Plight of Hill Tribes
Plight of the hill tribes
Education needed in struggle to empower hill tribe communities
DANIEL CALDERBANK
Deprived of an education, many hill tribe people in Thailand are locked in a battle to escape arrest, deportation, extortion and other forms of abuse, human rights experts claim. Ms Chutima Morlaeku ("Mijiu"), an Akha expert on the legal status of hill tribe people and minority rights who has worked with Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), said that without an education, tribal people cannot empower their communities.

"They need to educate themselves so that they know what their basic rights are," she said. "Knowing your rights does not guarantee that you can access them, but not knowing your rights guarantees that you can't." The education issue is seen as double-edged. Ms Chutima said government officials also need to be educated about the plight of the hill tribe people they come into close contact with. "We have suggested that the government should host seminars and training for officials so they know what they are doing. The officers need to understand the relevant laws and the impact they have on hill tribes. "In the field, they often use their own prejudice and bias to do their work," she said.

The issue was raised recently at a Unesco interactive panel on the impact of legal status on hill tribes in Thailand. Unesco statistical analyst Amanda Flaim said the Unesco Highland Peoples Survey studied a sample group of 192 border villages in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son provinces to determine the impact of a person's legal status (citizenship and birth registration) on access to social services, education, health care, land tenure, and agricultural credit. Interviews with 63,719 people make it the largest household survey of its type in Thailand.

A study of a sample group revealed 38 percent of hill tribe people do not have Thai citizenship. Compared to highlanders with Thai citizenship, those lacking citizenship are 73 percent less likely to enter primary school and 98 percent less likely to progress to higher education. Similarly, highlanders who lack birth registration, a status which is not exactly congruous with citizenship, are 64 percent less likely to enter lower primary school and 85 percent less likely to enter secondary school relative to highlanders with official Thai birth registration.

"The degree of disadvantage is very acute," Ms Flaim said. Dr David A Feingold, Unesco International Coordinator for HIV and Trafficking Programmes, said the situation is probably more critical as researchers were not given access to an estimated 700 villages in special military zones along border areas, suggesting lower rates of access to education.

He said: "Unesco research has identified '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, initiated the UK government-funded Highland Birth and Citizenship Registration Promotion Project. The objective of this project is to promote birth registration and citizenship awareness among highland minorities in Thailand through the development and dissemination of research-based, culturally appropriate indigenous language materials.

The British Embassy has agreed to finance the second phase of the programme.

Human rights lawyer Surapong Kongchantuk estimates that there are three million people considered stateless or undocumented in Thailand. Many were born in the Kingdom after fleeing persecution in Burma. "There are a lot of migrants who have been living here in Thailand much longer than [ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's] family, but they were never registered because the original census surveys never got up into the hills. And a lot of policies were never translated into these people's original languages," said Dr Feingold.

Surapong said lawyers and education officials have produced guidelines on how undocumented children could get an education. After His Majesty the King expressed a concern about the problem, the Thaksin-led administration announced a strategy in 2005 to help the stateless. An estimated 50,000 students have been given identity cards in recent years to help them go to school and travel to different towns to study.

But the majority need official permission to travel outside their local area, and approval is granted by the district chief on a case-by-case basis. Devoid of an education and unaware of their rights and how to gain Thai citizenship, many hill tribe people are likely to be forced into illegal activities in order to survive, such as drug dealing and prostitution. This results in arrests, fuels the prejudices of the majority community and prevents many true natives of Thailand from obtaining their legal rights as citizens. Without an education to increase awareness of and to secure their legal rights, the sinister cycle rolls on.

A new booklet, the Manual for Capacity-building on Birth Registration and Citizenship in Thailand, provides a better understanding of the regulations governing the legal status of people residing in Thailand. The Thai-language publication, with a translation in English on CD, can be obtained by emailing k.chotika@unescobkk.org .

Daniel Calderbank works in media and communications at Unesco Bangkok. A former staff member of the 'Bangkok Post', he has worked in radio broadcasting and for national newspapers in the UK, the UAE and Thailand. If you have a comment or would like to discuss issues raised in this article, contact Daniel at d.calderbank@unescobkk.org .

Thaksin Shinawatra, known for ordering a brutal "War on Drugs" in which more than 2247 people were killed in 90 days during 2003, has jumped bail with his wife Pojaman and returned to exile in London. The Thai Supreme Court issued arrest warrants for them in the corruption charges they face. Thaksin claimed he could not get a fair trial. Certainly he would receive a more fair trial than the thousands who he ordered killed without mercy.

