Questions/Answers

The problems about the lack of any forms of verifying persons’ identities by government officials, the failure to notify a child’s birth by his or her parents or guardians, poverty, local beliefs, abandonment, the lack of knowledge and understanding in the civil registration process as well as the lack of official documents and of witnesses to guarantee a person’s status for his or her name to be added in a house registration and for a Thai national ID card to be issued by the Department of Provincial Administration have caused a number of persons living in the five southern border provinces of Thailand, i.e. Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Satun and Songkhla, and those living in Malaysia to become stateless or lack a civil registration status. According to the announcement made by the Central Registration Office of the Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior, and published in the Government Gazette Vol. 135, Special Part 41Ngor dated 23 February B.E. 2018 on the number of Thai citizens in the Kingdom of Thailand based on the civil registration data up until 31 December 2018, there were altogether 13,905 stateless persons in the five southern border provinces, that is 1,423 of them in Yala, 1,596 of them in Pattani, 1,236 of them in Narathiwat, 490 of them in Satun, and 9,160 of them in Songkhla. Due to statelessness, these persons do not have equal rights, freedoms and access to equitable fundamental services, unlike those who have the Thai nationality. Examples of the said rights and freedoms are stated and described as follows: - The right to healthcare means that everyone shall receive standard and equitable public health services and that poor people shall have free access to state health facilities. - The right to and freedom of education means that everyone shall have the free choice of education and be provided at least 12 years of free fundamental education by the State. - The rights of children, the elderly and the disabled means that children, the elderly and people with disabilities shall be protected from cruelty by the State. Those who are over 60 years of age and have insufficient living income shall be eligible for assistance from the State. The people with disabilities shall be eligible for public facilities and additional assistance from the State. - The right to property means that the scope of right to and the limits on the right to property as well as the right of inheritance shall abide by the law. - The freedom to work means that everyone shall have the right to work and to free choice of employment as well as fair work competitions. Therefore, to protect the Thai citizens’ rights and freedoms and to provide equal justice in consideration of honor and human dignity for them, the SBPAC in close collaboration with the Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior, the Royal Thai Consulate-General Kota Bharu, Malaysia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (The Royal Thai Embassy in Malaysia) and the Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University have encouraged integration into the statelessness of Thai persons in the five southern border provinces and in Malaysia. The objectives of this collaboration are: 1. To provide assistance for the stateless Thai persons and those who do not have a civil registration status living in the five southern border provinces in Thailand and in Malaysia so that they can be granted a Thai national identity at the completion of the DNA and blood relation testing; 2. To provide equal rights for the vulnerable group, particularly the right to fundamental service access, the right to work, and improvement in their quality of life for poverty eradication.

Thai Nationality Leaves No One Behind Project is aligned with the category on Promoting the Mechanisms in Policy Integration for Sustainable Development, that is, its objectives are to solve the problems about the statelessness of Thai persons and to grant them a Thai national ID card so that they shall, without unjust discrimination against them, have equal rights and freedoms according to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand. With access to equitable fundamental services and the right to work, the Thai people shall have the better quality of life and long-term self-sufficiency, hence resulting in sustainable development.

Thai Nationality Leaves No One Behind Project is aligned with the first goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), that is, to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. To achieve the goal, the project has attempted to ensure that those who have a Thai national ID card shall be entitled to receive equal rights, equitable fundamental services, including healthcare and welfare benefits from state public health providers, and at least 12 years of free fundamental education. In addition, they shall have the right to enter occupations reserved only for Thai nationals and the right to their earnings.

In order to solve the problems in relation to the statelessness of Thai persons and those who do not have a civil registration status, government officials, local leaders, religious leaders, and local people have to collaborate on providing the knowledge of law. For Economic Dimension,The Leave No One Behind Project is funded by the State. SBPAC is an agency which is responsible for supporting public administration strategy, policy and enforcement in social and economic in the southern border provinces of Thailand. These responsibilities correspond with the environmental dimension to support the project.

According to the Constitution of Kingdom of Thailand, the State has to provide the basic education to the Stateless person or the absence of civil registration person. In order to comply with the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights even though those people are not able to present the official documents to the Ministry of Education. Therefore, to create the identification cards based on the number of the Stateless person or the absence of civil registration status people, the project can manage completely and efficiently with the suit budget. Since, the Stateless person or the absence of civil registration status is not able to reach the quality health care as a basic human right, except for the vaccine injection at an early age or an accident. Meanwhile, to protect the human dignity, the hospital need to responsible for providing treatment without discrimination or differentiation. These factors bring the experiencing financial problems to many hospitals, since the cost for feeding the Stateless person cannot be collected. Therefore, the Leave No One Behind project can bring a resolution for this problem very well.

