News
By Claus Grue *
Some people don’t exist – on paper, that is. Indeed, millions of people are not recognized as citizens by the law of any country.
In 2013 they were an estimated 10 million stateless people, equalling the entire population of Sweden. Since then, refugee crises have escalated dramatically worldwide. That means it is highly likely the number of stateless refugee people has grown even more.
“We are talking about people without identity who are not always inclined to reveal their status. Therefore, the statistics are rather conservative estimates”, explains WCC programme executive Segma Asfaw, who also has written a book on the subject, titled The Invisible Among Us.
Statelessness is a global human rights issue and there are several reasons for it, other than being a refugee.
For instance, discriminatory nationality laws in many countries prevent women passing on their own nationality to their children and can render them stateless if their fathers are no longer there to warrant nationality. Discrimination based on gender or ethnical grounds often lead to statelessness, as do changes of political systems.
Re-drawing of boundaries as a result of conflicts may change the legal status of large populations overnight, which happened in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved and its former republics became independent.
“Being without citizenship is not only about being without an officially recognized identity, which is bad enough in itself. It is about being denied basic human rights and all the privileges that other people enjoy and take for granted.
“Statelessness is a human rights issue and it is therefore important for faith-based organizations, such as the WCC, to engage in it”, says Asfaw.
She cites three key factors as reducing the number of stateless children: Birth registration, removal of gender discrimination from nationality laws, and firm commitments by more countries to accede to UN Statelessness Conventions.
The first is regarded as pivotal in order to provide a child with evidence that it exists not only physically, but also officially as a legal citizen. Birth registration reveals who the parents are, where the child is born and the date of birth.
“Faith based organizations often have birth records, which to a much larger extent should be coordinated with official authorities in order to ensure every child’s official existence. A lot of work remains to be done at local levels to encourage and formalize registration of new-born babies,”Asfaw explains.
She is organizing regional training workshops where church leaders, ecumenical partners and representatives from local civil societies are equipped to prevent and deal with statelessness. One was held in Beirut last autumn and another just recently in Addis-Ababa.
“Educating key people so that they can teach and inspire others is a way of gradually raising awareness at grass root levels about citizenship as a basic human right,” Asfaw notes.
The second factor regarding discrimination requires tireless advocacy and lobbying efforts towards the 27 countries around the globe that still won’t allow mothers to give nationality to their children.
“This is a gender equality issue which needs to be addressed firmly. Children should not be denied their legal rights to citizenships because of old fashioned patriarchal discriminatory laws.
“Churches and other faith based organizations are in a good position to put pressure on regimes in countries where such laws still are in place,” Asfaw points out.
She applies the same reasoning to the third key factor which is about living up to the commitments of international treaties:
“We need to constantly remind governments and authorities around the world of the two international treaties that were signed in 1954 and 1961 to ensure that every person has a nationality and that stateless people enjoy a basic set of human rights.”
A gradual increase of the number of States complying with these treaties is also a cornerstone of the UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) global action plan against statelessness. The goal is to have statelessness eliminated by 2024.
The World Council of Churches started working on this issue in 2010 and has cooperated with UNHCR since 2012 when a closer dialogue with faith-based organizations was initiated. In 2013 the WCC issued an official statement on statelessness and has now become an active supporter of UNHCR’s global campaign and action plan to end statelessness.
“We bring the perspective of faith to the campaign and we invite our UN-partners to walk together with us on our pilgrimage of justice and peace.
“A sense of belonging and inclusion is indeed a question of justice and peace and we must ensure stateless people that they are not forgotten and that we pray and care for them. They are God’s children too,” Asfaw concludes.
* Claus Grue is a communication consultant at the World Council of Churches
