Ro Mujif Khan, a 27-year-old Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh, embodies the pain of statelessness. For him, life is not just about surviving as a refugee but enduring a deeper existential agony: not being recognized by any country as a citizen.
“It is difficult for people to understand the pain of not being recognized by the country you were born in,” Khan shared. He fled Myanmar in 2017 amid a brutal military campaign against the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority stripped of citizenship in 1982.
Like Khan, an estimated 4.4 million people globally are stateless, existing in a void where their legal identities are unacknowledged. Statelessness can arise due to discrimination, exclusion of minorities, or shifts in national boundaries, leaving individuals without rights many take for granted.
The Life of a Stateless Individual
For Khan, statelessness means no access to higher education, healthcare, or formal employment. Without a passport or government ID, he cannot open a bank account or travel freely. “I cannot even receive payment for freelance work,” he lamented.
This reality is not unique to Khan. Stateless individuals are denied the foundation of a stable life, leaving them in an enduring cycle of poverty and marginalization.
The Ripple Effects of Conflict
Statelessness often intersects with displacement caused by conflict. Refugees fleeing violence frequently lose their documents, compounding their vulnerability. Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, explains, “Refugees may struggle to establish a legal identity or nationality in their host countries, putting them and their children at risk of statelessness.”
The Rohingya remain one of the largest stateless populations affected by conflict. As Myanmar’s civil war rages on, the possibility of citizenship and repatriation for the Rohingya seems more distant than ever. Khan, who founded the Rohingya Advocacy and Awareness Association in 2019, calls on the international community to pressure Myanmar into granting full citizenship rights to his people.
“I do not want my three-year-old son to grow up stateless,” he says, expressing hope despite overwhelming odds.
How Does Statelessness Occur?
Statelessness arises from various causes:
- Discrimination: Ethnic, religious, and gender discrimination in nationality laws leaves many stateless, particularly women and children.
- Conflict and Displacement: Wars and persecution force people to flee, stripping them of their citizenship.
- Administrative Gaps: Poorly implemented nationality laws and bureaucracy can render people stateless.
- State Succession: Changes in national boundaries or state dissolution (e.g., Soviet Union) leave minorities stateless.
The Impact of Statelessness
The stateless face significant challenges:
- Legal Exclusion: Statelessness makes individuals invisible to the law, often trapping them in cycles of poverty.
- Restricted Mobility: Lack of documentation prevents travel and resettlement opportunities.
- Social Stigma: Many face marginalization within their communities.
Case Studies
- Rohingya People: Over a million Rohingya are stateless, denied citizenship in Myanmar, and subjected to severe persecution.
- Dominican Republic: Thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent were rendered stateless following a 2013 court ruling stripping citizenship.
- Kuwait’s Bidoon Community: Stateless for decades, the Bidoon population faces systemic exclusion from society.
What Can Be Done?
Efforts to combat statelessness require a multi-faceted approach:
- Legislative Reform: Ensuring laws are inclusive and aligned with international standards to prevent statelessness.
- Birth Registration: Universal and accessible registration systems can secure nationality from birth.
- Global Campaigns: Initiatives like the UNHCR’s #IBelong campaign aim to end statelessness by 2024.
- Human Rights Advocacy: Pressure on governments to address statelessness through policy changes.
Stories Across the Globe
Statelessness is not limited to refugees or conflict zones. Historical trends and bureaucratic oversights also leave people stateless:
- Former Soviet Union: The dissolution of the USSR in the 1990s rendered many individuals stateless.
- Republic of the Congo: Indigenous tribes struggle to secure birth certificates, limiting access to education and healthcare.
- United States: In the US, over 218,000 individuals are stateless or at risk. Advocacy groups, such as United Stateless, are pushing for legislative changes like the Stateless Protection Act to provide a pathway to citizenship.
Karina Ambartsoumian-Clough, a stateless individual in the US, has faced decades of challenges despite living under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Her story highlights the enduring hardships of statelessness, even in developed countries.
Hope for Change
Despite its widespread impact, statelessness is solvable. UNHCR’s decade-long campaign has led to significant breakthroughs:
- Kyrgyzstan resolved all known cases of statelessness this year, naturalizing over 13,000 individuals.
- Kenya granted citizenship to three marginalized minority groups.
- Vietnam addressed statelessness among former Cambodian refugees.
“All it sometimes needs is literally a stroke of a pen,” Menikdiwela noted, emphasizing the role of political will in eradicating statelessness. Over the past decade, more than 500,000 stateless people have acquired nationality, a testament to what can be achieved with concerted effort.
A Call to Action
Statelessness is a humanitarian crisis, but it is one of the most solvable. Governments must ensure inclusive nationality laws, facilitate birth registration, and protect refugees from falling into statelessness. For millions like Khan, recognition is not just a legal formality; it is a gateway to reclaiming dignity and rights.
As Filippo Grandi, UNHCR High Commissioner, put it, statelessness is “a largely invisible crisis,” but with collective commitment, it can become a crisis of the past.