Thai Nationality Leaves No One Behind Project proceed to help the stateless persons and people who not have a civil registration status without discrimination on gender.

Thai Nationality Leaves No One Behind Project is in line with the concept of leaving no one behind. As the vision of development, the concept aims at tackling problems about the underprivileged and those who lack social opportunities, i.e. the stateless persons and those who do not have a civil registration status living in the five southern border provinces of Thailand and in Malaysia. By providing access to rights, freedoms and equitable fundamental services from the State such as the right to healthcare, the right of children to receive fundamental education, the right of the elderly and people with disabilities to receive an allowance, the right to own property as well as the right to work, the local economy can grow, and these people will become more self-reliant, live well with others, have a better quality of life and be free from poverty. The Leave No One Behind Project has thus made a positive impact on Thai people in general regardless of gender, age and health condition.

To be able to solve the problems, so the parternity DNA testing is used to add in a house registration book and for the issue of a Thai national ID card. The stage as following: 1) The arrangement of meetings and seminars has been made by the SBPAC to improve the body of knowledge of the deputy district chiefs and registration officials with respect to statelessness laws. 2) The survey on the list of stateless persons and those who do not have a civil registration status has been undertaken by the SBPAC in collaboration with its village-level network, the Provincial Registration Offices of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Satun and Songkhla, the Department of Provincial Administration, the Royal Thai Consulate-General Kota Bharu, Malaysia (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). 3) The process is proceeded by SBPAC exporting the name lists of the Stateless person or the absence of civil registration status with the referees to the Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University. Then, the university collect the buccal cell for paternity DNA testing. 4) The Provincial Register Office in Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkla Satun and the Royal Thai Consulate-General Kota Bharu on the result of the paternity DNA testing to consider the name lists for adding in the house registration and issuing the identification cards. 5) Summary of the results of the project: 74 person of Stateless persons or without civil registration status participated the project and 49 persons of them were list in house registration in 2017. 624 person of Stateless persons or without civil registration status participated the project and 431 persons of them were list in house registration in 2018. 665 person of Stateless persons or without civil registration status participated the project and the result as in process in 2019.

1) Registration and card operations personnel and relevant officials, there is not enough knowledge in the operation both of legal issues and genetic testing, blood relations to be used as evidence to add a person's name in the house registration and the issuance of identity cards. Therefore, the SBPAC organized a knowledge development seminar for staff of State. 2) To add a person's name in a house registration and to issue an identity card for problem resolution. Generally, the complainants have to show the sufficient documents or proven evidence to the authorities, in order to confirm their nationality. Anyhow, in case of, the complainants cannot show the documents to prove themselves; the report of genetic testing is needed. 3) To contact the complainants, sometimes, is quite difficult. Since, they live in the remote and rural area. Furthermore, some families travel to work in other provinces, even in oversea, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. Therefore, the appointment for genetic testing and issuing an identity card program need to notify in advance for several days, or require the volunteer from SBPAC network to contact and follow up. 4) There are many complainants to apply for the genetic testing collection. Therefore, the diagram and procedure for collecting samples is needed, including the stickers to identify the queue for the participants, in order to manage the process with an accuracy and precision.

Thai Nationality Project, Leaving No One Behind, employs the innovation process that will benefit to the citizen in general, to solve the problem of the statelessness people or the person who has no any status in the civil registration. This project has been integrated with many agencies, namely the SBPAC, Department of Local Administration, Ministry of Interior, the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Kota Bharu, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University.

The innovations are an evolving concept and are inspired by the child's status and rights assistance of the young people in Mae Ai District, Chiang Mai Province. To return the “Thai nationality” to the villagers who have been withdrawn or canceled the status by the Supreme Administrative Court of Mae Ai District. Leading to reduce the conflict and the people can gain their right and fairness.

The initiative has been transferred to the other agencies as following: 1. The SBPAC has announced the award of “10 months - 10 good - 10 outstanding” in September 15, 2018 at Central Festival Hat Yai Shopping Mall, by announcing the implementation of the Thai Nationality Project, Leaving No One Behind. The stateless people or unregistered citizens have been invited to join the event as well. 2. The SBPAC has prepared the booklet "Stateless to the Civil Registration, and being Thai” to publicize the project of “Thai nationality, Leaving No One Behind” to the government officials and any other people who came to meet with Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn when she proceeded to perform royal duties in the southern border provinces, and visited the SBPAC on 27 September 2018.

