Viet Nam
nn
The Prime Minister of Viet Nam issued a directive in 2000 recommending consideration of the
naturalization of the stateless former Cambodian refugees in the country.
nn
High-level outreach by UNHCR raised awareness of the statelessness issue among other UN agencies and
the diplomatic community in Viet Nam, helping to build consensus that resolution of the problem was a
priority.
nn
Building on the political will to resolve the situation, UNHCR provided technical and operational advice
to the Government through workshops to facilitate the naturalization of stateless Cambodians. These
workshops helped to develop an Operational Plan that proposed relaxation of the naturalization criteria
for this group.
nn
Examples of the relaxed naturalization requirements included: acceptance of all former Cambodian
refugees as stateless (ending the requirement for individual statements relinquishing former nationality);
acceptance of sworn testimony on the date and place of birth in place of the requirement for birth
certificates; and waiver of the naturalization fee.
nn
UNHCR conducted a comprehensive assessment of gaps in Viet Nam’s nationality laws that gave rise
to statelessness. This led to the identification of statelessness among Vietnamese women with failed
marriages who renounced their nationality upon marrying foreigners without acquiring a new nationality as
another issue in need of resolution.
nn
Raising awareness of international standards on the prevention of statelessness helped spur the Vietnamese
Government to adopt the revised 2009 Nationality Law, which included numerous safeguards against
statelessness.40
Statelessness situations
Viet Nam became host to tens of thousands of
refugees from neighbouring Cambodia after the
Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. When UNHCR
ceased its assistance to Cambodian refugee camps
in 1994, it was estimated that approximately 9,500
former Cambodian refugees remained in Viet Nam.40
Approximately 2,500 of them continued to live in
the former UNHCR camp sites, while an estimated
7,000 others were believed to have integrated into
urban communities in Ho Chi Minh City. Many of
the Cambodian refugees in Viet Nam were of ethnic
Chinese descent. At the heart of their uncertain
future was the fact that Cambodia did not consider
them its nationals, rendering them stateless. UNHCR’s
40
31
country office and the Vietnamese Government
discussed the need to find a durable solution for this
group. In 2002, the Prime Minister issued a directive
recommending that Viet Nam consider naturalizing
the remaining former Cambodian refugees residing
in Viet Nam.
The plight of the former Cambodian refugees
prompted the Vietnamese Government to look
at gaps in the nationality law that gave rise to
statelessness. For its part, in 2005 UNHCR tapped the
Surge deployment scheme to engage a protection
officer to focus on statelessness in Vietnam.
Political negotiations to resolve the Cambodian conflict through the Paris Conference on Cambodia in 1989 and 1990 resulted in the Agreement
on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict signed by Cambodia and 18 other countries under the auspices of the United
Nations Secretary-General in October 1991. In this Agreement, Cambodia undertook to create an environment conducive to the voluntary return
and integration of Cambodian refugees from abroad and the United Nations was requested to assist in the repatriation of Cambodian refugees.
Those who had fled Cambodia in the 1970s were deemed no longer in need of international protection.
CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS