instruct the government to institute a dedicated procedure for the naturalisation of stateless persons who had already been residing in Viet Nam for at least twenty years when the law was passed. Applications may be submitted by “stateless persons who do not have adequate personal identification papers but have been stably residing in the Vietnamese territory since July 1, 1989, or before”. Importantly, to further facilitate access to these simplified procedures, applicants are exempt from the regular fees associated with naturalisation.147 Long before the ultimate application deadline, the positive impact of these dedicated procedures in terms of the reduction of statelessness is already evident.148 The first naturalisation ceremony was held in July 2010 in Ho Chi Min City. At this event, 287 stateless, former-Cambodian refugees were granted Vietnamese nationality. A second ceremony marked the completion of the naturalisation process for a further group of 142 persons in Mihn Long Commune at the start of October.149 It is expected that over the coming months, a total of around 2000 persons with the same profile will also be naturalised.150 Regardless of the availability of facilitated procedures, there is evidence that some situations in the region are gradually being appeased as stateless persons naturalise. In Indonesia, the recent legal reform simplified the overall requirements and procedure for naturalisation.151 In Brunei, the progressive resolution of cases through naturalisation appears to have been the principal approach to reducing statelessness among long-term ethnic Chinese residents and others. According to a recent report, over 30,000 people have been granted citizenship since the nationality law was adopted in the early 1960s.152 This figure was announced in the context of the 28th “presentation of citizenship certificates ceremony” at which 283 persons were naturalised. Although separate statistics are not given, it is likely that a significant proportion of this group was previously stateless.153 Moreover, programmes can be implemented to help stateless persons develop the capacity to meet conditions for naturalisation. For instance, in Myanmar, UNHCR has been funding language classes for Muslim residents of northern Rakhine State.154 147 Article 2 (c) of Decree No. 78/2009/ND-CP of September 22, 2009 detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality. 148 To benefit from the special procedures, applications must be submitted before the deadline of 31 December 2012. 149 Correspondence with UNHCR Cambodia. 150 Vietnam ends stateless limbo for 2,300 former Cambodians, UNHCR News Story, 19 July 2010; UN hails Viet Nam’s moves to end statelessness of Cambodian refugees, UN News Services, 20 July 2010; Vietnam grants citizenship to Cambodian refugees: UN, Agence France Presse [France], 20 July 2010. 151 J. Sidel, Indonesia: Minorities, migrant workers, refugees and the new citizenship law, a Writenet Report for UNHCR, March 2007. 152 283 granted Brunei citizenship, The Brunei Times [Brunei Darussalam], 25 April 2010. 153 Brunei Darussalam granted permanent residence status to just under 50,000 persons between 1958 and 2009. Of this number, almost half were categorised as “stateless”. With around 30,000 persons granted nationality over the same period, it can safely be assumed that a substantial number of these were previously stateless. Parents blamed for ‘stateless’ children, The Brunei Times [Brunei Darussalam], 23 March 2010. See also US Department of State, US Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005 – Brunei, 8 March 2006; US Department of State, US Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006 – Brunei, 6 March 2007; 240 to receive Brunei citizenship, Borneo Bulletin [Brunei Darussalam], 17 December 2008; 208 Receive citizenship at ceremony, Borneo Bulletin [Brunei Darussalam], 7 June 2009. There are also reports that Brunei Darussalam amended its law to allow stateless persons over the age of 50 to satisfy the language requirement for naturalisation through an oral, rather than written, test. US Department of State, US Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2003 – Brunei, 25 February 2004; US Department of State, US Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006 – Brunei, 6 March 2007; M. Lynch; K. Southwick, Nationality rights for all: A progress report and global survey on statelessness, Refugees International, 2009. Note that other sources reported a tightening of access to naturalisation. See Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Persons – Brunei Darussalam: Chinese, 2008; 283 granted Brunei citizenship, The Brunei Times [Brunei Darussalam], 25 April 2010; As before, note that this revised version of the law was not available to the researcher so the content of this reform could not be confirmed. 154 Myanmar: UNHCR promotes first significant steps towards citizenship for disenfranchised minority, UNHCR News Story, 23 July 2007. 22