Life Development Center

About Hill-tribes

About hill tribes people

Thailand is inhabitants many ethnic minority groups, more than ten ethnic minority groups reside scattered throughout the country. Many of them are being called as high land people or hill-tribes because they are reside on the mountains and hills, these ethnic minority groups include; Karen, Hmong, Lahu, Ahka, Mien and Lisu and many others. There is no exactly official statistic about these tribal populations because crossing borders and migrations are non stop. A very close estimated number of these tribal populations are 1,000,000 and 70-75 % of total population is resides scattered on the mountains and hills in the north of Thailand along the Thai-Burma borders. These tribal people originally came from China through Burma some of them migrated to Lao, Vietnam and Burma. These tribal people have their own unique value cultures; each group has their own tradition, culture and language.The majority of these tribal populations earned their living by means of agriculture and livestock. In 16th -18th centuries these ethnic minority groups cultivated opium as a cash crop and cultivated rice, cons and beans for consumption until late nineteen century the United Nations imposed the Thai government to banned opium production in Thailand
and some other Asia countries that made imposed them into extremely difficulty situation and have changed their lives styles into the Green Revolution era that came along with capitalism and materialism.

The Thai government introduced varieties substitute cash crops that depending on agrochemicals products, and also caused deforestation because of expanding farming areas. Since then modern agriculture that depending on agrochemicals products such as insecticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers overwhelmed the farmers of Thailand and consequently brought up many others problems - environment  problem, health problem, capitalism and materialism problems as well as local plants and wild animals extinction. According to Food and Drugs Association (FDA) and the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand reported that the number of patients that caused by food poisoning due to consuming agrochemicals products contaminated foods is increasing dramatically in Thailand, more than100,000 sickness that caused by
agrochemicals occurring yearly, and the mortality rates is also increasing from 25,000 – 40,000 yearly. The total cereal production in Thailand increased 2 times from 1961-2005, and the total land under cereal production almost doubled in the same period (from 6,500 – 11,500 thousand hectares) (FAOSTATS 2007).      

 In Thailand hill-tribes are among the most disadvantaged vulnerable groups of society, most of hill-tribes people are engaged in agriculture as their main economic activity and in household-based handicraft production as well as wage employment as their secondary sources of incomes. Since most of them lived in remote areas where there is no social infrastructure, no regular transportation they can not access to basic social services e.g. public health care, education and employment opportunities. Assisting hill-tribes communities is facing a number of challenges e.g. geographical isolation, land settlement or restriction of farming areas, migrations, communication barriers, legal status/citizenship, poverty, limitation of education etc. These ethnic minority groups have been development victims, the Thai government
and many other development organizations present the problems of hill-tribes people for rising funds and taking advantages. In the past most of media depicted ethnic minority groups’ images/ stereotypes in different negative ways such as, drug barons, communists, and forest destructors and made constructed a very strong negative social mainstream and led to racism, opponents and the other among the Thai society. (Case study on education opportunities for hill-tribes in Northern Thailand)  

The estimated of hill-tribes population in each provinces in the north of Thailand

The estimated of each group population and education

Source from Demographic and Social Survey of Tribal People, Center for the Coordination of Non-governmental Tribal Development Organization (CONTO) and World Concern Thailand 1999 page 11

40% of total tribal people don’t have Thai citizenship. They also regarded as second class population of the Thai society, racism and discrimination are also frequently happening in different forms. Due to many constraints the majority of tribal populations are not accessed to assistance resources provided by government and other development organizations that make them behind others. The four main problems of tribal population in Thailand are 1) Poverty
2) Limitation of education and illiteracy 3) legal rights or social status 4) restriction of cultivation

1) Poverty problem  

The majority of tribal people are poor, the average family annual incomes is around U$ 600 – 1,200 which less than 1 U$ per day as UN defined and under the poor line that defining by the Thai government. The main income is from agriculture such as cons, peanuts, beans, ginger and garlic. Because of poverty problem most of families are not be able to support their children’s education, most of school children dropout and got involved in drug dealing and sex commercial
A large number of tribal young naïve girls and youth from rural communities lured to mega cities for seeking better employment and development opportunities but due to limitation of education and work skills most of the jobs they have been given are labor works that Japanese labeled as “3K” which derived from – hard work, dirty work, high risk work and low paid work or in English they defined as 3Ds works – difficult work, dirty work, and dangerous work. These kinds of works include, gas fillers, constructors, parlor massagers, dish cleaners, sex workers and waitress/waiters. There is no an official statistics about the number of these migrations because it is extremely to tracking, the estimated number of tribal labors that lured to mega cities from the north of Thailand is 60,000 – 80,000 and many of young naïve girls are involved in sex commercial either voluntarily and being forced by human traffickers, many of them being sold and treated as an animal. Thailand is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sex exploitation and forced labors. In each year 10,000 – 15,000 ethnic minority women and children were sold into Thailand from neighborhood countries such as Burma, Lao, Vietnam, Cambodia, Republic of China, Russia, and Uzbekistan by human traffickers, some of them being sold into Malaysia, Singapore, Japan Hong Kong and many other western countries by human traffickers in various forms e.g. pretended married, job offered etc. Ethnic minorities such as hill-tribes people are at high risk for trafficking internally and abroad, many unskilled labors from Thailand who migrated to Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, the United States of America, and Gulf states are subjected to condition of forced labors and debt bondages as well.(Department of State Report Release 2000) http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Thailand

