by Lia Sciortino
Stateless in Thailand
Documentaries | Mobility | Thailand
The right to have an identity is almost as basic as the right to life. Many civil war refugees who fled from Myanmar in the 1980s or earlier, who settled in Thailand, and are labeled as “displaced or stateless persons”.Producers of this documentary shed light on the situation of these people who live in Chiang Rai, near the border of Thailand and Myanmar. They show the existence of the children of migrants who are born in Thailand but have been denied citizenship – all because their parents are “displaced”. These bright young children do not have the right to education, equal opportunities in society, and most of all a country to call home. Though they did not choose to be born here, they say, they would like to belong, and erase the psychological borders that keep them from being respected as human beings.