     between statelessness and minority status is sufficiently prominent that the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues made statelessness a priority theme in his reporting to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly.15 Within Asia, the predicament of denationalized Bengalispeaking persons in the Indian state of Assam, Vietnamese long-term resident populations in Cambodia, former Chinese immigrants in Brunei as well as hill tribes in northern Thailand, among others, are only some examples demonstrating the multi-layered and complex interconnections that exist between minority status, social exclusion, marginalization, economic development, religion, violent conflict and access to citizenship. Contributions in this volume will further highlight how statelessness and resulting social and economic exclusion often arises from, or at least is heightened by and intricately connected with, ethnicity, religion, and/or gender. There is a need for deeper research into the relationship between one’s minority status and statelessness, particularly as an enquiry into the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the use of state power to grant and remove citizenship status. Indeed, members of disadvantaged and marginalized communities are more prone to a risk of statelessness, be it due to a lack of access to state registration systems or simply due to a higher prevalence of poverty. For many minorities, the causes of statelessness are more direct and linked to discriminatory policies and social exclusion. This means that minority populations that have often resided over many generations within the borders of a state could be regarded as foreigners or aliens who do not belong to the national polity.16 The arbitrary and discriminatory use of state power in producing and sustaining statelessness needs to be fully examined and acknowledged in international policies and actions aimed at addressing and reducing statelessness. Further, the focus on Asia also allows for greater attention to the phenomenon of in situ statelessness. Globally, partly due to its original focus mentioned above, studies on statelessness in recent decades have predominantly focused on the refugee or forced migration context. UN General Assembly ‘Effective Promotion of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, Note by the SecretaryGeneral’ (20 July 2018) UN Doc A/73/205 <www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematicreports/a73205-report-special-rapporteur-minority-issues-statelessness-minority> accessed 18 September 2023. 16 Michelle Foster and Jade Roberts, ‘Manufacturing Foreigners: The Law and Politics of Transforming Citizens into Migrants’ in Catherine Dauvergne (ed), Research Handbook on the Law and Politics of Migration (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021) 218. 15 https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009399555.003 Published online by Cambridge University Press