groups to as.sist them, particularly in establishing small-scale enterprises. In practice, however, working women, particularly in rural areas, lacked adequate access to credit. 106. With regard to article 16, questions had been raised on the subject of bigamy. Although the Government discouraged bigamy, the law was sufficiently vague on the subject, with a man convicted of bigamy liable to sentencing only for giving false'evidence. That situation was changing with the introduction of identity cards. On those cards, married women must be listed under their husband's name. Where the names of married women were concerned, the law was quite clear, stipulating that women who married must take their husband's name. A proposal to allow women who married to retain their maiden name had not been adopted. 107. On the subject of women refugees, he said that out of 400,ООО persons requesting asylum, 60 per cent were women and children. Generally speaking, refugees in Thailand were considered to be illegal immigrants who had duties rather than rights. The Thai Government had a policy, particularly in the case of refugees of Laotian and Vietnamese origin, of granting them temporary asylum until it could be ascertained whether they met the necessary criteria to be given refugees status. Persons who failed to meet those criteria were returned to their country of origin. The refugee issue was an extremely sensitive one in which it was often difficult to reconcile humanitarian considerations with the interests of national security. 108. In conclusion, he offered to provide any additional data the Committee might wish to have. His country was planning to set up a statistical centre that would be responsible for the collection of data, particularly data relating to women. He thanked the members of the Committee for their constructive criticism and said his Government would welcome any recommendations they might make regarding the drafting 
**Analysis**
The text discusses various aspects of women's rights and issues in Thailand, specifically in the context of economic development, employment, and humanitarian aid. The topics include access to credit, bigamy, identity cards, and refugee status, which are all related to women's roles in society and their economic and social well-being.

**Category**
Employment, Humanitarian aid and relief