Viet Nam nn The Prime Minister of Viet Nam issued a directive in 2000 recommending consideration of the naturalization of the stateless former Cambodian refugees in the country. nn High-level outreach by UNHCR raised awareness of the statelessness issue among other UN agencies and the diplomatic community in Viet Nam, helping to build consensus that resolution of the problem was a priority. nn Building on the political will to resolve the situation, UNHCR provided technical and operational advice to the Government through workshops to facilitate the naturalization of stateless Cambodians. These workshops helped to develop an Operational Plan that proposed relaxation of the naturalization criteria for this group. nn Examples of the relaxed naturalization requirements included: acceptance of all former Cambodian refugees as stateless (ending the requirement for individual statements relinquishing former nationality); acceptance of sworn testimony on the date and place of birth in place of the requirement for birth certificates; and waiver of the naturalization fee. nn UNHCR conducted a comprehensive assessment of gaps in Viet Nam’s nationality laws that gave rise to statelessness. This led to the identification of statelessness among Vietnamese women with failed marriages who renounced their nationality upon marrying foreigners without acquiring a new nationality as another issue in need of resolution. nn Raising awareness of international standards on the prevention of statelessness helped spur the Vietnamese Government to adopt the revised 2009 Nationality Law, which included numerous safeguards against statelessness.40 Statelessness situations Viet Nam became host to tens of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. When UNHCR ceased its assistance to Cambodian refugee camps in 1994, it was estimated that approximately 9,500 former Cambodian refugees remained in Viet Nam.40 Approximately 2,500 of them continued to live in the former UNHCR camp sites, while an estimated 7,000 others were believed to have integrated into urban communities in Ho Chi Minh City. Many of the Cambodian refugees in Viet Nam were of ethnic Chinese descent. At the heart of their uncertain future was the fact that Cambodia did not consider them its nationals, rendering them stateless. UNHCR’s 40 31 country office and the Vietnamese Government discussed the need to find a durable solution for this group. In 2002, the Prime Minister issued a directive recommending that Viet Nam consider naturalizing the remaining former Cambodian refugees residing in Viet Nam. The plight of the former Cambodian refugees prompted the Vietnamese Government to look at gaps in the nationality law that gave rise to statelessness. For its part, in 2005 UNHCR tapped the Surge deployment scheme to engage a protection officer to focus on statelessness in Vietnam. Political negotiations to resolve the Cambodian conflict through the Paris Conference on Cambodia in 1989 and 1990 resulted in the Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict signed by Cambodia and 18 other countries under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary-General in October 1991. In this Agreement, Cambodia undertook to create an environment conducive to the voluntary return and integration of Cambodian refugees from abroad and the United Nations was requested to assist in the repatriation of Cambodian refugees. Those who had fled Cambodia in the 1970s were deemed no longer in need of international protection. CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS