Population figures
Total country population
99,497,680
Forcibly displaced population
Refugees (under UNHCR's mandate):
16
Asylum-seekers:
0
IDPs (of concern to UNHCR):
0
Other people in need of international protection:
0
Other
Statelessness persons
26,811
Host community
0
Others of concern to UNHCR
0
Country context
Vietnam is a Southeast Asian country bordering China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest and the East Sea (South China Sea) to the east. Refugees in Vietnam are few. Refugee-status claims lodged domestically are minimal, with most recognized individuals having arrived historically under large-scale movements—such as the “boat people” exodus—and subsequently resettled abroad.
Asylum-seekers who present in Vietnam reside in urban centres like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, accommodated under general immigration provisions rather than in formal camps. Stateless persons include those of Cambodian descent and individuals whose nationality status lapsed due to marriage or residency abroad; these persons live in host communities across the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta, holding temporary residence permits without specific appeal or review avenues.
...Vietnam has not acceded to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and no national legislation establishes formal asylum procedures or status-determination mechanisms. In practice, individuals expressing a fear of return are identified under general immigration regulations and referred to UNHCR’s regional office for eligibility assessment and documentation under the UNHCR mandate. Procedural safeguards—such as non-refoulement and exemption from penalties for irregular entry—derive from customary international law rather than domestic statute, and no dedicated appeal process exists at the national level.
Vietnam is not party to the 1954 Statelessness Convention or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, leaving identification and determination of statelessness to general nationality and immigration rules. Historically, Vietnam has implemented naturalization of former Cambodian refugees and Montagnard returnees under bilateral repatriation arrangements, regularizing their status through administrative procedures rather than dedicated statelessness legislation. In 2020, Viet Nam promulgated 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.
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