Viet Nam

The Thailand Multi-Country Office is based in Bangkok. It is responsible for operations in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The MCO countries host 91,182 refugees, 387 asylum-seekers, and around 459,549 stateless persons, most of whom reside in Thailand. 

Viet Nam receives only a small number of cases involving claims for international protection per year. The country is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention, and there is no framework for identifying international protection needs or refugee protection.

In 2020, Viet Nam promulgated the Prime Minister’s s Decision on the Implementation Plan of the United Nations’ Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, a firm commitment to address statelessness. The project includes acceding to the Statelessness Conventions by 2025, establishing a statelessness determination procedure, strengthening access to civil registration, improving the identification and reduction of statelessness and protecting the rights of stateless persons. UNHCR put more effort in advocating and providing technical support to put this decision into action through key government counterparts: the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).  

Since 2020, UNHCR has also supported implementing the “ Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons in Viet Nam” project through the Department of Civil Registration, Nationality and Authentication, Ministry of Justice (MOJ).