Thailand ends statelessness for nearly half a million people

By Sr. Florina Joseph, SCN
 

Thailand has made a “historic development” by committing to end statelessness for nearly 600,000 individuals currently registered as stateless within the country.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, Thailand is setting a global example by working to resolve statelessness for “335,000 long-term residents and members of officially recognized ethnic minority groups, as well as nearly 142,000 of their children born in Thailand.”

Since 2017, the Thai government has pledged to collaborate with UNHCR to resolve statelessness. In a significant step forward, Thailand was one of the founding members of the Global Alliance to End Statelessness, launched by UNHCR in Geneva last month. The nation also actively participates in the UNESCAP’s “Get Every One in the Picture” campaign, which aims to make 2015-2024 a decade of comprehensive civil registration and vital statistics reform for the Asia-Pacific region.

UNHCR has expressed its commitment to supporting Thailand in its journey to eradicate statelessness entirely.

UN’s #IBelong Campaign

Launched in November 2014, the #IBelong Campaign aimed to eradicate statelessness within a decade by identifying and protecting stateless populations, resolving existing cases, and preventing new ones. Through legal advocacy and awareness efforts, UNHCR collaborated with governments and international partners worldwide to achieve the campaign's objectives, creating lasting solutions for stateless individuals and preventing future cases.

On the sixth anniversary of the #IBelong campaign, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, urged world leaders to take bold, decisive actions to eliminate statelessness by 2024.

According to UN reports, notable progress has been made, with nearly 450,000 people acquiring nationality since the campaign's launch. Recent legislative changes have further opened pathways to citizenship for stateless individuals across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

“While statelessness remains a global problem, with many different causes, it is one that can be remedied through, often very simple, local solutions,” said Mr. Grandi to UN News.