NO SAFE HAVEN REFUGEES IN THAILAND According to UNHCR, there are currently some 97,000 refugees in Thailand, most of whom are ethnic Karen and Karenni from Myanmar who live in nine camps on the Thailand– Myanmar border. There are also an estimated 5,000 refugees and asylum-seekers living in Bangkok and surrounding urban areas.129 While Thailand has long accommodated refugees from Myanmar along its border with the country, and allowed them official refugee status and protection, refugees living outside of these camps and in other parts of the country are not officially recognised or granted any formal legal status. Instead, they are treated as ‘aliens’ under the country’s 1979 Immigration Act and, if found to be in breach of its provisions (for example, by entering or staying in the country without permission) are subject to arrest, detention and deportation.130 Despite this, the Immigration Act grants the Minister of Interior considerable latitude to allow ‘aliens’ to remain in Thailand, so in practice, this has allowed the Thai authorities to establish several different at the hands of human smugglers as opposed to human traffickers.134 Other Rohingya in Thailand, particularly those who arrived in the country prior to the 2015 Andaman sea boat crisis, have sought to stay in Thailand by registering as migrant workers. Undocumented migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) have been able to regularize their status thought a ‘nationality verification’ process, which grants them basic legal rights in the country.135 Children born to these parents can obtain official documentation confirming they are the children of migrant workers, and this entitles them to access education, healthcare, and other services. Application for migrant worker status can be challenging, however, as it can requires identity documentation that many Rohingya simply do not have. The risk of rejection – and thus possible detention or deportation – means that some choose not to apply, leaving them vulnerable to arrest and detention. 22 avenues through which migrant workers, victims of human trafficking, and UNHCR-registered refugees and asylum-seekers can stay in the country, albeit temporarily. There are currently moves to establish a national framework regulating the status of refugees in the country, and on 24 December 2019, the Royal Thai Government approved a regulation establishing a National Screening Mechanism (NSM), which would enable the authorities to distinguish people in need of international protection from economic and other regular migrants. While there are concerns about some aspects of the regulation,131 there are hopes that it could lead to an improvement in the protection of refugees and asylum seekers in the country, however implementation has been delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.132 As it stands, however, Rohingya would likely be excluded from assessment under the NSM because, according to the government, they pose risks to ‘national security’.133 Under Thai law, all children born in the country have the right to birth registration, regardless of their or their parents’ nationality, legal or other status.136 While birth registration is generally easy to obtain for Rohingya children whose parents have secured regularised legal status in Thailand, for those whose parents are undocumented, interacting with authorities to obtain such documentation can place them at risk of arrest and detention under the country’s Immigration Act.137 In Thailand, birth registration and the provision of a birth certificates does not confer citizenship rights and children born in Thailand who would otherwise be stateless are not automatically entitled to Thai nationality. Only children who have one or more parents who is a Thai national, or who are born in Thailand to non-Thai parents with permanent residency, automatically acquire nationality at birth. While children born in Thailand to parents who do not have permanent residency can apply for nationality, they must meet certain eligibility criteria, which in practice can be difficult