Legal Support for Ethnical and Social Minorities in Northern Thailand
Mobile Learning Area for Stateless People in Chiang Mai Province
The consultation team and people in need (first day)
HSF
From the 03 to 06 February a workshop of the “Project on Learning Areas for Peace and Happiness of ASEAN People: Rights of Stateless, Nationalityless and Rootless People” took place in the province of Chiang Mai. In cooperation with the “Bangkok Legal Clinic” the Hanns Seidel Foundation supports the rights of stateless people which mainly come from minorities in the border areas. Through professional consultation they learn about their rights and the process to apply for a citizenship.
The first day the consultants of “Bangkok Legal Clinic” met a family from the roots of the Shan minority at the Payap University in Chiang Mai. The collaboration already exists more than ten years which shows the long and difficult process of obtaining a citizenship. Each family member has different issues to deal with. In the afternoon Prof. Phunthip Saisoonthorn, the Director of “Bangkok Legal Clinic” and experienced professor in the field of legal issues for stateless people, gave legal advice at the Mobile Learning Area. The family members asked questions which showed their high interest and willingness to change their legal status by using their enhanced knowledge from now.
Group photo of the second workshop day
HSF
On the second day the working group met with several students from Chiang Mai who are stateless or who have stateless family members. Through this workshop they receive individual guidance for the legal process in regard of required documents to apply for a citizenship. In addition they learn about the rights of legally working in Thailand and travelling to other countries. A success of the work was notable in the case of one girl who received the Thai citizenship and is now studying in her second year at a university, working part-time and travelled to Europe last summer. Now she is caring by herself to improve the legal status for nine of her family members who are still stateless.
A Karen women is getting individual legal advice by analysing her documents
HSF
Often statelessness is caused by the lack of birth registration or because of ethnical reasons like in the case of an old lady the working group visited on the last day. She is part of the Karen minority and fled from Myanmar to Thailand in times of civil war in Myanmar. The project on Mobile Learning Areas gives her the possibility of learning more about her own rights and gives her personal advice in legal issues. The different cases show how diverse this problem is and where support is needed. All participants were thankful for the help and look forward to a further collaboration. The working team of “Bangkok Legal Clinic” and Hanns Seidel Foundation was glad to cover so many different cases in such a short time and to get a positive reward from the participants.