Access to Social Protection and Healthcare of Stateless Children

This joint research by UNICEF, UNHCR, and TDRI examines the challenges faced by over 179,000 registered stateless children in Thailand in accessing essential social protection and healthcare services. Despite government efforts, significant legal and administrative barriers persist. Key findings highlight:

• Limited awareness and misinformation about entitlements for schemes like Social Security Section 40, which is often miscommunicated as being available only to Thai nationals.
• Movement restrictions that limit the ability of stateless children and their guardians to travel for medical treatment, employment, or accessing government services, entrenching social exclusion.
• Discrepancies in benefits, such as exclusion from the nationality-based Child Support Grant despite families falling within the income threshold.

Policy recommendations include enhancing awareness, addressing movement restrictions, ensuring equity in programs, and strengthening inter-agency coordination.