Recognising the vulnerability of stateless people to human traffickers, the Royal Thai Government has stepped up its effort to address this issue as part of an attempt to eradicate human trafficking. Recent progress on this issue includes:
           • Since 11 June 2015, the Ministry of Interior has devolved power to process nationality applications in order to accelerate and simplify this process. Over the past three years, at least 18,773 former stateless people were granted nationality in Thailand.
           • On 14 March 2016, Mr. Grisada Boonrach, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, announced that Thailand’s Department of Provincial Administration (DoPA) officially requested all districts to identify and issue legal status to eligible stateless students in Thailand under the government’s database. This directive may benefit up to 65,000 students, or about 15 per cent of the 443,862 people who were registered as stateless in Thailand at the end of October 2015.  The DoPA, which processes nationality applications, requested provinces that cover less than 1,000 stateless students to complete the review within 6 months. Governors of provinces with a high prevalence of stateless students, including Trat, Ratchaburi, Mae Hong Son, Tak, Kanchanaburi, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, are required to directly supervise the work and provide monthly progress reports.
           • Any assistance rendered to stateless people is by no means limited to the issue of nationality. The Government also provides healthcare and educational expenses to these people who were born in Thailand.  Working under Pracharat or “state of the people” model, the government has collaborated closely with all relevant stakeholders including international organisations, such as UNHCR, NGOs as well as community leaders.
         Commending Thailand’s progress on this issue, Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, UNHCR’s Representative in Thailand said “The prospect of thousands of stateless students receiving legal status is yet another milestone in Thailand’s sustained efforts to overcome the challenge of statelessness. By committing to specific targets and timelines, the effort also provides an example to the region and underscores Thailand’s regional leadership role in addressing statelessness.