The initiative has been transferred and/or adapted to other contexts.

The Project employs the human resources for the operations from various departments namely, the officers and staffs of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center, Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior, Royal Thai Consulate-General in Kota Bharu- Malaysia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla. As for the budget for human resources development and the budget for genetic testing, blood relations has an average cost of 4,700 baht per person, by using the SBPAC annual budget (the Integrated Plan for Driving Southern Border Provinces to Solve Problems)

For economic dimensions, Citizens who have acquired Thai nationality and receive a Thai national ID card have a higher quality of life and income due to their ability to work without restriction, also gain an employment protection. Their ability to own property leads to security in arable land. Moreover, Thai nationals can travel outside of the control area to work in other provinces and abroad. To solve this problem, Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre has been continuously allocated budget according to the integrated work plan to drive the resolution of the southern border provinces.

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The work was evaluated by surveying the satisfaction of people in the Southern Border Provinces towards the operations of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center, which is a quantitative assessment by external agencies. Southern Border Provinces Administration Center is Yala Rajabhat University, Yala Province. There are methods of assessment and procedures as follows. 1. To set the meeting for giving guidelines. 2. To set the evaluation scope. 3. To set the method of research. 4. To train the data collection officer. 5. To use statistical software packages for having an analyzed data. 6. To prepare the evaluation report.

The assessment has established indicators regarding the level of people's satisfaction in the southern border provinces towards the operation of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center on the issue of fairness and remedy of affected people by using questionnaires. A questionnaire is a tool for data collection and analysis. By finding the statistical values such as percentage, mean, geometry, standard deviation; including, the measurement of the relationship between the initial variable and the dependent variable, to measure the variable level by using the Rating Scale.

For determines the evaluation, points as follows. Most (9 - 10) More than 81 point More (7 - 8) 61-80 point Moderate (5 - 6) 41-60 point Low (3 - 4) 21-40 point Very low (1 - 2) 0-20 point The results of the evaluation found that people are satisfied with the operations of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center on issues of fairness and remedies for affected people as follows: Average 85.13 percent The standard deviation is 3.86. The satisfaction is at the highest level. The result of the assessment makes the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center continue to carry out the project of Thai citizenship, Leaving No One Behind. In the fiscal year 2020, quality operations will lead to sustainability for people participating in the project and acquired Thai nationality.

- Provincial Registration Office- Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Satun and Songkhla, Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior, collects stateless persons or the person who does not have a civil registration status in 5 southern border provinces for the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center. - The Royal Thai Consulate-General in Kota Bharu, Malaysia, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs gather the information on stateless Thai citizens or the person who do not have a civil registration status in Malaysia for the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center. - The Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center harmonizes guidelines to train personnel to work in the same direction. Check the accuracy of the information and consider allocating budgets for genetic material identification, blood relations (Paternity DNA Testing.) - Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University collected specimens of the buccal mucosa and examined the genetic material of paternity DNA testing in the laboratory. Then having an inspection report for the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center, Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior Royal Thai Consulate-General in Kota Bahru and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to be used as evidence in considering the addition of a name in the house registration and issue ID card.

Stateless persons or the person who not having a civil registration status are involved in resolving the problem of stateless Thai citizens by submitting a request to add a person's name in the household registration and requesting an identification card with the officials of the Department of Provincial Administration and the Consulate General in Kota Bharu city or providing information to graduates of the Homeland Volunteer Development (the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center network) for government assistance. They also participate in publicizing to stateless persons or those with no other civil registration status or close relatives to know the implementation of the Thai nationality program, Leaving No One Behind, of Southern Border Provinces Administration Center and related agencies. Besides, the project creates a culture of teamwork. By using technology, such as create group line (Testing DNA in 5 southern border provinces) for using in coordination.

The solution to the problem of stateless Thai citizens or lack of civil registration status requires teamwork of the relevant agencies. The good attention of the sub-district chief village or headman, and district sheriff can find out the numbers of the stateless persons or the people who do not have a status in the civil registration. Then the local registrar can gather information to participate in the Project effectively. Furthermore, the organizations must work together to prevent the increase of stateless Thai citizens or lack of civil registration status in the future. In term of personnel development, the basic law knowledge is a must to continue to provide. The complexity of the evidence searching and the complication of adding a person's name in the household registration process should be reduced. Finally, after the people receive “the nationality”, the information must forward to the related organization such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other related agencies in order to keep the information and offer their right and any other welfare, according to meet the main goal of reducing poverty and reducing inequality in society.