The Thai Lao question: the reappearance of Thailand's ethnic Lao community and related policy questions

This article presents an anatomy of the 2011 Thailand Country Report to the Committee responsible for the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, in which Thailand recognized its largest ethnic minority community, the Thai Lao, to the international community. The art...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asian ethnicity 2018-01, Vol.19 (1), p.81-105
Main Authors: Draper, John, Kamnuansilpa, Peerasit
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classification
Delegation
Democratization
Ethnic groups
Ethnicity
inclusion (social, economic, political)
Northeast Thailand
Policy analysis
Racial discrimination
Racism
Rights
Social democracy
Sociocultural factors
Thai Lao
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Summary:This article presents an anatomy of the 2011 Thailand Country Report to the Committee responsible for the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, in which Thailand recognized its largest ethnic minority community, the Thai Lao, to the international community. The article analyses the Country Report as well as the deliberations of the Committee in dialogue with the Thailand Country Delegation. It provides a policy context for the Country Report, including Thailand's classification of ethnic communities. The article argues the need to minimize racialized discrimination as regards the Thai Lao. Five policy issues, framed in the context of inclusion and which arise from the recognition of the Thai Lao by the Country Report, are considered. The article concludes by discussing how the Thai Lao may be better included in Thailand via political developments towards a social democracy in Thailand, for social democracy can recognize sociocultural rights.
ISSN:1463-1369
1469-2953
DOI:10.1080/14631369.2016.1258300