Plan Thailand Annual Progress Report 2010

A YEAR IN

THAILAND 2010

SUMMARY REPORT

Children from an ethnic minority receive their national ID cards

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OUR PRIORITIES

GOOD REASONS

in Thailand

why Plan works in Thailand

• Protecting children from harm and promoting their rights, particularly marginalised children, like migrants or children without citizenship

• One million children are not at school or starting school late • Nine per cent of children are underweight at birth • An estimated 290,000 children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS

• Improving the quality of education for children • Increasing understanding of HIV/AIDS and how it is spread, and supporting children and families affected by it

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• Helping families increase their financial security

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‘Involving unregistered children like Othong in the project is central to its success.’

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tropical and characterised by monsoons. There is a rainy, warm, and cloudy southwest monsoon from mid-May to September, as well as a dry, cool northeast monsoon from November to mid-March. The southern isthmus is always hot and humid.

Economy: Major exports include Thai rice, textiles and footwear, fishery products, rubber, jewels, automobiles, computers and electrical

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appliances. Thailand is the world’s no.1 exporter of rice, exporting more than 6.5 million tons of milled rice annually. Rice is the most important crop in the country. Thailand has the highest per cent of arable land, 27.25 per cent, of any nation in the Greater Mekong sub-region. About 55 per cent of the available land area is used for rice production.

Substantial industries include electric appliances, components, computer parts and automobiles, while tourism makes up about six per cent of the Thai economy.

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Thailand Facts Capital: Bangkok Population: 65.9 million Languages: Thai Climate: The climate is

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Children discuss what child-friendly communities mean to them

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Focus On: protecting children

Plan’s work to promote children’s rights and protect them from harm focuses on the most vulnerable children in Thailand, including those without birth certificates who are denied full citizenship. Our program includes supporting national and community networks to prevent the abuse and trafficking of children. We teach children

to protect themselves against abuse and seek help if they need it. We have launched a campaign to stop violence in schools. We also help make sure children and young people participate in their communities’ development.

This youth group has just completed training on migrant issues

Case study:

The Bigger Picture

counting every child

Othong hopes to own a birth certificate and be recognised as a citizen of Thailand. His dream is modest but in Thailand it is often just a dream for many children.

local partners to protect unregistered children, secure their legal status and ensure they can enjoy the same rights as their Thai peers, such as the right to go to school.

‘I could be Thai like other children,’ Othong explains. To him, it means everything.

A large part of our work in Thailand involves raising awareness of the needs of stateless children and their right to birth registration.

At our Stateless Children’s Day, organised with other partners working on this issue, 800 people learned about the barriers facing unregistered children and how they can be overcome.

Othong is one of nearly one million children across Thailand who officially doesn’t exist.

Without documentation proving his age and nationality, he has no legal status and no rights.

Othong lives in a rural community in Chiang Rai, a province in the northernmost part of Thailand. Although the scenery is beautiful and the region is becoming a popular tourist destination, it is also an area of great poverty.

Villagers here are subsistence farmers, or work as day labourers to feed, clothe and care for their children. They are often at the mercy of the elements or the economy and many live below the poverty line.

Almost a quarter of children under the age of 18 in Chiang Rai do not have a birth certificate. Although registering the birth of a newborn is free in Thailand, for the poorest families in this province it is far from easy.

Many parents cannot afford to travel to the nearest government office or to lose income by spending time away from the fields.

Parents’ reluctance to register their children has other roots, too. Many are migrants from neighbouring Myanmar. Although some have lived in Thailand all their lives, they have no papers to prove it and fear what will happen if they contact the authorities.

Claiming rights Sadly, it is not widely understood that a birth certificate is the most important piece of paper a child will ever own. Without it, children will almost certainly be denied access to education, health treatment and employment. They are also easy prey for organised criminals who take advantage of their lack of status to traffic them and force them into child labour or prostitution.

The Government of Thailand recently amended the law on seeking Thai nationality, making it easier for vulnerable children to obtain citizenship. Plan is working with national and

Produced for Thailand by Plan International Australia.

We have trained teachers, youth groups, children and community leaders on the new law, holding special ‘law camps’ for children without identity papers to help them understand how to use the legislation to claim their Thai nationality.

Together with partners, we’ve also conducted community surveys, identifying unregistered children and helping parents and villagers to prepare identification documents, ready for processing by the relevant authorities.

Children are vital Involving unregistered children like Othong in the project is central to its success. They are keen to make sure authorities like government ministries understand what it feels like to have no status and how this affects every area of their lives.

With Plan’s support, they have made three short films. The first focuses on discrimination, and the other two show how being denied access to education can blight a child’s future.

These were shown to the government and on national television.

So far, the project has helped hundreds of children to claim citizenship of Thailand, and that most fundamental of human rights – the right to an identity.

As Deng, a secondary school pupil explains: ‘Being stateless made me feel like I was quarantined and had no freedom. I was born in Thailand so I think that I am Thai.’

Some names have been changed for child protection and privacy reasons

Plan is working with children, families and communities to find sustainable solutions to the challenges in Thailand. We have only given you a small insight into Plan’s work in Thailand with this report but over the past year we also: • Protected the health of young people by starting sexual and reproductive health education for 3500 pupils in 16 schools in Sisaket, north-east Thailand • Created eight agriculture groups for 200 young people to help them secure their food supplies and increase their incomes by using sustainable farming methods • Worked with partners to support families affected by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, providing emergency supplies like blankets, clothes and food Your support as a sponsor is crucial to achieving these results. With the resources provided by sponsors, Plan expertise and the collaboration of communities and local partners we are making a big difference to the lives of people in Thailand.

Thank you for your involvement!

To learn more about Plan’s work in Thailand visit plan.org.au/ourwork/asia/thailand

‘Almost a quarter of children under the age of 18 in Chiang Rai do not have a birth certificate.’