Statelessness has not been subject to a dedicated domestic legal framework despite Vanuatu’s accession to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness in 2013 . No legal procedure exists to identify or determine stateless status; persons lacking nationality are managed under general immigration regulations and may receive temporary residence documents without formal guarantees or avenues for appeal. During its most recent Universal Periodic Review, Vanuatu noted recommendations to enhance birth registration and consider a domestic statelessness determination mechanism, but concrete legislative action has yet to follow .

No standalone instrument recognises internally displaced persons as a distinct category. Movements prompted by natural hazards—particularly cyclones, earthquakes and volcanic activity—or by development projects are addressed through emergency decrees, disaster-response regulations and civil-law compensation schemes, with affected communities reliant on ad hoc relief arrangements rather than a codified internal-displacement framework .

At the regional level, Vanuatu participates in the Pacific Immigration Directors’ Conference and has engaged in consultations under the Pacific Islands Forum on protection of persons in mixed migration flows. Capacity-building workshops and policy dialogues facilitated by UNHCR and partner agencies have raised awareness of international protection standards; however, these initiatives remain reliant on external technical assistance and have not yet translated into domestic law.