national and international NGOs. Indonesia currently hosts a refugee population of about 14,000 individuals, the majority of whom are from Afghanistan40 (as of February 2016, there were 3,056 recognized refugees from Afghanistan and 3,859 Afghan asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR in Indonesia).41 In comparison to other countries in the region, a much smaller number of Rohingya refugees reside in Indonesia. While de jure statelessness does not widely impact nonrefugee communities in Indonesia, approximately 11 million children do not have birth registration documentation and may therefore face barriers to accessing basic social entitlements such as enrolling in schools, benefiting from the state’s universal health care system, and receiving social security benefits. The reception of refugee populations in Indonesia is governed under Presidential Decree No. 125 Year 2016, issued on December 31, 2016.42 This decree defines who is a refugee and sets out procedures and standards for the rescue, evacuation, monitoring, registration, and accommodation of protection seekers.43 As such, Indonesia is the only country examined in this report that has a comprehensive domestic refugee protection framework underpinned by national legislation, rather than administrative discretion.44 Malaysia As of 2019, Malaysia officially hosted 177,690 refugees who are known to UNHCR,45 of which 97,750 were identified as Rohingya. In addition, the country is estimated to host between 40,000 and 140,000 non-registered refugees.46 There are also at least 10,000 individuals, primarily in East Malaysia, who lack access to Malaysian nationality: mostly descendants of plantation workers brought from India and Sri Lanka under British colonial rule.47 Despite hosting such a sizable refugee community, no refugee camps exist in Malaysia, making the refugee profile an entirely urban one.48 This is a critical factor in the way the country’s refugees are managed. In the absence of a legislative framework for the identification and management of refugee populations, protection seekers arriving in Malaysia fall under the scope of “foreigners” under the Immigration Act of 1959/63 and are frequently subjected to detention as “undocumented migrants.”49 Indeed, this is one of the principal shortcomings identified in Malaysian refugee policy. However, the government of Malaysia has introduced some discretionary measures that it applies in an ad hoc manner to some groups of protection seekers. Malaysia also permits UNHCR to conduct refugee status and determination procedures on the government’s behalf. In practical terms, this results in some protections being available to individuals who are able to register with UNHCR, but others who arrive seeking protection are still criminalized. With regards to Malaysia’s stateless population, existing legislation provides a pathway to recognition of Malaysian citizenship, and significant progress has been made toward reducing the number of individuals denied citizenship. Still, incomplete application of citizenship recognition under this legislation persists, resulting in a severe restriction of rights and access to social entitlements for this population, including barriers to accessing education and health care. Thailand According to UNHCR, as of September 2019, Thailand hosted 93,132 refugees.50 There are also more than 475,000 stateless individuals in Thailand, largely members of ethnic groups in northern 13 UND OING PRECARIT Y: ELE VATING P OSITIVE PR ACTICES FOR REFU GEE PROTECTION IN SO U TH AND SO U THE AST ASIA