Project for Well-Being of Urak Lawoi People (Sea Gypsy) on Lipe Island

08/24/2020

The Bangkok Clinic, the working group and the Hanns Seidel Foundation co-organized the exchange area project for Chao Lay people living on Lipe island on 19 - 24 August 2020 as a result of previous discussions about their well-being. This provided the space for the fragile ethnic people to speak out about their difficult circumstances and call for help and attention from government officials and outsiders.

HSF

In 2017, the Bangkok Clinic of the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University cooperated with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) in surveying the situation of health problems of indigenous people on Lipe island, Thailand. It was found that among these ethnic people who called themselves ‘Urak Lawoi’ (Chao Lay / Sea gypsy) of which consisting sick people, disabled people, students and young children were still facing statelessness. It prevented them from accessing various necessary rights; for example, right to health insurance, right to travel outside the area, right to social welfare, etc. Therefore, the Bangkok Clinic and the HSF helped provide them legal assistance for certifying Thai nationality in the household registration and obtaining a complete ID card during the year 2017 - 2018.

HSF

However, due to the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, the Bangkok Clinic and the HSF were concerned about its effects on the fragile Chao Lay people on Lipe island. This led to an arrangement of the online academic seminar on ‘“Chao Lay People” in the Emergency Situation of COVID-19’ on 2 June 2020. In this seminar, the special guest Saengsom Harntalay, a teacher and representative of ethnic Chao Lay people, mentioned that the problem of accessing to important rights still occurs for the fragile ethnic people on Lipe island even for those who already have Thai citizenship cards. The living condition in remote areas of the island, poverty and lack of education, together with the outbreak of COVID-19, cause them unemployment and severe sustenance shortage.

HSF

As a consequence, the Bangkok Clinic, the HSF and the working group, with the awareness that most fragile problems of the sea gypsies on Lipe island must be solved, planned to open an exchange area for these indigenous people to express their problems on 19 – 24 August 2020. This project achieved the goals for driving them to speak out and make their difficulties visible to those responsible for their well-being. At the end of the project, we concluded that those fragile Chao Lay people still face instability in living quality, habitat, infrastructure and access of justice system, those which Thailand’s government officials need to provide aid and assistance for impelling them to better living conditions, especially during the severe pandemic situation.

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