These include military and civilian organizations, a few specialized United Nations agencies, and private voluntary organizations such as, and most important of all, the Royal Development Project for the Hill Tribes. The principal objective of this policy is clear. It is stated quite precisely that the Thai Government wishes to enable the hill tribes to be first class, self-reliant Thai citizens. There are many Hill Tribe Problems as identified by Thai authorities. Most of these problems are related to some aspects of the hill tribes way of life which are considered to be inappropriate to the present socio-economic and political situation of the country.
Some tribes engage in opium production, and opium addiction is also a problem.
The Hill Tribes also have less access to educational services, suffer poorer health and earn lower incomes when compared with other sectors of the national population. Moreover, as tribal groups living in relative cultural isolation, they lack a sense of national identity. This makes it much easier for cultural misunderstandings to occur and to be labeled as political infiltration and insurgency.