1. Lack of Legal Safeguards Against Childhood Statelessness
A newborn child found in Cambodia with unknown parents will be considered to have been born in Cambodia, and therefore, automatically acquires Khmer citizenship by birth. It is important to note that the conception of ‘Khmer citizenship’ in Cambodia is based on a historical and continual connection between ethnicity and citizenship. The jus soli provisions of Cambodian citizenship law may provide protection to children born to stateless parents in limited circumstances where those parents were born and resided legally in Cambodia and were considered ‘foreigners’. While this provision may provide some protection from inter-generational statelessness in Cambodia, its scope is limited and implementation tends to be absent in practice. While many Vietnamese long-term residents should technically be able to resolve their status under this provision, the inability to provide documentary proof barres them from attaining Cambodian citizenship. Children born to parents who themselves were born outside of the country or who were born within the country but are considered to be illegally residing in the country will not be able to gain citizenship.
2. Citizenship Stripping
The lack of a birth certificate bars members of the ethnic Vietnamese community with intergenerational ties to Cambodia from accessing a wide range of basic services and rights, including access to citizenship. In 2014, the government implemented a ‘foreigner census’ which was intended to identify and deport people illegally residing in the country, which resulted in over 10,000 ethnic Vietnamese being deported to Vietnam. Another national registration campaign was implemented after this, intended to issue permanent residence cards, but targeted Vietnamese communities. This campaign issued new residence cards which are only valid for two years for a fee equating to $60 USD, which identified the cardholders as ‘immigrant aliens’ with ‘Vietnamese nationality’. This alludes to the fact that the government of Cambodia does not view these ethnic Vietnamese residents as Khmer nationals, but rather ‘immigrants’ of Vietnamese nationality. However, much of this community has never lived or even been to Vietnam. Despite this, the marginalization that members of the community have experienced in Cambodia have forced some to immigrate to Vietnam in hopes of a better life.
Later on, documentation that this community did hold was “systematically confiscated” by the government, stating that the documents were ‘irregular’, which the government identified were held by around 70,000 Vietnamese ‘foreigners’. An official of the Ministry of Interior stated in relation to this that the government was simply taking away Cambodian documents from Vietnamese citizens. The inability to provide documentary proof of their eligibility for Cambodian citizenship remains the primary reason this population continues to be subjected to statelessness and systematically denied basic rights and services. Further, widespread evictions of floating houses over rivers and lakes have disproportionately affected Vietnamese residents in Cambodia, with many being forcibly relocated to housing sites with grave sanitation issues.
3. Administrative Barriers
Birth registration rates within Cambodia are reported at 92% in 2022. While long- term Vietnamese residents who have resided in Cambodia prior to 1975 may be entitled to nationality under the letter of the law, discriminatory administrative processes have led to the denial of identity documents, birth registration and any recognition of their status as citizens, leading to an inability to provide required proof of identity and other documentation. Additionally, although the citizenship law of Cambodia — in providing children born to foreign parents who themselves were born in Cambodia access to citizenship — may on paper provide an avenue for children born to ethnic Vietnamese who have been denied citizenship, in practice citizenship continues to be denied. Children born to ethnic Vietnamese communities face frequent barriers to birth registration, disproportionately unlikely to have birth registration and, in turn, access to citizenship. Finally, long-term ethnic Vietnamese residents who may seek citizenship through naturalization also face barriers in meeting residency requirements due to their frequent lack of identity documents to prove their status, language requirements and governmental discretion.
In June 2023, Cambodia adopted a new law on Civil Registration, Vital Statistics, and Identity, planned to enter into force in 2024, which is intended to ensure universal birth registration. The new law is also intended to remove previous barriers to registration as well as establish a universal right to an identity card. The success of this law will depend largely on implementation, for which there is actively monitoring and advocacy being undertaken by stakeholders and experts. This contributes to the National Strategic Plan of Identification (2017-2026) which Cambodia implemented to increase the birth registration rate and achieve its long-term goal of ensuring that everyone in the country has a legal identity.
