(MIRO) found that only five percent of 414 Vietnamese surveyed in Takeo, Kampong Chhnang and Pursat provinces had birth certificates. Civil society monitoring in affected communities suggests that this situation has not significantly improved since then. In a 2023 study commissioned by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI) and carried out in six provinces among Khmer Krom and ethnic Vietnamese communities, 93 percent of adult respondents of Vietnamese origin had been born in Cambodia, but none held any official proof of birth on the territory in form of a Cambodian birth certificate. Moreover, 85 percent of respondents’ children also had no birth certificates.51 Similarly, Women Peace Makers (WPM) found in a 2022 study that 70 percent out of 40 Vietnamese girls participating in the study did not have a birth certificate.52 Another study in 2024 found that only one participant from among 22 Cambodia-born Vietnamese respondents in floating villages had a birth certificate – and only because she was of mixed Khmer-Vietnamese origin.53 There is no nationally representative sample available to provide better data. A more systematic CRVS inequality assessment in Cambodia is lacking so far.54 However, the available research shows a consistent pattern of widespread exclusion from birth registration. This situation occurs despite the fact that Cambodian law has allowed children of non-citizens living legally in the country to be issued a birth certificate. Yet, local officials seem to conflate issuing birth certificates with conferring citizenship. The Ministry of Interior issued directives No. 015 dated 1 July 2019 and notification No. 2181 dated 29 August 2022, stipulating that local authorities should register the birth of children of non-citizen parents who hold valid Permanent Resident Cards (see more below) and enable access to other services. Currently these directives are not widely implemented by sub-national authorities in relation to communities of Vietnamese origin.55 The absence of birth registration for these children creates barriers for obtaining other documents relevant to exercising future rights and entitlements, including substantiating claims to Cambodian citizenship at birth or later in life. The inability to have births registered perpetuates intergenerational statelessness for children born in these communities. Furthermore, many children 50 Minority Rights Organization (2016) Research Finding Statelessness Minority Groups in Cambodia Takeo, Kampong Chhnang, and Pursat, MIRO. 51 Sperfeldt, Christoph with Keat Bophal and Ang Chanrith (2023) ‘Exploring the Nexus Between Poverty, Human Rights and Statelessness: A Case Study of Cambodia’, Phnom Penh, Raoul Wallenberg Institute, 30 November 2023 (hereinafter ‘RWI Scoping Study 2023’), 35-36. <https://rwi.lu.se/wp-content/ uploads/2024/07/RWI-Scoping-Study-Poverty-Statelessness-Report-Nov2023.pdf> 52 Le Sen, Suyheang Kry, and Raymond Hyma (2022) Making the Space: Voices from the Girls of Cambodian Minority Communities, Phnom Penh: Women Peace Makers (hereinafter ‘WPM, Making the Space 2022’). <https://wpmcambodia.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/makingthespace.pdf> (11 July 2024) 53 WPM Voice & Visibility 2024, 157. 54 See UNESCAP information note at: <https://getinthepicture.org/sites/default/files/resources/ Information%20note%20on%20inequality%20assessments.pdf> (9 July 2024) 55 Ministry of Interior (2019) Directive on Issuance of Administrative Letters and Birth Certificates for Cambodian Spouses, Children and Foreign Immigrants, Circular No 015. 16