SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: SOUTHEAST ASIA SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: SOUTHEAST ASIA For children born to stateless parents, the parents must have a ‘permanent residence’ in Viet Nam for the child to gain citizenship. TABLE 84 Reported stateless persons to the UNHCR Country Viet Nam 2019 (year start)3220 2020 (year end)3221 2021 (year end)3222 2022 (year end)3223 30,581 32,890 35,475 26,811 would not be any legal basis for the child to acquire Vietnamese nationality. However, while the legislation on judicial records sets out the procedures for Vietnamese or foreign nationals to obtain the judicial records from competent Vietnamese authorities, there is no guidance on how a stateless person can do so, presenting a barrier for stateless persons to restore their Vietnamese nationality. Source: UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement from 2019-2022. Population Reported stateless persons Viet Nam reported a population of 26,811 stateless persons to UNHCR in 20223224, a significant decrease from the 35,890 reported in 20213225. Groups affected by statelessness in Viet Nam include ethnic Hmong, female marriage migrants who have returned to Viet Nam after the breakdown of marriages, and persons of Cambodian heritage who fled to Viet Nam during the Khmer Rouge regime.3226 The H’mon and Montagnard ethnic and religious minority communities experience significant discrimination in Viet Nam, including harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention by authorities.3227 These communities also experience refusal of civil registration and documentation such as birth registration and have at times resorted to avoiding authorities due to fear of repercussions taken by authorities against them.3228 Persons at risk of statelessness Former Cambodian refugees and Vietnamese women have historically experienced statelessness as a result of renouncing prior nationality without acquiring an alternative nationality.3229 Article 23 of the 2008 Law on Nationality allows those who had renounced Vietnamese citizenship to gain another citizenship are now able to reacquire Vietnamese citizenship, which has resolved the status of many women.3230 There is limited information on the extent to which statelessness may still be affecting this population today.3231 The H’mon and Montagnard ethnic and religious minority communities experience significant discrimination in Viet Nam, including harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention by authorities. 278 Citizenship stripping Undetermined nationalities The nationality status of children of returned marriage migrants who themselves have lost their Vietnamese nationality remain uncertain. While many of these children have the right to the nationality of their fathers (usually South Korean or Chinese/Taiwanese) under their country of birth’s jus sanguinis provisions, many returned to Viet Nam (following relationship breakdowns) prior to gaining household registration or any documentary proof of their citizenship status.3232 Causes of Statelessness Lack of legal safeguards against childhood statelessness Viet Nam’s citizenship law explicitly provides that foundling children will be considered citizens.3233 For children born to stateless parents, the parents must have a ‘permanent residence’ in Viet Nam for the child to gain citizenship.3234 Persons deemed temporarily residing in the country appear to be excluded by this provision and the application of the provision, and the application for persons illegally residing within the country remains unclear. A stateless person can only apply for a confirmation of permanent residence in Viet Nam if that person has “temporarily resided'' in Viet Nam since 2000 or earlier.3235 To apply for the confirmation of permanent residence, the applicant must submit to the local police the relevant temporary residence certificates issued by the competent authority of Viet Nam to prove his or her temporary residence in Viet Nam since 2002 or earlier.3236 If both parents of a child born in Viet Nam are stateless and not qualified to have permanent residence in Viet Nam, there STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC (DETAILED VERSION) In principle, a Vietnamese citizen cannot be stripped of their Vietnamese nationality unless they are a Vietnamese national living overseas or a naturalized citizen who has committed acts that are harmful to the state of Viet Nam.3237 Due to barriers to dual nationality in the laws of receiving countries including South Korea and Taiwan, marriage migrants from Viet Nam had to relinquish citizenship to naturalize as citizens. As discussed in the chapters on China and South Korea, where a relationship is determined to be a ‘sham’ or fraudulent, women have been stripped of their nationality without protections from statelessness.3238 While the exact number of persons affected by citizenship stripping is unknown, the CEDAW noted in 2015 that there were 800 stateless returned marriage migrants in Viet Nam.3239 However, Article 23 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality provides that anyone who has renounced Vietnamese citizenship to gain citizenship elsewhere is eligible to reacquire Vietnamese citizenship and many of these women have been able to do so.3240 Administrative barriers In order to apply for restoration of Vietnamese nationality, a person must submit the judicial record issued by the provincial Department of Justice of the province where he or she is residing or to the diplomatic representative office in the foreign country where he or she is residing.3241 However, while the legislation on judicial records sets out the procedures for Vietnamese or foreign nationals to obtain the judicial records from competent Vietnamese authorities, there is no guidance on how a stateless person can do so, presenting a barrier for stateless persons to restore their Vietnamese nationality.3242 A birth certificate, people’s identity card, or a Vietnamese passport may be used to certify Vietnamese citizenship.3243 Children cannot access education in Viet Nam without a birth certificate.3244 While Viet Nam’s birth registration rate is high, at 98%3245, some groups experience disproportionately low birth registration.3246 Those at risk of non-registration (and, in turn, at risk of statelessness) in Viet Nam include children born in remote areas, children born to ethnic and religious minorities, street children in urban areas, undocumented migrant families who are not registered under the “household registration system”, children born out of wedlock (especially to parents under the legal age for marriage), children born to two older siblings due to the unofficial “two-child policy” and associated social stigma, and children with undetermined nationality.3247 Ethnic H’mong communities continue to face administrative barriers to accessing civil registration documents and citizenship with reports of discriminatory applications of policy among these communities.3248 It has been reported that the denial of documentation and the implementation of administrative barriers have been utilized to discriminate against ethnic H’mong on the ground of their conversion to Christian faith and to deny as many 10,000 ethnic H’mong citizenship.3249 Without access to civil registration, these groups largely do not have the documentation required to prove their identity or nationality or access basic human rights and services.3250 It has been reported that the denial of documentation and the implementation of administrative barriers have been utilized to discriminate against ethnic H’mong on the ground of their conversion to Christian faith and to deny as many 10,000 ethnic H’mong citizenship. 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