Statelessness
According to UNHCR, a stateless person is someone who, under national laws, does not have a legal bond of citizenship with any country. This often occurs when a child’s birth is never registered, the individual is part of an ethnic minority group, or there is ethnic conflict within the country where they were born. A stateless person may not be able to go to school, get a job, receive medical attention, own property, travel, register the birth of their child, register their marriage, have access to the judicial system, vote, or have a sense of identity and belonging.
Statelessness in Cambodia
Hundreds of thousands of individuals residing in Cambodia are currently stateless, without effective citizenship, or in danger of becoming stateless in the future. Many men, women and children are exploited every day due to being denied access to the national protection of citizenship.
Issues of one’s ethnicity, skin color, fiscal situation, language ability, length of stay, relationship with the local enforcement officials, the political affiliation of local officials, and proximity to elections all play a role in granting or denial of Cambodian citizenship. Issues of discrimination are particularly acute when directed toward the ethnic Vietnamese community, who as the greatest number of individuals at risk of statelessness in the country.
Statelessness further increases the vulnerability factors within these communities to exploitative situations of being domestically or internationally trafficked.