Horse Trip Goal: 10,000 Mosquito Nets for the Akha of Laos

After spending 13 years in Thailand working with the Akha we spent a year in north Laos and witnessed first hand the very serious malaria situation. Our trip across the US by horseback is to raise enough money to purchase 10,000 nets for the Akha of Laos. There are 60,000 Akha living in Laos. Many villages were relocated, forcing the Akha to live in low land areas where they would not choose to live. The obvious reason being that in the low lands malaria is epidemic. The malaria in northern Laos is not "pv" malaria but "pf" malaria, which attacks the brain, causes brain swelling and even with medication produces mortality in 20% of cases.

The first line of defense is nets for all villagers, then better medical care and frequent testing. However in villages that have lost their land, staying at the hospital or paying for medicine is often out of the question, as there is not even enough food.

In the first year after relocation many villages lost 20% and more of their population due to malaria, disentary and malnutrition. The first to die were the elderly and small children. Current reports from Laos document an ongoing situation that has not improved.

For 17 years we have worked with the Akha on human rights issues and intend to make a very large difference regarding human rights protections and basic health care.

You can make a difference by making a donation on line.

As we travel across the US to the United Nations by horseback we represent one of the most disadvantaged groups in SE Asia, the Akha people.

Akha.org Gets New Server

We have just upgraded our server to give you better service, 6 or 7 times the speed and tripple the space, making it easier for you to download data and giving us a lot more room for documents and other content. We still have considerable documents to add to the site, and rebuilding all of our photo section.

Blog Archives Here

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ONGOING CASES

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The UNESCO - Missionary Alliance Bangkok

We speak with UNESCO about content on the UNESCO website showing partnership between UNESCO and missionary organizations in Thailand which are committed to the destruction of Akha culture and oral traditions.
Letter to UNESCO The following information comes from the UNESCO Website under the Secretariat.
UNESCO External Relations and Cooperation (ERC)
"B. Cooperation with non-governmental organizations Efforts will be made to link UNESCO with the increasingly significant civil society actors and to draw on their potential contribution for the achievement of UNESCO’s strategic objectives. Within the statutory framework for interaction and cooperation with international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Organization will assess its cooperation with NGOs in order to optimize modalities of cooperation and develop synergies for effective programme implementation. Outreach efforts will also aim at foundations and similar institutions which are able to make a contribution to the realization of the Organization’s mandate."
External Relations Cooperation

The fact that UNESCO has chosen to do this with organizations which have as THEIR mandate the destruction of Akha culture, is shocking.

One of the organizations that UNESCO is partnered with, is New Life Foundation, the brain child of Paul W. Lewis, who ran sterilization operations on the Akha.

Missions and missionary activities associated with NLF emphasize the destruction of Akha culture as one of their goals. UNESCO also is in partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Chiangmai.

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The Drug War Against the Akha

Index of the Drug War
Drug War Overview Jan. 2006
The Drug War Creates Mass Death of the Akha From Disease and Starvation. Death Rate As High as 20% in Some Villages. Forced Relocations, No Land, No Food, No Jobs. Data Supported by Independent International Reports.
The Drug War has a violent effect on Akha communities that goes beyond just police prosecution of would be offenders. Military and police violence against the Akha has been a standard event in Thailand. Extra-judicial killings and killings for no reason are what the Akha expect.
Use Google to Search This Site. There Are Hundreds of Drug War Articles in News
DRUG WAR DEATH PICS - Killings Paid For With YOUR Tax Dollars
Death Pics with Many Captions

Creates Mass Death of the Akha From Disease and Starvation. Death Rate As High as 20% in Some Villages. Forced Relocations, No Land, No Food, No Jobs. Data Supported by Independent International Reports. has a violent effect on Akha communities that goes beyond just police prosecution of would be offenders. Military and police violence against the Akha has been a standard event in Thailand. Extra-judicial killings and killings for no reason are what the Akha expect.

