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Event Detail

Birth Registration, Citizenship, and Thai Hill Tribes

Venue Information

Event Details

UNESCO is pleased to invite you to attend its press event entitled "Birth Registration, Citizenship, and Thai Hill Tribes" on 27 April 2006 at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Bangkok, Thailand.

H.E. David Fall, British Ambassador to Thailand will open the event with introductory remarks on the significance of the project and its implications in Thailand.

Without legal status, ethnic minority people are considered "illegal aliens" in their own country. They are subject to arrest, deportation, extortion and other forms of abuse, and denied their basic human rights: the right to vote; the right to own land and the right to medical care.

UNESCO has identified the "lack of citizenship" as the greatest risk factor for highland girls and women in Thailand to be trafficked or otherwise exploited. Consequently, UNESCO in cooperation with the British Embassy has initiated the Highland Birth and Citizenship Registration Promotion Project. This project is funded by the UK Sustainable Development Programme Fund.

The project will be introduced at a press event on 27 April 2006 at the FCCT. H.E. David Fall, British Ambassador to Thailand will open the event with introductory remarks on the significance of the project and its implications in Thailand.

There will be a short film -- A Right to Belong -- by David A. Feingold, followed by a panel discussion on the issue of Highland legal status.

Speakers include:

* Khun Sirirat Ayuwathana, Deputy Director General, Department of Social Development and Welfare

* Dr. David A. Feingold, International Coordinator of Trafficking Programmes, UNESCO

* and honored Thai representatives

"A Right to Belong", a UNESCO documentary, explores the issue of citizenship for highland people in their own words – how it shapes their lives and hopes for the future. The 10-minute video, produced in both English and Thai versions, is available free of charge for organizations working on minority and citizenship issues.

For more details, please contact

Khun Maliwan Khruemanee

Tel: +66 (0) 2 391 0577 Ext. 510

Fax: +66 (0) 2 391 0866

E-mail: k.maliwan@unescobkk.org

Website: http://www.unescobkk.org/culture