2) Limitation of education and illiteracy

70% of total tribal populations are illiterate, only young generation accessed to formal education, middle age and elders are uneducated. Communication in Thai has been a big problem for middle age and elders that made them unable accessed to social services. As a result of Tribal Research Institute surveyed demonstrates that only 0.08% of total tribal students were at university level, 0.6% was in college level, 9.94% was in high school and 89.31% was at kindergarten and primary school level. (Tribal Research Institute, The Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Tribal Student Education Report, 1995).      A large number of tribal school leavers are connected to many social problems – drug addiction and trafficking, sex commercial and youth gangs, and many of them ended up as AIDS victims. According to UNESCO global education ranking surveyed 2000 discovered that Thailand education’s standard is lagging behind others with the ranking number 60th (UNESCO. The Leap To Equality Summary Report, 14 Nov. 2004 http://www.efareport.Unesco.org ADB also reports that school drop out rate in South East Asia is high, only 50% of total student enrolled completed primary school within the prescribe time. A large number of tribal students are encountering various problems that caused them dropping out of school which include child abandonment, migration, lack of parents’ motivation, poverty and parents’ separation, less than 50% completed secondary school. These information obviously demonstrate that Thailand education standard and tribal education are lagging behind (ADB. Combating Primary School Dropout in South East Asia. Manila Philippines: 1998) Limitation of education, illiteracy, lacking citizenship among tribal population in Thailand deprived them from access to basic social services, assistance resources, seeking employment, traveling and residence  

3) Legal rights or social status

Vulnerable ethnic minority population in Thailand is also facing legal rights or social status problem many of them still don’t have Thai citizenship with estimated 40% of total population. Without having citizenship is extremely difficult for residence, receiving social services, traveling and working in Thailand. Forced to leave their communities on the mountains and hills by the authorities is also occurred frequently in many tribal communities due to lacked of citizenship/legitimate document and forest conservation expansion policies. Without having citizenship is also easily being take advantages by others, trapped in social pitfalls and being treated unfair in many different forms. Students who have completed university are also not eligible to apply for a job without having citizenship, in many tribal communities especially border areas bribery and extortion for having the Thai citizenship are occurring often, many tribal people who had applied for citizenship are being extorting by local authorities for 10 – 20 years. Tribal peoples are the most disa

4) Restriction of cultivation

The majority of tribal populations are earned their living by means of agriculture and livestock yet less than 30% from total population have land rights document, for the rest 70% don’t have land rights document, the expansion of forest conservation and national parks policies of the Thai government are mostly overlapped tribal communities and farming areas that caused them forced to leave their own communities and cultivation areas. Controversial between tribal communities who were overlapping by the Thai government forest conservation and national parks are happening in different areas, many tribal communities forced to leave by government authority, many of them arrested and sentenced to jail on account of encroaching forest conservation. The Thai government solutions policies for this problem are rarely reached to them areas. Due to many influencing force factors imposed tribal people in Thailand into extremely difficulty situations

In addition, vulnerable tribal people in Thailand is also encountering many different health problems include, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, illicit drugs, hygiene, water sanitation, nutrition and food poisonings. Due to tribal communities are reside scattered on the mountains a long the Thai-Burma borders and have limitation of education, employment opportunity that imposed them into dilemma situation, and challenges them to get involve in drug trafficking and addiction. Most of tribal people who got involved in drug dealing were arrested or being killed by polices and drug barons and left their children behind as orphans or single parent and generated many different social problems.

