More Than 900 Hill Tribe People Are Now Thai Citizens—And That’s Just The Beginning
Dec. 26, 2014
CHIANG MAI, THAILAND – Dozens of families waited patiently outside the rural government office, eager to begin the day they’d anticipated for so long: the day they could apply for citizenship in their own country.
The parents, grandparents and children had traveled from small villages in the surrounding mountains—one family even coming by tractor—to meet local officials newly trained on granting them this right. The officials, too, were eager to begin the day. They were finishing a three-day workshop led by IJM Thailand on the laws protecting these undocumented hill tribe people.