Manila, Philippines | 18-19 November 2011
former citizens had become stateless because they had renounced their
Vietnamese citizenship in order to acquire a new nationality, but the
process of acquisition had not been successful. An expert from Ho Chi
Minh City presented the details of how Viet Nam has taken the steps to
assist former Vietnamese citizens, who are mostly women who have
married foreigners. This policy was said to affect some 200,000 women.
Their situation has been resolved through bilateral agreements
between Viet Nam and the concerned States. As a result, the
renunciation requirement
demanded by, for
example, Korean
nationality law is lifted
and the procedure for this
population to acquire a
new nationality is
simplified thereby
reducing the risk of
statelessness. In addition,
Viet Nam will not accept
the renunciation of
nationality unless there is
a written confirmation
given by another State that
At the Workshop, Ngo Thi Hong Loan (pictured
the person has successfully second from right) represented the Department of
acquired a new nationality.
Foreign Affairs, Ho Chi Minh City. She is involved in
helping many former nationals reacquire
These approaches in Viet
Vietnamese nationality. © UNHCR/B. Abante
Nam have been
complemented by the
opening of marriage assistance centres nationwide, which are operated
by the Viet Nam Women’s Union. They raise awareness about possible
conflict of laws that could cause statelessness and share information on
culture and customs of the new country. Viet Nam is currently
undertaking a national plan (2010-2012) on naturalization for stateless
people, who mostly are former citizens who have returned to live in the
country and wish to regain Vietnamese citizenship. These measures
have been widely applauded as contributing to the effort to reduce the
world’s stateless populations.
Indonesia is another ASEAN country that has adopted measures to
reduce statelessness. Changes to nationality law in 2006 aimed to
reduce the numbers of stateless persons created by the previous
requirement, described above, that those residing for more than 5
years abroad must make a declaration of their intention to retain their
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