Voice of America
08 Oct 2019, 11:25 GMT+10
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The U.N. refugee agency warns the battle to stamp out global statelessness is being threatened by growing anti-refugee and migrant sentiment, as well as rising nationalism.
More than 220,000 people have acquired citizenship since the U.N. refugee agency launched a 10-year global campaign in 2014 to end statelessness. Now at the mid-point of the campaign, activists welcome the progress that has been made, but note so much more remains to be done.
They report at least four million people still live without legal documents to prove who they are. Australian actor and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett said statelessness has a devastating impact on their lives. She said they experience marginalization and exclusion from cradle to grave.
"And those of us who have a nationality and have a paper identity, it is often very hard for us to imagine, because we take this for granted, just like breathing. It is hard for us to imagine the degree of invisibility and despair often that stateless people experience," she said.
Blanchett said stateless people do not belong anywhere. They are denied an education and medical care. They cannot open a bank account or travel. They cannot get married or get a death certificate.
"It is total invisibility. And the desperate and horrific gift that they often give to their children is that their children, too, become stateless. So, it is a generational problem," she said.
The UNHCR says solutions are urgently needed for millions without citizenship or at risk of becoming stateless around the world. The scale of the problem is particularly overwhelming for the more than one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and millions more still living in Myanmar.
A recent government decree has put minority populations in India's Assam state at risk of becoming stateless if they cannot prove their citizenship. This, though they have lived in the region for generations.
On a better note, the #IBelong campaign has brought global awareness to the issue and wracked up some successes. For example, Madagascar and Sierra Leone have reformed their nationality laws. They now allow mothers, as well as fathers, to confer citizenship on their children.
However, 25 countries continue to make it impossible for mothers to confer this right on their children. This remains one of the leading causes of statelessness globally.
Source: VOA
Get a daily dose of Manila Metro news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Manila Metro.
More InformationHONG KONG: China has fired back at the European Union in an escalating trade dispute by imposing new restrictions on medical device...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump says the United States could soon reach a trade deal with India. He believes this deal would...
BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Initiated by the International Union of Railways (UIC) in 1992, the UIC World Congress on High-Speed Rail...
Cruising into friendship! Young Chinese, especially fresh high school and university graduates, are fueling a boom in cruise travel...
Washington, DC [US], July 8 (ANI): Following Beijing's announcement of the opening of another civilian air route near the unofficial...
Washington DC [US], July 8 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Monday (local time) said that the proposed tariff arrangements are intended...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump claimed he was unaware that the term shylock is regarded as antisemitic when he used it in...
PARIS, France: A strike by French air traffic controllers demanding improved working conditions caused significant disruptions during...
OMAHA, Nebraska: With Congress considering cuts totaling around US$1 trillion to Medicaid over the next decade, concerns are rising...
ROME, Italy: Quick thinking by emergency responders helped prevent greater devastation after a gas station explosion in southeastern...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump is drawing praise from his core supporters after halting key arms shipments to Ukraine, a...
MOSCOW, Russia: This week, Russia became the first country to officially recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan since...