Thailand - Four cave footballers stateless: official

The chief of Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district has emphasised that Thai citizenship shall be granted based on the law and there will be no exemption even for four of the footballers rescued from the cave.

“I understand that society hopes the rescued boys get citizenship. But we have to comply with the law,” Mae Sai district chief Somsak Khanakham said. 

He spoke after news reports said some of Mu Pa Academy’s members are stateless. 

The team, stranded inside the flooded Tham Luang Cave for more than two weeks, miraculously survived. 

According to Somsak, someone gets Thai citizenship when he or she was born in Thailand or born to Thai parents. 

Somsak said the four of 13 rescued footballers who did not have Thai citizenship were coach Ekkapon Chantawongse, 25, and three footballers Pornchai Khamluang, 16, Mongkol Boonpium, 13, and Adul Sam-on, 14.

According to the Mae Sai district chief, the stateless members called on him for help with citizenship claims about two months ago. He said he has already offered them advice. 

Somsak said he heard Ekkapon already contacted the authorities but had yet to submit all the required documents. 

“For children, their parents must be the one to submit the request for citizenship,” he said. 

Somsak said he expected the footballers to officially seek citizenship after they were discharged from the Chiangrai Prachanakroh Hospital. 

All 13 trapped footballers are now being treated and monitored at the hospital.

Source - TheNation

 

#Thailand - Citizenship of three young cave survivors shines light on plight of stateless persons

THE lack of Thai citizenship of three youth footballers who were saved from the Tham Luang cave has highlighted the hidden problems of stateless people.

The Interior Ministry and the Children and Youth Department have confirmed that three of the 13 survivors from the Chiang Rai cave are stateless persons. Authorities have promised to provide them legal assistance in the nationality verification process and if there were no complications in their documents all of them will have Thai nationality within six months.

Ekkapol Chantawong, Phonchai Khamluang, and Adul Sam-on, three survivors from the Tham Luang cave, are among 500,000 stateless persons in Thailand who have to endure limitations in many aspects of their life as they are denied some rights and opportunities.

It was also disclosed that many stateless persons have to wait for a decade to get Thai citizenship because of the slow verification process.

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 Surapong Kongchantuk, a prominent activist on human rights and nationality issues, said that although the Thai government has provided basic rights to all persons in Thailand, ensuring compulsory education and healthcare, stateless persons still face many complications in their lives.

“Theoretically, all people must be under the care and protection of being a citizen of at least one state, but in reality there are more than 500,000 persons in Thailand who do not have any nationality, even though they are born and raised in Thailand,” Surapong said.

He said the lack of citizenship means that stateless persons are denied access to many fundamental rights such as travelling abroad, getting higher education or employment in some careers, so they do not have many opportunities to improve their lives.

According to Surapong, stateless persons can ask for nationality verification at their local administrative organisation to acquire Thai citizenship. They must provide proof of their birth and lineage and that they were born to a Thai national parent. Ethnic minorities born in Thailand are eligible to get Thai nationality.

Otherwise, they can submit a bachelors degree or diploma or ask for a special grant from the Thai government to get Thai nationality, he said.

Nevertheless, he said the procedure to verify and seek Thai nationality is slow and complicated because local administrative organisations often do not have enough staff to deal with the overwhelming number of requests for nationality verification. Some people have to wait for more than 10 years to get Thai nationality and receive a Thai citizen ID card. Legal Status Network Foundation chairman Santiphong Moonphong also said that due to the complications and the long period of time it takes to get Thai nationality, many youths who do not have citizenship lose opportunities.

Santiphong said he hoped that the nationality status of three survivors from the Tham Luang cave would bring the problems of stateless persons to public attention and get prompt solutions from the government.

Source - TheNation

Thailand cave rescue to be turned into Hollywood movie

The mission to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a Thai cave is to get the Hollywood treatment in a movie announced by faith-based production house Pure Flix.

Managing partner Michael Scott, who lives in Thailand and was at the rescue site in Chiang Rai as the boys were being pulled to safety, made the announcement late Tuesday on Twitter.

"I couldn't be more excited. This story has meant so much to me as I have followed it in Thailand this summer," he said in a video filmed at the scene of the flooded cave in the country's north.

"My wife actually grew up with the Thai Navy SEAL that died in the cave. To see all that heroic bravery in the cave, and to get all the divers out, it's just such a touching event and so personal to me."

Stunning video footage emerged Wednesday of several of the "Wild Boars" team -- aged 11 to 16 -- being freed from the Tham Luang cave on stretchers, ending a successful three-day rescue.

They are in good physical and mental health, say doctors, despite a harrowing 18 days inside the dank, dark cave before a risky rescue operation that was dubbed "Mission: Impossible".

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Scott's wife has been involved with planning the funeral for Saman Kunan, the former SEAL that died on July 6 while helping install oxygen tanks in preparation for the extraction.

"We're here really looking at this as a movie that could inspire millions of people across the globe," Scott added.

"And we're here witnessing the events, gathering some contacts and everything, to really tell a story about an international effort, the entire world coming together to save (12) kids trapped in this Thai cave."

