UNHCR reports around 2.4 million people as stateless in the Asia Pacific region which is the highest among all the regions. The reported number of stateless persons in the Asia Pacific region does not accurately reflect the scale of the problem of statelessness. The types of problems of statelessness vary from country to country and from community to community within the same country. Additionally, statelessness received little attention and consequently insufficient resources. NFA aims to garner more support from the international community by building more knowledge on it through research.

When NFA functioned as SNAP, we conducted various studies on nationality laws in Myanmar, Malaysia, and Cambodia. We also provided technical support in editing and reviewing publications of SNAP members. SNAP conducted a study on A Gender Analysis on the Right to a Nationality in Myanmar. on March 2018

 

 

NFA is currently finalizing three different studies on statelessness:

      1)  Impact of COVID – 19 on stateless people in the Asia Pacific region (forthcoming)

This study aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 on stateless people and the measures taken by the government to reduce those impacts. The study covers the impact of COVID-19 on stateless people in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, and Nepal.

       2) Legal validity of the NRC process and its effects on statelessness (forthcoming)

NFA is conducting this study in collaboration with Development and Justice Initiative (DAJI).
India is a party to several human rights treaties that obligate India to protect each person’s right to acquire a nationality. The NRC process has put a significant number of people at risk of statelessness. This study aims to analyze the legal validity of the NRC process, the detention of ‘foreigners’ and deportation of declared foreigners; along with the impact of the process on putting people at risk of statelessness or making people stateless in Assam. 

       3) Right to nationality and the risk of statelessness faced by the Urdu-speaking community in Bangladesh (forthcoming)

This study has been conducted in collaboration with the Council of Minorities and Shahriar Saadat.
The study aims to understand whether the Bangladeshi government has adequately protected the right to nationality of the Urdu-speaking community through a review of the laws, policies, and other studies on the issue. The research also aims to analyze the statelessness status of the Urdu-speaking communities.