Statelessness

Imagine you have no birth certificate, no passport and no legal rights. You’re trapped in the country where you were born, but no document indicates that you even exist. The state doesn’t recognize you, so you can’t vote, you can’t access education and you can’t obtain formal employment. This is a worst-case situation, but across the globe, between 12 and 15 million people live in various stages of statelessness, which means they lack citizenship in any country. Some of the most notably stateless people include the Palestinians of the Middle East, the ethnic Tutsis of Central Africa, some Roma in Europe and Haitian children in the Dominican Republic. Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show on Tuesday, June 23 at 6:30 p.m. EDT will explore the common themes that surface among stateless people — economic discrimination, social exclusion, identity and the feeling of invisibility. As the world turns its attention to the plight of refugees this weekend for World Refugee Day, we’ll take a look at these vulnerable sub-groups. We’ll also examine the political climates and security issues surrounding the ruling governments that keep these groups stateless.