Drug situation in Thailand is still alarming, especially among vulnerable ethnic minority communities, a widely spreading addictive drug is methamphetamine pills (ATS) which imported from Burma by United Wa State Army (UWSA). Drug situation in Thailand is still critical and decisive, the impacts of Amphetamine Type Stimulant (ATS) abused Thai society in the past many years has reached crisis proportions. ATS has spreads to infiltrate homes, schools, government offices and factories throughout the country. The pandemic of ATS or known locally as Ya Ba which mean mad pill has left in its wake a widening swath of organized crime, corruptions, street violations and broken families. The impacts among youths and students are server.

stated that up to billion tablets were smuggled into Thailand in the past several years. The Thai government estimated that more than 3,000,000 Thais or approximately 5% of the total Thai population are involved in drug dealing.  

5) HIV/AIDS and other health problems among tribal people in Thailand

Even if Thailand is known as a successful in fighting HIV/AIDS country in the past several years, however, the challenge now is to make ensure that this success does not lead to complacency and inaction. The prevalence of the disease is still relatively high. Thailand is still vulnerable to a resurgence of a generalized epidemic. If Thailand is falters in its efforts to control the disease, the impact would be far-reaching, dealing a major blow to the global response to HIV/AIDS, to UNAIDS, and to many countries of the world struggling to follow Thailand’s example, bringing into question the effectiveness of the prevention- based paradigm
Thailand has achieved a stunning 83% reduction of new HIV/AIDS infection by dropping from 142,819 in 1991 to 21,260 cases in 2003. The HIV/AIDS situation among tribal populations are underlying because tribal communities are scattered in a wide areas on the mountains and hills in remote areas, The HIV infected people also do not opened, there is no official statistic HIV/AIDS infected people among tribal population, the Thai government and most resources are not classified HIV/AIDS infected people by race or nationality. Most of tribal people contracting HIV/AIDS virus from the cities and spread to their communities, many tribal labors who were working in the cities are traveling back and forth between the cities and their communities that made increasing the potential of HIV/AIDS virus spreading. UNAIDS, estimated the number of HIV/AIDS infected people in Thailand is around 610,000 – 630,000  

The current situation of AIDS in Thailand, 2008

• The majority of Thailand’s HIV infections (around 80%) occur through heterosexual sex.
• HIV affects more men than women in Thailand; the male-female ratio is 7:5.
• HIV prevalence among pregnant women, which reached a peak of 2.35% in 1995, had fallen to 1.18% by 2003.34
• An estimated 1 in 5 new HIV infections in Thailand are attributable to unprotected sex between men.

Migrant workers

It is estimated that there are around 2 million migrant workers living in Thailand, although only around 700,000 are registered with labor authorities.55 A lot of these workers traveled from neighboring countries such as, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma). They had formed an important part of Thailand’s workforce, but the difficulties that they commonly face - such as language difficulties or fear of arrest and deportation – can prevent them from accessing information about HIV and AIDS, as well as healthcare and other social services. In general, knowledge about HIV and AIDS among this group is extremely poor. Their mobile lifestyle can put them into contact with a higher number of sexual networks than others increasing both the risk that they will become infected and that they will spread infection to other areas of the country.
It is difficult to tracking the exact level of HIV infection among migrant workers, and rates vary between areas. Studies have suggested that, in some areas, HIV prevalence among pregnant migrant workers is more than twice as high as the prevalence among pregnant Thai women. Female migrants, especially those drawn into sex commercial workers are particularly affected by the epidemic.

ORIGINS OF THE HILL-TRIBES OF NORTHERN THAILAND

SINO-TIBETAN STOCK (Mongoloids) AUSTROESIAN STOCK (Negroids) Southern Migration Northern Migration Lo-lo/ Nosu Main Chinese ? Tibeto - Burman Haw - Lawa - Htin, Phi-tong luang - Kha Mu - Kha Haw - Akha, Lisu, - Lahu Na, - Lahu shi - Lahu Shehleh - Karen Group Include: P' wo - Skaw - B' ghwe - Taungthu Yao-Meo-Pateng - Blu Meo - White Meo - Guam B' wa - Yao

Language

A Tibeto-Burman language related to the Lo-Lo dialects with six tones. The Lisu language is a very difficult one since there are many sounds as well as forms. The Lisu people are remarkable linguists. They are very good at learning many other languages. Most of Lisu people are bilingual some are can speak four to five languages. Most of the Lisu elders are fluent in at least Yunanese and Lahu.

ETHIC LINGUISTIC CLASSIFICATION OF THE TRIBAL PEOPLE IN NORTHERN THAILAND.

SINO-TIETON AUSTO-ASIATIC Sinitic Tibeto-Burman Karen Meo-Yao Mon-Khamer Haw Lua Khamu H' thin Lahu Lisu Akha