REGIONAL OVERVIEW as long as three decades and have lost their Indonesian citizenship. These individuals have been unable to access Papua New Guinean citizenship despite possessing the right to under the law of Papua New Guinea.69 In South Asia, two major groups in India and Nepal hold uncertain citizenship statuses. In India the 2019 National Register of Citizens in Assam excluded over 1.9 million Assamese, leaving them labelled as foreigners and the validation of their citizenship at the hands of the foreigners’ tribunals.70 As of December 2021, 143,466 persons were declared foreigners and another 123,829 cases remain pending before the tribunals.71 In Nepal, as many as 6.7 million people lack citizenship certificates.72 The UNHCR has noted that “while these individuals are not all necessarily stateless, UNHCR has been working closely with the Government of Nepal and partners to address this situation.”73 In Southeast Asia as many as 810,443 residents of Sabah are non-citizens.74 This group represents the largest and most notable population of Persons of Undetermined Nationality within Southeast Asia as disagreement exists as to whether this population are stateless or should be considered citizens of either the Philippines, Malaysia, or Indonesia.75 Stateless Refugees Of the reported stateless population in the AsiaPacific just over 1 million (1,051,620) are stateless refugees.76 Almost the entire reported population of stateless refugees are members of the Rohingya community from Myanmar, with the vast majority hosted in South Asian states. This is reflected by the fact that the entire reported stateless population in South Asia of almost 1 million persons, are stateless refugees.77 Bangladesh is by far the largest host country for stateless refugees, with over 900,000 Rohingya refugees within their borders. REGIONAL OVERVIEW The true scale of the Rohingya population within South Asia likely far exceeds reported figures. Estimates have placed the Rohingya population in India at 40,000 (twice the size of the reported 20,154 people)78 and as many as 400,000 Rohingya refugees have been estimated to reside in Pakistan (compared to the reported 47).79 Southeast Asia is the sub-region hosting the second largest reported Rohingya population, with four countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand) reporting populations to UNHCR in 2021. Malaysia hosts over 100,000 Rohingya refugees, the largest population with Southeast Asia and the second largest reported population of any state in the Asia-Pacific behind Bangladesh, while Indonesia (641), the Philippines (5) and Thailand (198) all reported comparatively small population groups.80 detention (7,700). The populations of both Nauru (130) and Papua New Guinea (8) comprise entirely of Rohingya refugees.81 Collectively states in East Asia only reported 16 stateless refugees to the UNHCR in 2021, with the figures coming from two states, Japan (11) and South Korea (5).82 As a region, East Asia has a small refugee population generally comparative to the other regions of Asia. Other groups of refugees affected by statelessness include, as many as 73,404 Tibetan refugees and more than 92,000 Sri Lankan refugees in India,83 approximately 1.4 million Afghani refugees in Pakistan,84 and 6,365 Bhutanese Lhostshampa refugees in Nepal, many of whom are stateless.85 Availability of data All the reported stateless population in the Pacific (7,838) are stateless refugees, asylum seekers or, in the case of Australia, persons in immigration FIGURE 03 Stateless Refugee in the Asia Pacifc Bangladesh 900,000 Pakistan 400,000 Malaysia 100,000 Sri Lanka 92,000 73,404 Tibetan 40,000 India Australia 7,700 Bhutanese 6,365 Indonesia 641 Thailand 198 Nauru 130 Japan Papua New Guinea 11 8 Philippines 5 South Korea 5 Of the 8 states in the South Asia sub-region, all experience issues with availability of data. Identifying the true status of stateless persons and persons at risk of statelessness is especially difficult in Afghanistan, Bhutan, and the Maldives where no stateless persons have been officially reported. In East Asia, there is a notable lack of reliable data, with the number of officially reported stateless person in the subregion very low in comparison to the unofficial figures. The lack of available data is also noticed in the Pacific due to the limited connection NFA holds with local CSO’s and other stakeholders on the ground. This disconnect between known stateless populations and officially reported figures needs to be remedied through investment in better data collection as the absence of accurate data undermines efforts to bring about positive changes. Causes of Statelessness Discriminatory laws Restrictions on the basis of ethnicity UNHCR, ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2021’ (June 2022) Ethnic minority groups across the Asia-Pacific — but largely within South and Southeast Asia — are at risk of statelessness due to discriminatory applications of citizenship laws, administrative barriers to gaining documentation and social exclusion. Notable populations include Khmer Krong communities in Cambodia, Hmong in Laos and Vietnam,87 ethnic minority groups living in border regions of India,88 Dalit and Madheshi communities in Nepal,89 and the sea-faring Sama Bajau in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.90 Discriminatory nationality laws have primarily led to statelessness among population groups in South and Southeast Asia. The most conspicuous example of ethnic discrimination in nationality laws can be seen within Southeast Asian nations. Emblematic of this is the citizenship laws of Myanmar that have rendered over a million ethnic Rohingya stateless.91 Population groups outside of Myanmar have also been deeply affected by ethnically discriminatory nationality laws, for example members of nine ethnic groups often referred to as ‘hill-tribe’ or ‘highland’ communities in Thailand have faced intergenerational statelessness due to discriminatory exclusion from citizenship laws.92 In Brunei, limitations of nationality to certain prescribed ethnic groups, or “indigenous groups of the Malay race” is the primary cause of statelessness among residents of Chinese heritage.93 In South Asia, other ethnic minority groups have been historically impacted by discriminatory nationality laws which have either indirectly excluded population groups or ignored them entirely. This includes Urdu-speaking ‘Bihari’ in Bangladesh94 and the Mosuli and Jogi (or ‘Magat’) communities in Afghanistan.95 Statelessness among Muslim and ethnic minority populations in India — including persons excluded by the National Register of Citizens in Assam and Rohingya refugees —is further protracted by their discriminatory exclusion from the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.96 20 21 STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC REPORT 2023