intercept Rohingya boats nearing the coast and, only after ensuring the occupants will travel further to Malaysia or Indonesia, provide essential supplies. However, passengers on any boat that lands on Thai shores are detained.76 65 Between April and October 2020, hundreds of Rohingya were stranded at sea. Border closures and entry restrictions related to the COVID-19 response in Southeast Asia continued to prevent Rohingya from disembarking from boats and seeking asylum. Indonesian and Bangladeshi authorities disembarked the stranded boats and discovered they had attempted entry into Thailand and Malaysia where authorities had pushed boats back out to sea. Testimony from those aboard the boat detail the abuse endured: “We suffered miserably [the crew] tortured us all the time, beating and cutting us”.77 Recommendations 66 76 77 Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to make the following recommendations to Thailand: I. Ensure the right to nationality of stateless persons in Thailand by facilitating access to citizenship in accordance with the 2008, 2012, and 2019 amendments, eliminating obstacles relating to language, bureaucracy, literacy, and awareness; and ensuring that women belonging to ethnic minority and indigenous groups have equal access to nationality. II. Further improve efforts to ensure birth registration for all, through addressing barriers to access such as lack of awareness, language, logistical challenges, and fear to approach authorities. III. Amend the Nationality Act to ensure that women have the equal right to confer nationality upon their non-citizen spouses. IV. Amend the Nationality Act to include safeguards to ensure that otherwise stateless children born in the territory, including foundlings, are automatically granted nationality. Ensure that this is applied with retroactive effect. V. Ensure freedom of movement for stateless persons by lifting travel restrictions imposed on them, thereby, also facilitating equal access to education and the labour market, safe migration and reducing the risk of trafficking. VI. Ensure that stateless children have access to secondary and/or tertiary education, by inter alia amending the 2005 Policy and Cabinet Resolution to guarantee stateless children’s access to scholarships and educational grants, in line with Articles 2, 4 and 28 of the CRC, and providing assistance in navigating loan application procedures. VII. Ensure adequate implementation of the HIPCP Scheme, including through improving collaboration between public health and interior ministries, and S. Banerjee, ‘Myanmar: Trafficking issues, plight of Rohingyas in Thailand’, Observer Research Foundation, (21 January 2021). Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘Monthly Bulletin’ (May 2015). 14