UUM Journal of Legal Studies, 13, No. 1 (January) 2022, pp: 345–380 UUM JOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIES http://e-journal.uum.edu.my/index.php/uumjls How to cite this article: Kanageswary, S., Tie, Fatt-Hee & Mohd Yusoff, J. Z. (2022). The need for a legal definition of stateless children in Malaysian national law and policy: The perspective from international human rights law, UUM Journal of Legal Studies, 13(1), 345-380. https://doi.org/10.32890/uumjls2022.13.1.14 THE NEED FOR A LEGAL DEFINITION OF STATELESS CHILDREN IN MALAYSIAN NATIONAL LAW AND POLICY: THE PERSPECTIVE FROM INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW Kanageswary Selvakumaran, 2Tie Fatt Hee & 3 Jal Zabdi Mohd. Yusoff Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, Malaysia 1 Corresponding author: skyna1009@yahoo.co.uk 1 Received: 6/11/2020 Revised: 29/9/2021 Accepted: 5/10/2021 Published: 31/1/2021 INTRODUCTION Millions of people worldwide remain stateless with various breakdowns in many regions (UN, 2018). As of 2019, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (hereinafter UNHCR) estimated a total of 3.9 million stateless people in the world (UNHCR, Malaysia, 2019). According to the United Nations (UN, 2018), approximately 50 percent of the 10 million stateless people of the world are residing in Asia, with at least 1 million of them being Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. Amongst the member states of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia continuously face challenges pertaining to statelessness and stateless children. They usually come from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar (SUHAKAM, 2018). This article 345