Mae Yao is a sub-district in the capital district of the northern Thai province of Chiang Rai. It is a rural area of rice paddies, forests and mountains populated by just 12,000 people. Highland ethnic minorities--or hilltribes--comprise eighty percent of the population of Mae Yao.

Hilltribes is a collective term for the various tribal peoples who have migrated from China and Tibet over the past few centuries and who now inhabit the remote mountainous forested border areas between Northern Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma). The six major tribes within Thailand are the Karen, Mien, Hmong, Lisu, Lahu and Akha. Each of these ethnic groups has a distinct language and culture. Together the hilltribes comprise an official population of 540,000, but statistics are imprecise as within the past decade persecution from the Burmese government has caused a huge influx of Karen and Tai Yai (Shan) refugees into Thailand. There are also a significant number of Thailand-born tribal people who have not been granted Thai citizenship and are thus not counted in the census. The population of Mae Yao is dominated by Lahu, Karen and Akha, with some Mien and Lanna Thai villages.

Subsistence farmers, the hilltribes have survived migrating for centuries, using their slash and burn agricultural techniques and taking what they find from the thick forests of the remote highlands. Tighter conservation of Thailand's virtually depleted forests, however, has forced hilltribe people to abandon their migratory ways and traditional agricultural methods. Those who do still farm in the mountains hide their fields deep within the hills and must walk hours each day to get to them; those who have moved to the lowlands do not know how to farm without exhausting their one plot of soil.

The issues confronting hilltribe people in modern Thailand include poverty, land rights, drug abuse, racism, cultural erosion, human trafficking, an overall lack of education, and, most importantly, the lack of Thai citizenship for nearly 50% of all qualified people. Without Thai citizenship, one is not eligible for any of the state rights or benefits, including free secondary education, the right to vote or discounted health care. To read more about the issues confronting hilltribe people, click here.