1. Citizenship law
All citizenship laws in the Asia-Pacific region operate through the principle of jus sanguinis, meaning that citizenship is derived via descent. The laws of eight of the 38 countries in the region additionally contain jus soli, or ‘birthright citizenship’ provisions which grant citizenship on the basis of birth on their territory (with differing limitations). Across Asia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Thailand’s citizenship laws include jus soli provisions. In the Pacific, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu have limited provisions for jus soli citizenship.
Of the 38 states in the region, jus sanguinis provisions in 19 states (Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu) provide that children born to a citizen parent gain citizenship, with no distinction based upon the location of their birth.
In 17 states (Afghanistan, Australia, Brunei, China, India, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, North Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Vietnam) children can gain nationality where a parent is a citizen of the relevant country, however, a distinction is made between children born within or outside of the territory. For these countries while jus sanguinis is the predominant means of transferal of nationality, jus soli factors come into play.
The laws of two states (Bhutan and Myanmar) provide that citizenship may be transferred to children born within or outside of the state only if both parents are considered citizens or, in the case of Myanmar, “nationals”. Brunei and Myanmar contain restrictions in their citizenship laws based on ethnicity. The laws of the Maldives contain provisions that limit access to citizenship based on religious grounds.
The laws of five states (Brunei, Kiribati, Malaysia, Singapore and Nepal) contain provisions that inhibit the ability of women to confer nationality to their children on the same grounds as men. Additionally, the citizenship laws of the Maldives may contain gender discriminatory provisions, however, limited information is available. The laws of nine states (Bangladesh, Brunei, Kiribati, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines (for naturalized women only), Singapore and Thailand) limit the ability of married women to confer their nationality onto foreign spouses on the same basis as men.
2. Ratification of Relevant Treaties
Treaty ratification is varied and inconsistent across the Asia-Pacific. Only five of the 38 countries in the Asia-Pacific (Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Philippines, and South Korea) have accessioned to the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (‘1954 Convention’), four of the 38 states (Australia, Kiribati, New Zealand, and the Philippines) to the Convention on the Reduction of Stateless Persons (‘1961 Convention’), and three to both treaties (Australia, Kiribati, and the Philippines). The region sees a slightly higher rate of accession to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (‘Refugee Convention’), with 15 countries (Afghanistan, Australia, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Japan, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Timor-Leste and Tuvalu) in the region having accessioned to the treaty and its 1967 Refugee Convention Protocol.
