for long-term Vietnamese Cambodian
residents, in accordance with Cambodian
law, have been rebuked by the Cambodian
government.59
This registration process was subsequently
accompanied by systematic confiscation
of prior documentation that authorities
deemed to be ‘irregular.’60 The Ministry
of Interior identified at least 70,000
mostly Vietnamese ‘foreigners’ holding
such irregular documents.61 In the
provinces monitored by Minority Rights
Organization, authorities have confiscated
the majority of legal documents previously
held by ethnic Vietnamese residents,
including birth certificates and old
immigration documents, in some cases
Cambodian identification cards and family
books. Officials seem to have deemed
irregular or illegal most documentation
previously issued by other, mostly local
Cambodian authorities. The confiscation
of such legal documentation will make
proof of long-term residence in Cambodia
even more difficult for affected individuals
in future.62
Challenges with data:
There is currently no reliable, public data
available about the size of populations of
Vietnamese origin in Cambodia generally,
and those affected by statelessness in
particular. This has both to do with the
sensitivity of the topic and the fact that
Cambodia does not recognise affected
individuals as statelessness, and as a
consequence does not record or collect
such data. More generally, official
statistics about Vietnamese populations
in Cambodia have been inconsistent, and
questions remain about the quality of data
and the appropriateness of categorisations.
The last 2019 national population census
recorded 78,090 people whose ‘mother
tongue’ was Vietnamese.63 Around the
same time, based on the results of the
‘foreigner’ census, the Ministry of Interior
reported a figure of 180,690 ‘Vietnamese
(nationals)’ residing in Cambodia, of which
69,413 were classified as ‘old settlers’.64
This figure seems to be roughly in line
with the almost 90,000 ethnic Vietnamese
individuals who had received the PRCs,
considering that children under the age
59 Narim Khuon (2019) ‘Kingdom Rejects Vietnam’s Request to Provide Citizenship to its Nationals’,
Khmer Times, 21 August 2019. <https://www.khmertimeskh.com/635604/kingdom-rejects-vietnamsrequest-to-provide-citizenship-to-its-nationals/> (6 March 2023)
60 Sub-Decree No. 129 on the cancellation and withdrawal of irregular Cambodian administrative
documents possessed and used by foreigners (2017).
61 Ben Sokhean (2020) ‘Interior Ministry Sees a Danger to Kingdom: Illegal Immigrants ‘Are a Security
Risk’ Khmer Times, 14 July 2020. <https://www.khmertimeskh.com/744331/interior-ministry-sees-adanger-to-kingdom-illegal-migrants-are-a-security-risk/>
62 This section has drawn from Sperfeldt, Christoph (2021) ‘Legal Identity and Minority Statelessness in
Cambodia: Recent Developments,’ Statelessness & Citizenship Review 3(2): 347-353.
63 National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning (2020) ‘General Population Census of the Kingdom
of Cambodia 2019’, Final Census Results, 25.
64 ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Cambodia: Comments by the
State’, UN Doc A/HRC/39/73/Add.2 (11 September 2018) 23-24. So repeated at INT/CERD/STA/
KHM/39763 (2019).
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