Breaking the Chains of Statelessness: Addressing the Human Rights Challenges Facing Hill Tribes in Thailand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30641/ham.2025.16.47-60Keywords:
hill tribes, citizenship, statelessness, integration, advocacyAbstract
This paper examines the issue of statelessness and its impact on the hill tribes of northern Thailand, a mix of ethnic groups populating the Thai, Myanmar, and Laos borderlands who are facing significant challenges in accessing basic human rights due to their lack of Thai citizenship. The paper explores the historical context of how the hill tribes came to be stateless, as well as the various obstacles they encounter in obtaining legal recognition as citizens of Thailand. Drawing on academic literature and Thai legislation, this paper argues that the denial of citizenship represents a fundamental violation of human rights. It also emphasizes the secondary rights violations due to various levels of discrimination and marginalization that these groups experience, such as restricted access to education, healthcare, and job possibilities. Finally, the paper considers potential policy solutions that could address the issue of statelessness among the hill tribes. These solutions include reforming citizenship laws to provide greater access to citizenship, as well as implementing programs to promote the inclusion of hill tribe communities in Thai society while also preserving their cultural heritage. Ultimately, the paper argues that addressing the issue of statelessness among the hill tribes is not only a matter of human rights, but also essential for building a more inclusive and equitable society.
Downloads
References
Ahlquist, Daniel B., and Amanda Flaim. "Racialization and the Historical Production of Contemporary Land Rights Inequalities in Upland Northern Thailand." In Race and Rurality in the Global Economy, edited by Michaeline A. Crichlow, Patricia Northover, and Juan Giusti-Cordero, 69-91. State University of New York Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.18473012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781438471327-006
Baird, Ian G., Prasit Leepreecha, and Urai Yangcheepsutjarit. "Who Should Be Considered "˜Indigenous'? A Survey of Ethnic Groups in Northern Thailand." Asian Ethnicity 18, no. 4 (October 2, 2017): 543-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2016.1268044. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2016.1268044
Buergin, Reiner. "Contested Heritages: Disputes on People, Forests, and a World Heritage Site in Globalizing Thailand." Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, August 2001.
Cheva-Isarakul, Janepicha. "Contextualising Statelessness: Contingent Citizenship and The Politics of (Non)Recognition in Thailand." TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 12, no. 1 (May 2024): 45-59. https://doi.org/10.1017/trn.2023.7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/trn.2023.7
"”"”"”. ""˜Diagnosing' Statelessness and Everyday State Illegibility in Northern Thailand." Statelessness & Citizenship Review 1, no. 2 (December 17, 2019): 214-38. https://doi.org/10.35715/SCR1002.112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35715/SCR1002.112
Cohen, Erik. "Primitive and Remote: Hill Tribe Trekking in Thailand." Annals of Tourism Research 16, no. 1 (1989): 30-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(89)90029-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(89)90029-7
Erni, Christian, ed. The Concept of Indigenous Peoples in Asia. Informe IWGIA 3. Copenhagen/Chiang Mai: IWGIA & AIPP, 2008. https://iwgia.org/images/publications/Concept_of_Indigenous_Peoples_in_Asia_-_Digital.pdf.
Herberholz, Chantal. ""˜We Are Inferior, We Have No Rights': Statelessness and Mental Health among Ethnic Minorities in Northern Thailand." SSM - Population Health 19 (September 2022): 101138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101138
IJM. "More Then 900 Hill Tribe People Are Now Thai Citizens-And That's Just the Beginning." ijm.org. Accessed April 16, 2025. https://www.ijm.org/news/more-than-900-hill-tribe-people-are-now-thai-citizens-and-thats-just-the-beginning.
Kesmanee, Chupinit. "Dubious Development Concepts in the Thai Highlands: The Chao Khao in Transition." Law & Society Review 28, no. 3 (1994): 673-86. https://doi.org/10.2307/3054088. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3054088
Laungaramsri, Pinkaew. "Contested Citizenship: Cards, Color, and the Culture of Identification." In Ethnicity, Borders, and the Grassroots Interface with the State: Studies on Southeast Asia in Honor of Charles F. Keyes, edited by John A. Marston, 143-64. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014.
LePoer, Barbara Leitch, ed. Thailand : A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1989.
McKinnon, John, and Bernard Vienne. Hill Tribes Today: Problems in Change. Bangkok: White Lotus Co., Ltd., 1989.
