More than 60,000 stateless students in Thailand could benefit from the recent revision of a government guideline.
Under the revised guideline issued by the Ministry of Interior on 30 September 2019, the Ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Education and relevant educational institutions to accelerate the registration of all non-Thai students into the national civil registration system.
Those benefitting include students who are eligible for Thai nationality but were never registered or have an existing incorrect record in the system. By being recorded correctly, these students will now be able to apply for Thai nationality.
“Thailand continues to take courageous steps to identify the challenges encountered by stateless people in obtaining nationality as well as improving their access to rights,” said Mr. Giuseppe De Vincentiis, UNHCR’s Representative in Thailand.
“The revision of this guideline represents the Royal Thai Government’s strong political will to provide nationality solutions for stateless persons and it will be important to maintain this level of ambition in the coming years.”
This development is in line with the pledges made by the Royal Thai Government this week at the High-Level Segment on Statelessness convened by UNHCR in Geneva, which marks the mid-point of the #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness.
The event aimed to assess achievements to date, showcase good practices, and encourage concrete pledges by States and others to take action to address statelessness in the remaining five years of the Campaign.
Thailand has endorsed UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024 and has become a leader among the “Group of Friends” of the Campaign.
– ENDS –
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Jennifer Harrison [email protected] +66 82 290 8831
Duangmon Sujatanond [email protected] +66 81 855 8522
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
