1% of the total global population is displaced. That is 1 in every 97 people have been displaced. Till the end of 2019 there are 79.5 million people who are displaced. Some within their own countries, others across borders in neighbouring countries. Think about it in this way: 79.5 million stories, 79.5 million dreams, 79.5 million lives uprooted, 79.5 million uncertain future, 79.5 million children, fathers, mothers, 79.5 million opportunities, 79.5 million possibilities. They could be doctors, engineers, lawyers, singers, bloggers, they could be anything they wished to be. They are 79.5 million people like you and me.
This mass displacement has caused millions of people being stateless and another million being refugees. Remember not all refugees are stateless. Well I’ll write about refugees in my next post for now let me tell you about stateless people.
According to UNHCR there are 4.2 million stateless people in the world but the actual number can be twice or thrice or even more because half of all countries don’t even count them. Most of you who are reading this are citizens of somewhere. You belong to a country, you hold a birth certificate, a driving licence, passport or any other government issued identity cards, documents proving who you are. But these people only exist physically, officially on paper they don’t even exist. Without a passport or a national ID there’s an unending list of things we can’t do. Things like going to a school, seeing a doctor, owning a sim card, working legally, owning or renting a house and even marrying isn’t possible as you don’t hold any documents to prove your identity. For one minute imagine that the country you were born in and raised doesn’t consider you a citizen anymore? No country does. You don’t have a nationality; you are suddenly stateless. Didn’t it give you Goosebumps? These people have been facing it years by years, some even generations by generations.
So, what causes statelessness?
Conflicts:
During conflicts when there are riots and people are displaced or they flee what happens is sometimes people lose or leave their family documents, papers of land and other ID cards which are proof of ties to a country. Later on, these misplaced papers can make registering the birth of a child impossible leaving him stateless. In some cases, people become stateless when their state or territory on which they live comes under the control of another state. For example, the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Legal Trap:
In some countries if your parents are stateless, so are you. It’s passed on for generations. Some countries prevent passing on a parent's nationality to their children if they are born abroad. In some countries when a child is born and neither of its parents are a citizen of the country where the child is born, then the child would be stateless since these countries offer citizenship to children born to at least one native parent.
Discrimination:
Some countries discriminate against women and don’t let mothers pass on their citizenship. Ethnicity, language, religion, they’ve all been used as excuses to exclude entire groups from being citizens. More than 3/4th of all known as stateless are minorities. Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar, Roma communities around the world and others whose families moved generations ago to the country where they now live but were never acknowledged as citizens.
These were just a few reasons that I listed, there are many more reasons that cause statelessness.
As per the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimations, in 2020 there are 166 million children under the age of 5 who have not been registered. These children have never been officially recorded. Not holding proof of nationality or being undocumented is not the same as being stateless, but the lack of identity documents such as birth certificate can lead to statelessness.
UNHCR launched a global campaign on 4th November 2014 to end statelessness within 10 years. If we go by their estimation then 2024 would be the year when statelessness wouldn’t be a global issue anymore but the current figures suggest something else. The rate at which statelessness and the refugee crisis is increasing doesn't feel we are any close to finding a solution to this problem. So, what can we do to solve this problem? We as the youth of our respective countries are the future lawmakers and courts, we have the power to challenge, and change the laws that lead to statelessness. More and more countries are signing up to the conventions that aim to end statelessness. I understand that in some situations it can be complex, it can involve a lot of paperwork and take up a long time. But in some cases, it takes a few words or just the stroke of a pen, to give the people the rights they deserve. Remember that statelessness is a man-made problem that can be solved because everyone has “THE RIGHT TO BELONG”.
Comentários