McKinnon, Katharine. "(Im)Mobilization and Hegemony: "˜Hill Tribe' Subjects and the "˜Thai' State." Social & Cultural Geography 6, no. 1 (February 2005): 31-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/1464936052000335955. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1464936052000335955
Meijknecht, Anna, Bas Rombouts, and Willem Van Genugten. "Stateless Indigenous People(s): The Right to a Nationality, Including Their Own." Tilburg Law Review 19, no. 1-2 (January 1, 2014): 98-107. https://doi.org/10.1163/22112596-01902028. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/22112596-01902028
Miranda, Marcelo Marques. "The Resurgence of the Heritage of Indigenous Peoples of Thailand in the Aftermath of Development." Journal of Heritage Management 4, no. 1 (June 2019): 73-84. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455929619864460. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2455929619864460
Morton, Micah F., and Ian G. Baird. "From Hill Tribes to Indigenous Peoples: The Localisation of a Global Movement in Thailand." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 50, no. 1 (February 2019): 7-31. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463419000031. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463419000031
Nan, Sakkarin Na. "Resource Contestation between Hunter-Gatherer and Farmer Societies: Revisiting the Mlabri and the Hmong Communities in Northern Thailand." In Interactions between Hunter-Gatherers and Farmers: From Prehistory to Present, edited by Kazunobu Ikeya, Hidefumi Ogawa, and Peter Mitchell, 229-46. Senri Ethnological Studies 73. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, 2009.
Park, Joy K, John E Tanagho, and Mary E Weicher Gaudette. "Global Crisis Writ Large: The Effects of Being Stateless in Thailand on Hill-Tribe Children,." San Diego International Law Journal 10, no. 2 (2009): 495-554.
Patomsirirak, Puangrat. "Report on Citizenship Law: Thailand." Global Citizenship Observatory, 2023. https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/75608/RSCAS_GLOBALCIT_CR_2023_01.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
Rijken, Conny, Laura van Waas, Martin Gramatikov, and Deirdre Brennan. The Nexus between Statelessness and Human Trafficking in Thailand. Netherlands: Wolf Legal Publisher, 2015. https://files.institutesi.org/Stateless-Trafficking_Thailand.pdf.
Rojo, Magdalena. "Cause for Hope as Thailand Tackles Statelessness." FairPlanet, 2021. https://www.fairplanet.org/story/thailand-emerges-as-leader-in-eradicating-statelessness/.
Saihoo, Patya. "The Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand and The Opium Problem." Bulletin on Narcotics 15, no. 2 (1963): 35-45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.58837/CHULA.TAIC.2448
Satoshi, Ueda. "National Integrated Education and the Ethnic Identity of Hill Tribes: A Case of the Hmong Tribe in Thailand." Journal of International Education 24 (2018): 48-62.
Scott, James C. "Hills, Valleys, and States: An Introduction to Zomia." In The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia, 1-39. Yale Agrarian Studies Series. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
Shu, Nimonjiya. "From Interaction to Accessing: On Relationship between the Mlabri and the Forest." Journal of Social Research 38, no. 1 (2015): 137-70.
Streckfuss, David. "An "˜Ethnic'Reading of "˜Thai'History in the Twilight of the Century-Old Official "˜Thai'National Model." South East Asia Research 20, no. 3 (2012): 305-27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5367/sear.2012.0115
Sucharitkul, Sompong. "Thai Nationality in International Perspective." In Nationality and International Law in Asian Perspective, edited by Sik Ko Swan, 453-91. Martinus Nijhoff, 1990. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004640061_019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004640061_019
Tejapira, Kasian. "The Postmodernisation of Thainess 1." In Cultural Crisis and Social Memory: Modernity and Identity in Thailand and Laos, edited by Charles F. Keyes and Shigeharu Tanabe, 0 ed., 202-27. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315027906. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315027906
Thaweesit, Suchada, and Bongkot Napaumporn. "Integration of Minorities in Thailand." In Thailand Migration Report, edited by Jerrold W Huguet and Aphichat Chamratrithirong, 131-44. Thailand: International Organization for Migration, 2011. https://reliefweb.int/attachments/6d38c502-daaa-3ae7-956f-634db07794a4/TMR-2011.pdf.
UNHCR. "Annual Results Report: Thailand Multi Country," 2022. https://reporting.unhcr.org/files/2023-06/Asia%20-%20Thailand%20Multi%20Country.pdf.
United Nations. "The Royal Thai Government, UNHCR and UNICEF Join Forces to Accelerate Progress in Ending Childhood Statelessness," 2023. https://thailand.un.org/en/235857-royal-thai-government-unhcr-and-unicef-join-forces-accelerate-progress-ending-childhood.
Vaddhanaphuti, Chayan. "The Thai State and Ethnic Minorities: From Assimilation to Selective Integration." In Ethnic Conflicts in Southeast Asia, edited by Kusuma Snitwongse and W. Scott Thompson, 151-66. ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1355/9789812305565-008
Vandergeest, Peter. "Racialization and Citizenship in Thai Forest Politics." Society & Natural Resources 16, no. 1 (January 2003): 19-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920309172. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920309172
Wittayapak, Chusak. "History and Geography of Identifications Related to Resource Conflicts and Ethnic Violence in Northern Thailand." Asia Pacific Viewpoint 49, no. 1 (April 2008): 111-27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8373.2008.00364.x. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8373.2008.00364.x
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Mirea Artesani
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The copyright of each article is retained by the author(s). Authors agree to grant the first publication rights to Jurnal HAM. The Journal embeds a simple machine-readable Creative Commons license under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC). Thus, papers in this Journal can be used freely for non-commercial purposes with the acknowledgment of authorship and publication in this journal.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