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The Queen's Royal Project Seizes the Land of Hooh Yoh Village

Royal Project Should Give Back the Land at Hooh Yoh

Project Tries to justify taking the land
Theft of Akha Land
Update - Volunteers Harrassed by Thai Army
Tourists in one village were harrassed because a foreign tourist had gone and taken a picture of the Project at Hooh Yoh. The Thai Army said "no one can take pictures of this project"
The Army proceeded to go through the inside of the house where tourists were staying, took their photos and checked their passports.
Your Support URGENTLY Needed to Back Up Hooh Yoh Akha
Contact your nearest Thai Embassy. Request that these details be investigated.
Information and Pictures
High Resolution Pics Of Hooh Yoh!
Activist Contact Data for the Queen
In 2003 the Project took away all the land of Hooh Yoh Akha, some 4500 acres (8500 Rai) of land. 1500 Akha villagers are displaced and they are made to work at half minimum wage on the land that belonged to them.
We need volunteers to continue to protest to the Thai Government and Embassies about the seizure of this land.
In addition to this seizure of Hooh Yoh land, the project has gone on to seize tea lands of Pai a Prai Akha village, in the same district, Ampur Mae Fah Luang, Chiangrai Province.
The Thai government terrorizes the Akha in order to keep them suppressed. The occasional brutal murder works to this end. Though there are many Akha who would gladly have their photos on this website, or run a column here, they can not speak out in such a public way if they want to stay alive.
Your protest supports and strengthens the Akha people.

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Activism For Helping the Akha People

Akha Human Rights
What You Can Do To Help

Areas of Focus: 1. Missionary removal of Akha children and coerced conversion.
2. Thai seizure of rice lands, forced relocations, extra-judicial executions
3. The US Supported Drug War in Thailand which rubber stamps profiling and violence against the Akha and other ethnic groups.
4. Missing Akha Refugees in the US, Sacramento area.

Your volunteer time and energy is needed to protect the Akha people.

Approximately 70,000 Akha reside in Thailand. 320 or more villages. The Akha have the least rights in Thailand of any country, suffer the greatest level of abuse and imprisonment. Their culture is destroyed by US missionaries.

Protect the Akha Peace and Justice Center
The Akha Peace and Justice Center, set up in 2004 (after the slaughter of the 2003 Drug War) to protect Akha villages in the regions of Chaingrai Province, has been a steady destination for western volunteers seeking to assist the Akha people with direct action to protect their human rights. You can visit the center and assist the villagers. Bpah Mah Hahn and Pah Nmm Villages, Ampur Mae Fah Luang, Chiangrai Province! Write us for details.
We call on all supporters of the Akha to protest in the strongest
terms to the nearest Thai Embassy.
Your Assistance and Action Will Help the Akha People.
List of Thai Embassies and Consuls World Wide.
List of Thai Consuls and Embassies World Wide
If any of the Thai Cosul or Embassy addresses bounce then go to another embassy or look also on this page:
Full List of Thai Government Sites
Contact Your MP and Embassy HERE!
MP List
Post to any indymedia site and for your local area.
Indy Media

Suggestions for Action
Sign Akha Petition #1 (500 plus signators)
1. Get an article published, air a radio interview, get a spot on TV.
2. Write letters to Thai Embassies.
3. Post our link on your website
4. Do volunteer work, research.
5. Plan a trip to do photography and video documentation.
6. Write protest letters to missionary groups.
7. Do a fundraising project.
8. Host a presentation in your area.
9. Pay for literature to be printed.
10. Hand out literature at your library, university and church.
11. Post to any Indymedia site and for your local area.
Indy Media

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Ongoing Projects

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Akha Video Project

Videos with the Akha people.

3rd Akha Journal

Currently Assembling

Laos Bed Net Project

Providing Mosquito Nets to the Akha of Laos

Akha TV

Akha TV presentations in the Akha Daily Video Section

Activism and Publicity

Promoting accurate knowledge of the Akha, their lives, culture, and human rights situation.

Prisons

Thai Prisons are a cruel life for the Akha people. The Thai government imposes many harsh conditions on the Akha people, and takes their land. Then when the Akha make any infraction of the law they are sent off to prison for many years. There are many old Akha in prison, both women and men, who were imprisoned for such infractions years ago. We believe that the Thai people should receive similar harsh treatment at the hands of the international community be they business people or tourists.

Bang Kwang Prison Web Site Bang Kwang Net 

Save a Life

Alternate Akha Prisoners Site

Alternate List Site

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The Choice
After considering the facts as a human rights activist, when it comes to choosing between following the teachings of christianity or following Jesus Christ, I have decided to follow Jesus Christ.
Matthew McDaniel

Full Redemption
Jesus Christ offers full redemption, in all spheres of human life, justice, land, food and the rights to one's own children. We should not ignore or overlook any aspect of human existence and fail to mention it in the redemption of the human condition. This includes the Akha and their need for security and the protection of rights. It does no good to claim that redemption only applies to the life here after, while ignoring the incredible suffering inflicted on these people. Individuals who claim that the great difficulties that the Akha face helps convert them, have distorted and deformed the gospel.