REGIONAL OVERVIEW Malaysia, and Brunei can be seen to have the lowest levels of ratification. Palau has the lowest level of treaty accession of any state in the AsiaPacific, being party only to the CRC. Malaysia, while a party to two conventions (the CRC and CEDAW) has reservations to the relevant articles that protect the right to nationality. Brunei, similarly, is a party to only two conventions (CRC and CEDAW) and retains reservations to one of those two conventions (CEDAW). Population Reported Stateless Population UNHCR reports 4.3 million stateless people globally. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) estimates that there are at least 15 million stateless people globally. UNHCR notes that their estimate is likely far below the true figure stating: [T]he global figure remains an undercount as data on stateless populations or those of Persons of Undetermined Nationality is missing or incomplete for many countries, including some with known stateless populations. The lack of reliable quantitative data continues to pose challenges to effectively address statelessness and advocate for solutions.51 Noting these limitations, according to UNHCR’s Global Trends Report 2021 (published in June 2022), over half of the world’s 4.3 million stateless persons reside in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2021 over 2.3 million stateless persons were reported to UNHCR by countries in the region.52 Between 2020 and 2021 the number of reported stateless persons in the Asia-Pacific region increased by over 150,000 people.53 The dispersion of the stateless population across the region varies widely. The vast majority of the stateless population in the Asia-Pacific is within South and Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia has the REGIONAL OVERVIEW largest population of stateless persons with over 1.4 million people affected by statelessness in the sub-region (1,407,295).54 South Asia has the second biggest population of reported stateless persons accounting for almost 1 million people (939,542).55 East Asia (750) and the Pacific (7,837) have markedly smaller registered stateless populations.56 The Asia-Pacific contains three of the five largest hosting countries globally in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Thailand, which combined contain over 2 million stateless people. At the same time 18 of the 38 countries in the Asia-Pacific either did not report to UNHCR or reported zero stateless persons in 2021 (Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Laos, Maldives, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, North Korea, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and FIGURE 01 UNHCR’s Global Trends Report 2021 Southeast Asia has the largest population of stateless persons with over 1.4 million people affected by statelessness in the sub-region 2500000 Vanuatu) with the majority of these countries (11 of 18) based within the Pacific. Persons at Risk of Statelessness Of the reported stateless population, 1.3 million persons are classified as in situ stateless persons, populations that have had multi-generational or long-term significant ties to their country of residence, with many having never left their country of birth. The largest population of in situ stateless people reside in states across Southeast Asia. This includes 600,000 ethnic Rohingya who remain in Myanmar, 561,527 people in Thailand (largely comprised of members of the ‘Hill Tribe’ communities), 75,000 persons of Vietnamese ethnicity in Cambodia, a population of 35,475 people in Vietnam (including members of the Hmong community and people of Cambodian heritage) and over 20,000 persons of Chinese heritage in Brunei.57 UNHCR has specifically stated that for six countries in the region (Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) they have “information about stateless persons, but no reliable data”.58 It is notable that all but one of these FIGURE 02 Persons at risk of statelessness 2000000 1.3 million persons are classified as in situ stateless persons 1500000 1000000 Myanmar 600,000 Thailand 561,527 Cambodia 500000 Vietnam Brunei 0 Asia Southeast South Pacific Asia Asia Pacific East Asia 75,000 35,475 20,000 UNHCR, ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2021’ (June 2022) countries is situated within South Asia. Within these countries, there are a number of identified stateless populations not included in the UNHCR reporting figures including ethnic Bengalis and long-term Afghani refugees in Pakistan,59 and the Lhostshampa of Bhutan.60 In East Asia and the Pacific, there are no major groups of recognised in situ stateless populations.61 Persons of Nationality Undetermined Four states in the Asia-Pacific (Japan, Kiribati, Laos and Vanuatu) have publicly available Englishlanguage census data from the last 10 years that categorises foreign residents within the country as having “undetermined” or “unknown” nationality.62 Most notably in Japan’s 2020 census the nationality of 131,684 foreigners in Japan was categorised as “stateless and name of country not reported”.63 Smaller populations were recorded in the other three states — Kiribati (8), Laos (375), Vanuatu (27).64 The citizenship status of several other groups across the Asia-Pacific is unclear or unconfirmed. While reported figures of stateless populations may be low in East Asia, thousands of individuals have undetermined nationalities. China’s 2010 census showed that at least 13 million children lacked household registration (hukou) preventing them from accessing the full rights of citizens.65 The status of ethnic minority groups in both Japan and Mongolia remains uncertain. As many as 26,312 ethnic Koreans in Japan remain categorised as “citizens of the Korean Peninsula (Korea or Chōsen)”66 and hold the status of “special permanent residents”.67 In Mongolia, thousands of ethnic Kazakhs have faced administrative barriers to reacquiring citizenship, which they lost in the early 1990s.68 In the Pacific as many as 10–15,000 West Papuan refugees have lived in Papua New Guinea for 18 19 STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC REPORT 2023