9. Originally, Thailand had a generous jus soli regime, allowing people to acquire nationality by birth on Thai soil which would prevent statelessness being transferred across generations. However, an amendment to the Nationality Act in 1972 excluded from jus soli nationality anyone whose parents were considered to be illegally residing in the country.4 Accordingly, the children of many hill tribe people were precluded from acquiring Thai nationality, as the temporary status of many was not considered to be lawful residence. The Declaration was also applied retroactively, thereby enabling the revocation of people’s nationality and causing further statelessness. Although the Declaration was withdrawn in 1992, its jus soli restriction was incorporated into the Thai nationality law proper and is still in force.5 10. In 2008, Thailand passed a crucial and highly promising amendment to the Nationality Act, which should pave the way for the resolution of many cases of statelessness. As explained below, significant challenges remain in the implementation of this new law. Human rights enjoyment by stateless hill tribe people in Thailand 11. The statelessness of many hill tribe people has a detrimental impact on their enjoyment of human rights. One of the most significant challenges is the travel restrictions imposed: in order to travel beyond their district, stateless hill tribe people first need to acquire a permit. Travelling without a permit means risking arrest and charges. Yet acquiring a permit can be difficult due to the costs and need to invoke the help of the community leader. Moreover, people without identity papers cannot travel as they are not entitled to permits. The exercise of the right to freedom of movement, protected under Article 12 of the ICCPR is thereby constrained. This also impacts the enjoyment of other human rights by stateless hill tribe people. 12. Research shows that compared to citizens, stateless hill tribe people have poorer levels of schooling. The right to education is a universal entitlement protected under different human rights conventions (see for example, Articles 28 and 29 of the CRC) and as of 2005, Thailand has an ‘Education for All’ policy that allows all children to access schooling, regardless of citizenship. However, this policy has not fully resolved problems in realising the right to education for stateless hill tribe people. Many are not able to pay the costs involved in pursuing higher education and stateless people cannot access governmental study loans. The aforementioned travel restrictions also present a severe challenge in physical access to appropriate schooling opportunities. 13. The income level of hill people is also lower than that of citizens. There are many difficulties for stateless people to find jobs in comparison to Thai citizens. In part, this stems from the issue of lower education levels as set out above. However, employers also discriminate on the ground of citizenship, preferring to hire citizens or paying less and not respecting the labour rights of stateless persons. Lastly, the lack of freedom of movement forces many hill tribe people stay in their village for work, whereas higher income can be made from work outside the villages and village work often is seasonal and uncertain, leading to lower and less reliable income. 14. The ability of hill tribe people to cope with crises is also affected by their statelessness and this can expose them to a risk of exploitation. Statelessness has been found to limit the person’s ability to deal with, for instance, an acute financial crisis such as finding funds to pay for a relative’s medical treatment. This can affect people’s willingness to take risks. As such, crises can become a trigger 4 Revolutionary Party Declaration (1972), No. 337. 5 Thai Nationality Act (1965), Section 7bis.