Pure Flix co-founder David A.R. White told The Wall Street Journal the company -- which was behind the 2014-18 "God's Not Dead" trilogy -- was talking to actors, writers and potential investors.

"Pure Flix joins the rest of the world in thanking God for answering prayers for the successful rescue of those trapped in the cave in Thailand," the company said in a statement.

Source - TheNation

 

Football legends praise rescue ‘heroes'

“The heroes are there, not at the World Cup – the kids, the divers and everyone involved in the rescue. For me, the World Cup comes second.” Mourinho

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has extended his congratulations to the 13 Mu Pa Academy football club members after they were rescued from a Chiang Rai cave on Tuesday.

Mourinho told Russian broadcaster RT that he was amazed at what has happened in Thailand.

“The heroes are there, not at the World Cup – the kids, the divers and everyone involved in the rescue. For me, the World Cup comes second.”

Other football celebrities and English Premiership champions have also expressed their congratulations to the Mu Pa team from Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.

Arsenal’s German footballer Mesut Ozil tweeted at @MesutOzil1088: “All boys and their coach have made it out of the cave in Thailand safely.#NeverGiveUp”

Fresh from helping France to win the World Cup semi-final against Belgium, Les Bleus’ midfielder Paul Pogba dedicated the victory to the boys on Instagram.

“The victory goes to the heroes of the day, well done boys, you are strong,” he wrote.

Pogba’s club Manchester United announced on Facebook that the Mu Pa boys are invited to a game at the Old Trafford in the new season.

“We would be honoured to welcome the team from the Wild Boars Football Club and their rescuers to Old Trafford this coming season.”

The invitation should bring smiles to the faces of the 12 Thai boys and their coach who were trapped inside the cave in Chiang Rai for more than two weeks.

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Former England captain David Beckham also posted on Instagram to salute the rescue team, especially Saman Kunan who died during the operation.

“These boys are heroes, as is the coach, the men and the women who risked their lives rescuing them and the incredible Saman Kunan,” Beckham said.

As they have to spend a week at a hospital for recovery, they are unlikely to accept the invitation from Fifa president Gianni Infantino to the World Cup final in Russia this Sunday.

England’s defender Kyle Walker posted on Instagram asking for the address of the trapped boys because one of the victims wore England’s national jersey. 

“I’d like to send out shirts to them. Is there anyone who can help with an address?” asked Walker, whose team will face Croatia in the other World Cup semi-final tonight.

On Tuesday former English Premiership champions Leicester City released a clip saying in Thai “Mu Pa, klab baan” (Wild Boars, come home!).

Source - TheNation

Finding a new opportunity to invite the boys to a FIFA event

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino had invited the boys' Wild Boars football team to Sunday's World Cup final last week.

But FIFA said it had been informed "that due to medical reasons, the boys will not be in a position to travel to Moscow".

"FIFA's priority remains the health of everyone involved in the operation and we will look into finding a new opportunity to invite the boys to a FIFA event to share with them a moment of communion and celebration," a spokesman said.

The Thai footballers, aged from 11 to 16, had been stuck deep underground after setting off to explore the cave with their coach after training on June 23.

FIFA also expressed condolences to the family of a Thai Navy SEAL who died after running out of oxygen during the rescue operation on Friday. "Our thoughts are with his family," FIFA said.

 Sourse - TheNation

#ThaiCaveRescue: Mission in third day to extract remaining four members of football team and their coach from a cave in northern Thailand

All 12 boys and their coach out of flooded cave system, Thai navy Seals confirm

All 12 of the "Wild Boars" academy team and their 25-year-old coach have now been rescued from the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand, Thai Navy Seals confirm.

Four of the players and their coach have escaped on an extended operation on the third day of the rescue mission.

Final Wild Boar leaves the cave

An Australian doctor, who has been providing medical checks before the boys start their journey, and four Thai navy Seals are yet to come out of the caves.

The group were stuck in the cave since June 23 and under went a 4km long journey to escape.
The four boys and their coach who were rescued today are being taken to Chiang Rai Hospital for medical treatment.

Source -TheNation / nationmultimedia.com/

Two more Mu Pa footballers removed from Tham Luang cave Tuesday

Two more young footballers of Mu Pa Academy football club on Tuesday separately emerged from Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province on the day 3 of operation to remove the remaining four football players and their assistant coach.

Chief operation Narongsak Osottanakorn said earlier that the rescue authorities expected to remove all the stranded Mu Pa members from the cave today.

The operation that began on Sunday have already retrieved eight of the 13 Mu Pa members who got stuck in the cave since June 23.

The ninth boy emerged from the cave at 4pm while the tenth about 20 minutes later.

They received medical examinations at a field hospital erected near the cave.

They will follow the same pattern by boarding an ambulance to board helicopter to Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital.

The young Mu Pa Academy footballers, whose name have not been revealed, were taken by ambulance from the cave in Mae Sai district before boarding a chopper to Chiangrai Prachanukraw hospital in Muang district. They became the second and the third to come out of the cave on day two of the operation to evacuate the footballers and their assistant coach from the cave, where they were stranded 15 days ago. On Monday, four of his team members were separately extracted from the cave and are receiving treatment at the hospital.

Source - TheNation