General Human Rights Challenges 21. Without proper identification, members of the community are denied access to the benefits of Cambodian citizenship, living in a legally precarious position, cut off from social security safety nets.40 As set out above, without birth certificates, children are excluded from accessing the education system. A MIRO study found that only 9 per cent of ethnic Vietnamese go to state schools.41 ,While more affluent urban members of this community are likely to have better access to schools, this statistic points to a .deeprooted problem of exclusion and denial of rights. Similarly, members of this community who lack birth certificates are barred from accessing healthcare and other social services. Foreigners cannot own land in Cambodia, thus many ethnic Vietnamese have no option but to reside in boats and floating houses on waterways. They cannot open bank accounts or have access to legal credit options. They cannot vote. They cannot travel. They are prevented from accessing the judicial system or make complaints to authorities.42. 22. Without the security of citizenship or robust knowledge of the law, officials prey on them to extort bribes. For example, many ethnic Vietnamese have reported being harassed by police to ‘pay taxes ’for fishing and pay an annual immigration fee, despite having their valid immigration documentation. Others are arrested and jailed for a lack of identification. Recommendations 23. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to make the following Recommendations to Cambodia: i. Comprehensively address the discriminatory law and policy framework and discriminatory treatment of the ethnic Vietnamese community in Cambodia, ensuring that the right to nationality of all members of the community is protected and that they are able to enjoy their other human rights without obstruction. ii. Fully implement the constitution, and domestic legal framework which allows Khmer Krom to obtain citizenship in Cambodia. iii. Amend and improve Cambodia’s nationality law and related Constitutional provisions, to bring them in line with international standards, eradicate racial discrimination, comprehensively protect against statelessness, and to ensure that any efforts to address fraud do not create an environment for the further discrimination and exclusion of minority communities. iv. Pursue Cambodia’s targets under the Sustainable Development Agenda and strengthen collaboration with international partners, with the strongest possible emphasis on the principle of “no one left behind”, thereby prioritising the ethnic Vietnamese community throughout development programming, and in particular, in the implementation of Target 16.9. 40 The information detailed in the section of this submission titled “General human rights challenges” is drawn largely from research completed by Minority Rights Group International – see http://minorityrights.org/?s=cambodia 41 http//:mirocambodia.org/download/MIRO's%20Stateless%20Vietnamese%20Report%202014.pdf 42 http//:mirocambodia.org/download/MIRO's%20Stateless%20Vietnamese%20Report%202014.pdf; http//:civilparties.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Lyma-statelessness-briefing-oct-2010.pdf 10