Stateless children's lives of distress and despair

Mana Choophorn, a student of Lahu descent, suffered from tuberculosis at a young age and kidney failure at 15. She can now walk again thanks to a foundation which helped with the high treatment costs.

Mana was one of several young people who spoke yesterday at a Chiang Mai seminar on statelessness. All speakers shared the same traumas over social and racial discrimination throughout their childhood.

Mana said because of distress and despair, she contemplated suicide many times during the two-year hospital treatment for kidney failure.

She was hoping to earn a bachelor's degree, but was not sure whether she would live long enough because of her earlier poor health.

Natthakarn Sirimalai, a college student based on Mae Hong Son's Sob Moei district, was finally granted Thai citizenship in September after a long battle. District officials would not accept any documents proving blood links to her father, demanding only DNA-based tests.

After her father, a low-income hill tribesman, received Thai citizenship, she and two younger brothers underwent repeated multi-step documentation to verify their links to their father and gain citizenship.

She almost gave up - then a foundation offered to fund a DNA test which cleared the way.

Natthakarn called for an alternative methods to determine family links in place of DNA tests for those who could not afford them.

Mueta Nawanart, a law student at Payab University, called for the training of officials at district offices or government agencies involved in registration at low levels to learn more about the verification and paperwork procedures needed in obtaining or granting Thai citizenship.