Twenty-six-year-old Samyah* has no ID card—not Palestinian or Israeli. Born in the West Bank, she once had a Jerusalem ID card after her father but it was revoked. She found out about the revocation when she was 16 and thought had the opportunity to travel with her school to Switzerland. She could not travel. Since then, Samyah and her family have been struggling to regain her Jerusalem ID card.
An upcoming World Council of Churches (WCC) webcast, scheduled for 4 November, will mark the 8th anniversary of #IBelong Campaign to end statelessness.
Ekaterina E. wears the human face of statelessness every day.“Statelessness is about expulsion from the human community” she says, “for me personally, being stateless means I have been separated from my mother for nearly 30 years now.”
On 20 June, World Refugee Day, a World Council of Churches (WCC) webinar will focus on statelessness and the recently addopted “Interfaith Affirmations on Belongingness.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) and Religions for Peace will issue on 9 May a joint message on statelessness, “Belonging—Affirmations for Faith Leaders”.
The document is one of the most recent fruits of WCC work that has been ongoing for more than a decade around the issue of statelessness. It is currently available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
Recognising that we all live in multi-religious societies, African church leaders gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the 2016 World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) regional workshop on “Birth Registration and Gender Discriminatory Nationality Laws in Africa”, stressed the need to develop inter-faith strategies and affirmations in our advocacy work for the human rights of stateless people.
On the UN International Day of Conscience, 5 April, the World Council of Churches (WCC) releases a new volume of “I Belong – Biblical Reflections on Statelessness”. The day highlights the need for the creation of conditions of stability, peaceful coexistence, respect for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, language or religion.
On 24 March, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches (WCC) hosted a webinar conversation which tried to answer the following question: “Statelessness, A Product of Racialized Nationality?”
A webinar entitled ““Statelessness, A Product of Racialized Nationality?” on 24 March will explore the intersectionality between statelessness and racial discrimination.
A webinar on 4 November, “Realizing Equal Nationality Rights for All,” shined a light on the challenges facing an estimated 15 million people worldwide who are stateless, meaning no country considers them to be a national by operation of law.
A webinar on 4 November, “Realizing Equal Nationality Rights for All,” will consider that an estimated 15 million people worldwide are stateless—having no country that considers them to be a national by operation of law.
The World Council of Churches joined 106 faith-based and civil society organizations in signing a joint statement entitled “Building Back Better For Stateless People”, with the launch taking place on 6 July to coincide with the UN Refugee Agency’s Standing Committee Meeting.
A 15 March webinar organized by the World Council of Churches explored “COVID-19 vaccination: how churches can ensure that stateless people are not left behind.”
Seeing the smiles of more than 4,231 Liberian children—and their parents—who have received a birth certificate has also brought a smile many times over to the face of Bishop Kortu K. Brown.
A webinar, “People on the Move: Solidarity and Advocacy,” highlighted the current experiences of refugees, stateless persons, seasonal and migrant workers, and undocumented persons, with a particular focus on ways they are being affected by COVID-19 as the pandemic rages on.
A 12 November webinar entitled “People on the Move: Solidarity and Advocacy” will highlight the experiences and often untold stories of refugees, stateless persons, seasonal and migrant workers, and undocumented persons, with a particular focus on ways they have been affected by COVID-19.
Following a deal reached between the European Union and Turkey in March 2016, Turkey has been taking measures to prevent migrants – many of them fleeing the conflict in Syria – from reaching the EU, in exchange for European aid for migrants and refugees, and for relaxation of EU visa requirements for Turkish citizens. On Friday 28 February, after military losses in north-west Syria – where Turkey has been trying to create a safe area to resettle millions of Syrian refugees and to serve Turkish interests against the Kurds – those measures were suspended, resulting in large numbers of people attempting to cross into Greece and consequent clashes with Greek security forces.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) joined other organizations in signing a statement delivered to the United Nations Refugee Agency on 7 October that urges immediate action on statelessness.
