The Gift of Citizenship

For most Americans, U.S. citizenship is something we take for granted. We rarely, if ever, pause to consider the significant benefits granted to us simply because we were born in the United States, such as a birth certificate and the full rights of a citizen of this country. But for hill tribe people living in Thailand, citizenship is something much harder to come by, and extremely valuable to hold. Current estimates indicate that nearly 400,000 of Thailand's almost one million hill tribe people do not hold official citizenship.

This lack of legal status imposes severe hardships and deep vulnerabilities on the hill tribe people of Northern Thailand. They are forced to restrict their travel because they have no government ID to show at checkpoints designed to catch illegal immigrants. They are excluded from participation in Thailand's government-funded medical program and may not receive adequate medical care because their family lacks the means to pay the full cost of medical treatment. If a hill tribe child is fortunate enough to attend school, the school may refuse to provide the child with records that demonstrate the child's successful attendance. Without citizenship, hill tribe people cannot hold title to land. It is no wonder that recent research by UNESCO indicates that lack of citizenship is the single greatest risk factor for a hill tribe woman for being trafficked.

In response to this need, International Justice Mission's Thailand office is partnering with several local hill tribe organizations to help these hill tribe families register for citizenship. In addition to working through local hill tribe organizations, the Thailand IJM office also employs a lawyer to provide legal assistance to hill tribe children needing citizenship who have been placed in various shelters due to family hardship or lack of access to education in their home village. This lawyer, Khemachart (Khem) Saksakulmongkol, is from the Akha people, one of the hill tribes in Northern Thailand.

In one recent case, Khem obtained recognition of Thai citizenship for a pair of four-year-old twin Akha girls, Jantanika Ahjaw and Jantapa Ahjaw. Now that they can demonstrate Thai citizenship, Jantanika Ahjaw and Jantapa Ahjaw have the right to attend school and receive a diploma, travel freely within Thailand, assert their rights in court if necessary, and obtain medical care at greatly reduced rates through the government-sponsored health care program.

"Through the ongoing efforts of Khem and IJM's citizenship partners, almost 150 hill tribe children have already received recognition of their Thai citizenship in the past six months," said Sharon Cohn, vice president of interventions. "We expect to see several hundred more children receive this precious gift in the coming year giving them access to rights that many of us take for granted."

For more information, contact Bev Poellot by email or at (408)867-7042.