I am here, I belong: the urgent need to end childhood statelesness
UNHCR
Highlights
Stateless children across the world share similar feelings of discrimination, frustration and despair, says a new UNHCR report, creating problems that can endure into adulthood.
The first geographically diverse survey of the views of stateless children says the common problems they face in the countries under review profoundly affect their ability to enjoy childhood, lead a healthy life, study and fulfil their ambitions.
Many of the dozens of young people in seven countries interviewed for the I am Here, I Belong: the Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness report said that being stateless had taken a serious psychological toll, describing themselves as "invisible," "alien," "living in a shadow," "like a street dog" and "worthless."
In the report, the children tell of the tough challenges they face growing up, often on the margins of society, denied the rights most citizens enjoy. Stateless children say they are often treated like foreigners in the country they have lived in all their lives.
Stateless young people are often denied the opportunity to receive school qualifications, go to university and find a decent job. They face discrimination and harassment by authorities and are more vulnerable to exploitation. Their lack of nationality often sentences them and their families and communities to remain impoverished and marginalized for generations.
Statelessness also affects the future of young people. One young woman in Asia, told UNHCR researchers that she has been unable to take up job offers as a teacher because she is stateless and can only find work in a local shop. "I want to tell the country, that there are many people like me."
