moving across borders, therefore, they need to have a travel document issued by the Japanese government, which permits reentry.140 Thus lacking protection from their home countries, Indo-Chinese refugees (Vietnamese refugees in particular) are unable to enjoy protection that citizens would normally enjoy, and may be categorized as de facto stateless persons. If their nationalities have been withdrawn, they are de jure stateless, a case which is to be determined. It should be recalled that a child born in Japan to stateless parents shall be granted Japanese nationality at birth by virtue of Article 2 (3) of the Nationality Act. It is important to accurately assess whether s/he has nationality in the country of origin. There is no official statistical information on the number of Convention refugees and Indo-Chinese refugees who have been naturalized.141 While Indo-Chinese refugees are to receive equivalent treatment to Convention refugees, they may in fact not have certificates of refugee status, which makes it very difficult for them to continue with the naturalization procedure. Without the help of their home countries, they may not be able to produce the necessary documents required for naturalization. Instead, currently, the Refugees Assistance Headquarters of the Foundation for the Welfare and Education of the Asian People issues Certificates of Resettlement Record, to be submitted along with written reasons for failing to obtain evidential documents from the government of their country of origin, to facilitate naturalization and other procedures for Indo-Chinese refugees. In Japan, there is a substantial number of Rohingyas (Muslim residents of Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar) among asylum-seekers, Convention refugees and a group of people granted special resident permits for humanitarian reasons. The Burmese Citizenship Act of 1982 classifies citizens into three categories: full citizens, associated citizens and naturalized citizens. Since the vast majority of Rohingyas fail to qualify for 140 Kim Sun Gil, “Indochinese Refugees in Japan”, in White Paper on Foreigners and Ethnic Minorities (Liaison Network of Human Rights Law for Foreigners ed., 2007), pp.210-11. See also, Yue Fu, “Protection of Stateless Persons: Issues Related to the Right to Remain in the Country of Habitual Residence” Housei Ronsou (The Japanese Journal of Law and Political Science), Vol.44.No.2 (2008), p.4. 141 However, an IOM-commissioned research conducted during the period from September 30 to October 20, 2004, on Vietnamese refugee women in Japan, reveals that 60 (23.9 %) out of 279 who responded to questionnaires had been naturalized. IOM, Survey on Vietnamese (female) refugees’ adaptation to Japan (2008), p.97. Another research conducted on 163 Vietnamese refugees living in the metropolitan area reports that 22 % of them were naturalized while 1 % obtained permanent resident status. Hiroshi Yamada et. al., Nihon no Nanminukeire Kako, Genzai, Mirai (Reception of Refugees in Japan: Past, Present and Future) (2007), p.143. 52