The report specifies several causes of the hardship experienced by the hilltribe Karen in Tha Song Yang district, Tak province. The first is lack of transportation links with the outside world, since many of the villages are situated in the remote highlands. Villagers are denied access to many of the state?s welfare provisions and services. Secondly, low agricultural yield causes poverty, which is compounded by the difficulties of acquiring Thai nationality and land rights. The villages also lack adequate health and educational care. There is a shortage of teachers, schools, whose curricula are insensitive to the needs of hilltribe students. Lack of fluency in the Thai language also presents an obstacle to the villagers? communication with state officials. For this reason, the hilltribe Karen tend not to receive the same level of state services as the lowland population. Moreover, the negative attitudes of state officials toward the hilltribe people also compound the mistreatment of the latter in ways that could be regarded as discriminatory.