1 Statelessness in Asia Causes, Conditions, and Challenges in Context            ,                          1.1 Introduction In June and July 2018, a daring cave rescue mission gripped the attention of the world as a junior association football team and their assistant coach were rescued from a complex cave system in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand, having been trapped for almost two weeks after heavy rainfall partially flooded the cave system and blocked their way out. It later transpired that the assistant coach and three of the boys were stateless. Born in tribes living in an area extending across Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and China, the region had amorphous borders and many, including the assistant coach and the boys, did not have assigned legal status.1 Following their rescue and when their stateless status was made known, Thai officials promised legal assistance to obtain Thai citizenship and in September that year, all four were granted Thai citizenship.2 Not all stateless persons in Asia and beyond are quite that fortunate. Statelessness is a global phenomenon that affects millions of people worldwide. The issue has come to the forefront of international politics Janepicha Cheva-Isarakul, ‘Blood, Soil and Paper: Thailand’s Mission to Reduce Statelessness’ The Conversation (3 August 2018) <https://theconversation.com/blood-soil-and-paper-thai lands-mission-to-reduce-statelessness-100519> accessed 6 September 2023. 2 Aicha El Hammar Castano, ‘Thailand grants citizenship to some of the boys and coach rescued from cave’ ABC News (9 August 2018) <https://abcnews.go.com/International/boys-coachrescued-cave-granted-thai-citizenship/story?id=57109241#:~:text=CHIANG%20RAI%2C%2 0Thailand%20%2D%2D%20Three,ministry%20told%20ABC%20News%20Wednesday.&tex t=All%20four%20had%20previously%20been,became%20trapped%20in%20the%20cave.> accessed 13 September 2023. 1  https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009399555.003 Published online by Cambridge University Press