For the past three decades, Thailand's international standing on child rights protection has been marred by its refusal to recognise the need to assist refugee children. No longer.
Thailand will no longer be the only country in the world that holds reservations on a state's humanitarian assistance to refugee children in the Convention of the Rights of the Child.
On July 9, the government announced Thailand would withdraw its reservation to Article 22 of the convention, confirming the country's commitment to give humanitarian aid to refugee children and work with civic groups to protect them, including efforts to facilitate family reunions.
While this move is commendable, actual implementation to fulfil the commitment is crucial. Thailand ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, with reservations on three articles: Article 7 on birth registration and nationality, Article 22 on refugee children, and Article 29 on education for all.
The country later withdrew reservations on Articles 7 and 29 due to a new policy to provide education for all children regardless of nationality and the law to register every birth in the country. However, it kept the reservation on refugee children, fearing it would require joining the 1951 Refugee Convention and its responsibilities.
Now, thanks to the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the government realises the concerns are unfounded. Since the country's laws and social services for refugee children already align with Article 22's humanitarian principles, keeping the reservation is unnecessary.
The move to ensure assistance for refugee children is also timely. Thailand is experiencing an influx of children and youth fleeing escalating warfare and forced conscription in Myanmar. With no peace in sight, these refugee children urgently need help to avoid becoming prey to human trafficking. It will also enable more efforts to give basic rights to vulnerable children. With education and work skills, they are precious human resources that will benefit Thailand's society and economy as the country is rapidly ageing.
When Thailand lifted its reservation on education for non-Thai children in the children's rights convention in 1996, a large number of migrant children finally gained access to the education system. The withdrawal of reservations on birth registration in 2010 also enabled children to have a legal identity and helped the country maintain accurate civil registration records, which are essential not only for human resources policy but also for national security.
Yet many challenges persist due to bureaucratic red tape and ethnic prejudice. For example, 27 years after the withdrawal of the reservation on education for all, hundreds of thousands of migrant children still do not have access to compulsory education. A large number of them have also dropped out.
In addition, education authorities have shut down many learning centres that offer education for migrant children. The raid on a learning centre in Ranong, for example, left over 3,000 migrant children without education. They also deported over 100 children from a school in Ang Thong last year and in Lop Buri this year, claiming the children were illegal immigrants.
In Tak's Mae Sot district on the Thailand-Myanmar border, the regional education office ordered schools not to accept migrant children and those fleeing wars in Myanmar. This is a blatant violation of the Education for All policy and humanitarian principles.
Despite the 2008 Civil Registration Act mandating the registration of all births in the country (and 13 years after the withdrawal of reservations on birth registration), hundreds of thousands of children still do not have birth registration documents, rendering both Thai and migrant children stateless and living without security and welfare support.
Many officials still harbour ethnic prejudice and do not understand their duties under the civil registration law. Poverty also hinders many poor from reporting the birth of their child. As a result, many children become stateless, including those who were born Thai but are deprived of citizenship because they do not have birth certificates.
The withdrawal of Thailand's reservation on refugee children in the Convention on the Rights of the Child is long overdue. The Foreign Ministry must act swiftly with the United Nations to officially withdraw the reservation.
The government also must provide easy access to education and civil registration for migrant and refugee children. It must also punish officials for policy violations.
By ensuring effective policy implementation to protect children's rights, Thailand cannot only transform the lives of countless children and bolster its international reputation on human rights, but also secure valuable resources for the country's economic future.