Hill Tribes
    One of the main attractions for travelers coming to Chiang Rai is the hill tribes. Promoted as people living in harmony with nature, the Thai Tourist Authority does its best to have foreigners believe everything is paradisiacal for the tribal people. Unfortunately this is not the case. Many of the tribal people are not given citizenship and therefore are not entitled to cheap healthcare, can not leave their area without special permission and are frequently exploited by corrupt police, military and government workers. Many struggle to have enough income to support themselves because they no longer have access to their farm land. They also have to contend with a negative media portrayal. In the newspapers or on TV they are frequently presented as dirty and promiscuous simpletons, drug dealers and environmental destroyers. Missionaries have failed to acknowledge the wisdom of their traditional knowledge and have split villages acrimoniously in their attempt to save souls. The war on drugs promoted by the US Drug Enforcement Agency has put money and weapons in the hands of soldiers who arrest or kill tribal people without due process of the law.

One of the most comprehensive websites documenting human rights issues is Human Rights Watch -
www.hrw.org/asia/thailand.php

An Amnesty International report on extrajudicial killings can be found at
http://web.amnesty.org/library/

For those interested in learning about the struggle of the Akha, go to
www.akha.org.

For an information on the different tribal groups and their beliefs, look at
The Hill Area Development Foundation