Legal Identity and Statelessness in Southeast Asia CHRISTOPH SPERFELDT I S S U E Analysis from the East-West Center No. 147 January 2021 About the Author Christoph Sperfeldt is senior research fellow at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, University of Melbourne. He is also collaborating scholar and senior advisor for the East-West Center’s partnership with the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Stanford University. He can be contacted at: christoph.sperfeldt@unimelb.edu.au Papers in the AsiaPacific Issues series feature topics of broad interest and significant impact relevant to current and emerging policy debates. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Center. S SUMMARY Millions of people worldwide are stateless or do not have proof of their legal identity. As a result, they face daily obstacles from lack of access to a range of social, political, and economic rights. Around 40 percent of the identified stateless population live in the Asia Pacific region, with the majority of them residing in the countries of Southeast Asia. While some of these people are refugees or migrants, most belong to minorities living in the country where they were born. Their lack of proof of nationality or other forms of legal identity poses significant challenges to human rights, governance, and development. International conventions aim at improving their status, but have been poorly subscribed. Much of the work to solve the problems will have to be done at the national level, where interest is increasing. Since the forced mass exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar, many have reached the shores of Malaysia and Indonesia, driving home the implications of unresolved situations of statelessness.