VZCZCXRO0169
PP RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0002/01 0060201
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 060201Z JAN 09
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0933
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0061
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0053
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 1010

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) 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000002  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
------------------------------- 
Summary and Comment 
------------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
A "How To" Guide for Hill Tribe Citizenship 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶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). 
 
------------------------- 
Clarity in 174 Pages 
------------------------- 
 
¶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: 
 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000002  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
--  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. 
 
--------------------------- 
The Manual Says  . . . 
--------------------------- 
 
¶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). 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
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. 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
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 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000002  003.5 OF 004 
 
 
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"). 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
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 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000002  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
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. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
Birth and Household Registration Also Complex 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
¶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