4. The profile of known stateless and at-risk populations As noted at the outset, a lack of data and knowledge on statelessness in Cambodia limits any comprehensive identification of the groups that may be affected by statelessness. Based on the available information, this section identifies three main groups as being stateless or at risk of statelessness, namely long-term resident populations of Vietnamese descent (in terms of scale the most affected of the groups), certain Khmer Krom individuals, as well as individuals among Cambodia’s small refugee population. Further groups may be affected, such as victims of human trafficking, but this cannot be discerned with certainty from the information available to date. Given this situation, all estimates about the total number of stateless persons or those with undetermined nationality in Cambodia should be taken with caution, as the exact magnitude remains unknown. That said, the UNHCR’s currently reported estimate of 75,000 affected individuals is likely a conservative estimate. 4.1. Long-term residents of Vietnamese origin Ethnic Vietnamese communities have lived in Cambodia throughout contemporary history. Nowadays, they are one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Cambodia.35 However, ‘the Vietnamese’ in Cambodia are not one coherent group, but rather comprise diverse sub-groups of individuals, such as Cambodian citizens of Vietnamese origin; ethnic Vietnamese in mixed marriages with Khmer spouses; and more recent immigrant Vietnamese nationals seeking economic opportunities. The group most struggling to prove their belonging are Cambodia’s long-term residents of Vietnamese descent – especially those residing in Cambodia for generations and prior to the creation of the modern Vietnamese state – many of whom are stateless or at risk of statelessness, having neither proof of Cambodian nor Vietnamese nationality.36 This state of affairs has 35 Minority Rights Group (2017) ‘Ethnic Vietnamese’. <https://minorityrights.org/communities/ethnicvietnamese/> 36 This section draws on Sperfeldt, Christoph (2020) ‘Minorities and Statelessness: Social Exclusion and Citizenship in Cambodia,’ International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 27(1): 94-120. 13