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3 - Discrimination and Childhood Statelessness in Southeast Asia

from Part I - Asia and the Phenomenon of Statelessness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2024

Michelle Foster
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Jaclyn Neo
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
Christoph Sperfeldt
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
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Summary

Despite an international legal and normative framework and other global efforts to prevent childhood statelessness, an estimated 70,000 stateless children are born each year in the countries that are home to the twenty largest populations of stateless persons. Children continue to be born stateless, largely due to the inheritance of statelessness from one generation to another. In Southeast Asia, the various causes of statelessness revolve around discriminatory nationality laws premised on race, ethnicity, gender, religion and many other grounds. This chapter examines the different forms of discrimination that engender and perpetuate childhood statelessness in this subregion. It argues that many hereditary and protracted cases of statelessness experienced by children result from direct and indirect discriminatory laws, policies and practices. Case studies from Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia are discussed to illustrate the dynamics of discrimination that arbitrarily deprive children of their right to a nationality. In addition, the chapter draws on the perspectives of the applicable international norms and their limitations, as well as presents some insights into potential solutions for countering this phenomenon.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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