A/HRC/41/43/Add.1 75. Statelessness within ethnic minority communities continues to be a problem, as Thailand is estimated to have around 486,556 stateless individuals from ethnic groups, which has negatively restricted their freedom of movement and access to justice. However, the Working Group is encouraged by the Government’s commitment to ending statelessness by 2024 and welcomes the decision by the Cabinet potentially to grant legal status and citizenship to around 110,000 stateless children, including those of hill-tribe descent, the children of migrant workers and others born in Thailand. The Working Group encourages the Government to step up its efforts, including by safeguarding collective rights to land and natural resources. XIII. Access to effective remedies 76. During the visit, the Working Group learned that people and communities adversely affected by business-related human rights abuses had a range of options for making complaints or seeking redress, from using dedicated hotlines to approaching the courts, the National Human Rights Commission and Damrongdharma centres for the resolution of minor issues. However, the victims of corporate human rights abuses (in particular those in a vulnerable condition or at higher risk) seem to struggle to secure effective remedies from the existing mechanisms. The obstacles in access to effective remedies include a low level of awareness of rights, linguistic barriers, the high cost of litigation, the inability of the National Human Rights Commission to issue enforceable orders, the limited civic space to organize protests collectively and the fear of intimidation and of the filing of strategic lawsuits against public participation. 77. In that context, the Working Group appreciates the creation of the Justice Fund as a tool to enable victims to defend themselves and seek effective remedies. However, the Government should ensure that requests to access the Fund are dealt with in an impartial manner and expeditiously. The Government has informed the Working Group that the approval process of the Fund has been reduced from 54 days to a maximum of 24 days. In urgent cases, such as the arrests of human rights defenders and defence against the filing of strategic lawsuits against public participation, provisional financial aid should be offered pending disposal of the application in due course. The Working Group encourages the Government to enhance cross-border cooperation with ASEAN and other States to improve access to effective remedies in cases of a trans-border nature. In that regard, the Working Group refers to the recommendations contained in its recent study on best practices and how to improve the effectiveness of cross-border cooperation between States with respect to law enforcement on the issue of business and human rights (A/HRC/35/33). 78. The Working Group also welcomes a recent amendment of the Civil Procedure Code to allow for class actions and a proposal to improve the standard of interpreters working in the justice system. The Administrative Court also allows class action cases, including those relating to community and environmental rights over land, to be filed at the court in the same way as those that can be filed at the Court of Justice by applying mutatis mutandis the Civil Procedure Code. A. Judicial remedies 79. Individuals and communities affected by business-related human rights abuses can seek remedies from the courts, including certain specialized courts, such as labour courts. 80. Justice delayed is justice denied. The Working Group therefore appreciates the fact that Thai courts are generally able to dispose of cases expeditiously. For example, the courts of first instance and the courts of appeal are able to decide over 99 per cent of cases within one year. However, there are other barriers to accessing judicial remedies that should be addressed. For example, with respect to territorial jurisdiction in line with international legal standards, section 4 of the Civil Procedure Code and its related provisions allow the courts to accept all extraterritorial cases as long as the defendant or the plaintiff has a place of residence in Thailand. Given the complexity of business structures, it can be difficult to 16