2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(1) mountainous regions bordering countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos continue to lack citizenship. 34 Systematic discrimination against ethnic minorities, denationalisation and resulting statelessness are age-old phenomena on the Asian continent. 35 Regrettably some stereotypes, stigmas and perceptions relating to certain minorities are deeply rooted in some Asian countries, which are very difficult to challenge in public discourse both online and offline. 36 Nonetheless, the continued practice of hate speech against minorities in Asian societies — now also spread on the internet — is very harmful, as it can jeopardise entire societies in Asia through the incitement of violence against minorities. In cases left unaddressed, hate speech can effectively prevent reconciliation, social inclusion and coexistence in many Asian countries and with technological development — where Asian countries are active drivers — and the global increase of users on social media platforms, hateful and degrading speech against minority groups is also gradually moving to the online space where users enjoy a high degree of anonymity. On the other hand, Asian countries, which have diverse societies, typically have few effective anti-hate speech laws in place that would criminalise online and offline hate speech. 37 The adoption of strongly crafted anti-hate speech laws could convey a clear message to perpetrators of their potential individual criminal liability, which could promote the acquis of respectful and integrated societies. IV ETHNIC KOREANS SUBJECT TO MASS DENATIONALISATION AND HATE SPEECH IN JAPAN A long forgotten example of mass denationalisation in East Asia is the ethnic Koreans who were forcibly taken to Japan during World War II to serve Japan. While Japanese nationality was imposed on the entire Korean people after the annexation of Korea in 1910, after World War II, Japan ‘resorted to mass denationalisation of Koreans by depriving Koreans then residing in Japan of their Japanese nationality’ under the Alien Registration Law of 1952 who then became stateless. 38 When Japan normalised its relationship with South Korea in 1965, 34 35 36 37 38 See ‘Thousands of Stateless People Given Nationality in Thailand’, UNHCR (Web Page) <https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/thousands-of-stateless-people-given-nationality-inthailand/>. See also Janepicha Cheva-Isarakul, ‘“Diagnosing” Statelessness and Everyday State Illegibility in Northern Thailand’ (2019) 1(2) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 214. See Fernand de Varennes, ‘The Rights of the Marginalized in Asia: Increasing Protection or Vulnerability?’ in Fernand de Varennes and Christie M Gardiner, Routledge Handbook of Human Rights in Asia’ (Routledge 2019) 1. ‘Minority Stories/Asia’, Minority Rights Group <http://stories.minorityrights.org/statelessness/chapter/asia/>. Rita Manchanda, The No Nonsense Guide to Minority Rights in Asia (SAGE 2009) 16–17. Moonis Ahmar, The Challenge of Confidence-Building Measures in Southeast Asia (HarAnand 2001) 67. Unlike for instance in Germany and France which recently drafted anti-hate speech laws that allow the regulators to impose large fines on social media platforms if they fail to report hate speech to the police and remove hateful postings. See Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz [Act to Improve Enforcement of the Law in Social Networks] (Germany) 1 October 2017, BGBI I, 2017, 3352; Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Bekämpfung des Rechtsextremismus und der Hasskriminalität [Draft Law to Combat Right-Wing Extremism and Hate Crime] (Germany) 26 February 2020 Gesetzentwurf der Bundesregierung. See also Draft Law Aimed at Combating Hate Content on the Internet (France) 9 July 2019, No 310. See also Myungkoo Kang et al, Hate Speech in Asia and Europe: Beyond Hate and Fear (Routledge 2020). Swan Sik Ko, Nationality and International Law in Asian Perspective (Martinus Nijhoff 1990) 297; Alien Registration Law (Japan) Law No 125 of 1952. 12