Thailand - November 2024

On 1 November, the Thai cabinet approved a resolution to accelerate pathways to permanent residency and citizenship. Out of the almost 600,000 people registered as stateless in Thailand, approximately 483,000 people are set to benefit from this regulation, including 142,000 children born in Thailand. Most of them belong to ethnic minorities or hill tribes that have been eligible for citizenship for a long time without obtaining it due to bureaucratic inefficiencies, though the new resolution applies to all that are registered as stateless. Stateless people face problems with rights protections and basic services such as healthcare, education and legal protection. With Thailand previously being one of the countries with the most stateless people in the world according to UNICEF, the new legislation marks an important step for stateless people in securing their rights. 

Sources: UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UN News, UNICEF, Bangkok Post