Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Immigrants’ children to see citizenship reviewed

Immigrants’ children to see citizenship reviewed

Interior Minister Sar Kheng speaks at the closing of the ministry's annual meeting on Friday in Phnom Penh. Photo suppli
Interior Minister Sar Kheng speaks at the closing of the ministry's annual meeting on Friday in Phnom Penh. Photo supplied.

Immigrants’ children to see citizenship reviewed

The Ministry of Interior plans to retroactively strip citizenship from children of immigrants whom they say were mistakenly awarded Cambodian nationality as long as 30 years ago, according to Interior Minister Sar Kheng and director-general of immigration Sok Phal.

Speaking on Friday during the Immigration Department’s annual meeting, Phal explained that for the last three decades, commune chiefs have occasionally illegally given Cambodian birth certificates, and therefore Cambodian citizenship, to children of non-naturalised immigrants.

“For more than 30 years, the children of migrants got Cambodian citizenship at birth because commune chiefs issued it for them. It is illegal,” Phal said.

“Now, the Ministry of Interior will issue new, different birth certificates to them. The children will get the original citizenship of their parents. If they get Cambodian citizenship through the law, they can change to Cambodian nationality,” he added.

Kheng, who closed the meeting, agreed with the suggestion. “The children of immigrants should get their original citizenship from their parents,” he said.

According to the ministry’s own report, the policy would mostly affect Vietnamese immigrants living in Cambodia. Of the 19,437 families that have legally migrated to Cambodia since 2012, 11,103 of them are Vietnamese. Neither Phal nor Kheng accused any specific commune of wrongdoing, nor did they set out a timeframe for any such review process.

The Kingdom’s Law on Nationality states that citizenship is only conferred by birth upon children who have at least one parent who is a Cambodian citizen, or children whose parents were born in Cambodia, but are not themselves citizens.

The Kingdom’s recent voter registration drive – which required residents to present proof of citizenship – was meant to put to rest longstanding claims of non-Cambodians voting, though the National Election Committee’s review of the new voter list did not include an examination of whether those citizenship documents had been legally granted in the first place.

The opposition, meanwhile, has long railed against what they say are illegal Vietnamese voters casting votes for the ruling party. Others, however, have countered that ethnically Vietnamese Cambodians, even ones whose families have been in Cambodia for generations, are denied access to government documentation and services by virtue of their race.

Political analyst Ou Virak said the current immigration system is in desperate need of reform to prevent these kinds of complications. Calling the citizenship laws “very restrictive”, Virak said the government needs to “come up with better policies and better explanations”.

“The real debate should be whether or not the law should be amended to make the process more reasonable,” Virak said, claiming the CPP has avoided addressing immigration issues because of the party’s controversial ties to Vietnam.

“Their biggest baggage is coming to power as a Vietnam-backed government . . . They don’t want to debate because of that association,” he said.

Moeun Tola, director of migrant rights group CENTRAL, appealed to the government to respect human rights as they prepare to investigate migrants who may have been wrongly granted citizenship.

“Whether they are legal migrants, illegal migrants or legal citizens, their fundamental rights and freedoms should be guaranteed,” he said.

MOST VIEWED

  • 12th Cambodia int’l film festival to see return of Hollywood star

    Phnom Penh is set to come alive with the magic of cinema as the highly anticipated 12th Cambodia International Film Festival (CIFF) takes centre stage. Boasting an impressive line-up of 188 films from 23 countries, including captivating shorts, feature films, documentaries and animation, the festival promises an

  • Brawl marrs football final as Indonesian take gold in seven goal thriller

    The Indonesian men's U22 men national football team were crowned champions of the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, defeating Thailand 5-2 in extra time on May 16 at Olympic National Stadium in Phnom Penh. The match was marred by an ugly incident that occured in the 91

  • Bareknuckle champion wants Kun Khmer fighter

    Dave Leduc, who is the current openweight Lethwei boxing champion in Myanmar, has announced that he will travel to Cambodia this year to challenge SEA Games gold medallist Prum Samnang any time that is convenient, after their planned match later this month in Slovakia was

  • Candlelight Party disqualified from July general election

    The National Election Committee (NEC) has disqualified the Candlelight Party (CP) from contesting the upcoming general election, citing a lack of valid documentation. NEC spokesman Khorn Keomono said the CP failed to fulfil one of the three main requirements: including original documentation proving their registration

  • Thong Khon calls for orderly SEA Games closing ceremony

    Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism and permanent vice-president of the Cambodia SEA Games Organising Committee (CAMSOC), calls on all people who have received tickets to the May 17 closing ceremony of the biennial multi-sports extravaganza at the Morodok Techo National Stadium to ensure that the event

  • 1.4 billion dollar Phnom Penh-Bavet expressway due in four years

    The Government, through the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, has officially signed a public-private partnership agreement with a private company for the construction of a Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway project that will connect the capital to Svay Rieng province. The budget for the project is