citizenship law regime which allows generation after generation of children to be born without nationality, must be scrutinised, amended and implemented in a just manner, so as to end the intergenerational statelessness of this community. Birth Registration 17. Cambodia has obligations under CRC Article 7, to register all births immediately. Further, Target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, aims to ‘by 2030 provide legal identity for all including birth registration’. 18. However, Vietnamese minority populations have limited access to birth registration.35 In 2016, MIRO found that only 5 per cent of 414 ethnic Vietnamese surveyed in Takeo, Kampong Chhnang and Pursat provinces had birth certificates.36 Cambodian law allows children of non-citizens living “legally” in the country to be issued a birth certificate. However, local officials seem to conflate issuing birth certificates with conferring citizenship, and refuse non-citizens of birth registration. The absence of birth registration for children in these communities creates barriers for obtaining other documentation relevant to exercising future rights and entitlements such as admission to school and access to Cambodian citizenship.37 19. The Cambodian Government established a new Department of Identification in 2014 and announced a new National Plan of Identification (2017-2026). The latter aims to improve civil registration and vital statistic records, in order to have a single source of data on the population.38 However, without capacity building of officials and safeguards to ensure such initiatives are inclusive and non-discriminatory for minority populations, such investments by the Cambodian Government will not meet its objectives. 20. It must be noted that a new identification law appears to be in preparation,39 which could help clarify issues around birth registration and ensure that vulnerable communities are registered without discrimination. However, the co-submitting organisations remain concerned that unless drafted with full consideration for Cambodia’s obligations under the CRC as well as it’s SDG targets, that this too, could be a missed opportunity. 35 Sperfeldt, Report on Citizenship Law: Cambodia, country Report 2017/02, GLOBALCIT, http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/45084/GLOBALCIT_2017_02_Cambodia.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y 36 Minority Rights Organization (MIRO) (2016), ‘Research Finding Statelessness Minority Groups in Cambodia Takeo, Kampong Chhnang, and Pursat’, Phnom Penh: MIRO 37 Hyde, M. (2016), ‘Report on Access to Birth Registration for Marginalised or Vulnerable Populations: A Case Study on Ethnic Vietnamese Minority Communities in Cambodia’, report prepared for the Minority Rights Organization (MIRO), August 2016. 38 http//:giz-cambodia.com/legal-identity-and-inclusive-development-in-cambodia/; https//:www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjviNLdnc7TAhVFtY8KHZZpAj MQFggxMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcadmus.eui.eu%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F1814%2F45084%2FGLOBALCIT_2017_02_Cambodia.pdf% 3Fsequence%3D3&usg=AFQjCNH6Qzog5YHjGJcxt6eDAt1_qfK66A&sig2=fdA06Y8pmCgR26Xsc4mBVg 39 See https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-drafting-law-identification. 9