‘Diagnosing’ Statelessness Figure 1: Stateless villagers showing their now-invalid Thai identification cards to the Committee members. Committee members soon got the villagers to line up in order to investigate the authenticity of their documents. When the convener asked to visit a family home, a man and his wife volunteered. I went along with her while others continued looking through the documents. A short walk up hill from the meeting hall led us to a small tattered house made with bamboo and tin roof. The couple lived alone as their children were now living in Chiang Mai City. They showed us a folder of documents which included a birth certificate and a household registration with mug shots specific to the highlanders. It was clear that they had the documents required by the Thai state to claim Thai citizenship. The couple was particularly worried for their children’s future, as this ‘pause’ in the legal status has been negatively affecting their life for more than a decade. The convener promised to bring justice to the villagers. 227