latter, per Reftel, declared that
all children born in Thailand of hill tribe/highlander parents
who entered the country before October 3, 1985 are eligible for
citizenship regardless of their parents' legal status at the
time they were born (see Cat C). The ultimate decision-maker
for all Cat B cases is the Minister of Interior, via several
intermediate stops (district registrar, provincial Subcommittee
on the Consideration of Granting Legal Status for Ethnic
Minority Groups, and the Interior Ministry's committee by the
same name). No decision deadline or appeal process is
indicated. Cat B cases who obtain LPR status are no longer
considered illegal migrants; they have complete freedom of
movement and can take up any occupation.

(Note: An additional bureaucratic complication for Category B
cases is that legal status matters for each Cat B sub-group are
handled by a different division of the Interior Ministry's
Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA). Cat B-1 cases
are the responsibility of the DOPA Public Coordination
Division; Cat B-2 is handled by DOPA's Ethnic Minority
Registration Division; and Cat B-3 by the Information Division.
End Note).

-- Category C: Born in Thailand of alien parents; i.e.,
parents born outside the country and immigrated into Thailand.
(Note: Cat C persons can also be described as "children of Cat
B persons").
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People in this category are considered illegal migrants, but
with the right to apply for Thai citizenship under the cabinet
resolution of August 29, 2000, provided at least one parent
entered Thailand BEFORE October 3, 1985. Cat C cases apply to
those who were negatively impacted by a 1972 government decree
(Order 337 of the Revolutionary Council) that automatically
revoked/barred Thai citizenship for persons born in Thailand of
alien hill tribe parents both before and after 1972. This
Order, issued by a military government, was intended to address
national security concerns associated with the growing influx of
migrants to the hills of northern Thailand. It repealed -
retroactively - previous Thai law stipulating that Thai
citizenship was automatically conferred by reason of birth in
Thailand, regardless of parents' nationality. The result was
that large numbers of highlanders who had been born in Thailand
before 1972 had their citizenship revoked, and an even larger
number born after 1972 were rendered ineligible for citizenship.

The UNESCO Manual describes a complex process by which
highlanders impacted by Order 337 may apply for either LPR
status or citizenship, with the procedure differing depending on
whether the applicant was born before or after the Order was
issued in 1972. However, this appears to have been overtaken by
the 2008 Nationality Act mentioned in para five. It stipulates
that persons born in Thailand whose citizenship was revoked, or

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who were consequently rendered ineligible for citizenship, by
Order 337, "shall acquire Thai nationality from the day this Act
comes into force if the person has evidence of civil
registration proving a domicile within the Thai Kingdom . . .
and having good behavior." As noted above, UNESCO plans to
update its Manual to reflect this change once clarity is
established on the implementing regulations.

For Cat C cases, evidentiary requirements, processing timelines,
decision-making authority, and the appellate process will be
defined in the implementing regulations for the 2008 Nationality
Act, superseding what is described in the current version of the
Citizenship Manual.

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Birth and Household Registration Also Complex
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7. The Citizenship Manual devotes 24 pages to describing
Thailand's birth registration and household registration
processes. We will not summarize those here, but - per Reftel -
we note that the legal and bureaucratic complexities of these
procedures are among the various obstacles faced by hill tribe
people in obtaining Thai citizenship. The 2008 Civil
Registration Act cited in para five helpfully stipulates that
every child born in Thailand shall receive an official birth
certificate, regardless of the parents' status. However, it
does not appear to simplify significantly the complexity of the
process. UNESCO's update of the Citizenship Manual will
address this.
MORROW