Meet Maha Mamo: The Importance of Raising Awareness about Displaced People Worldwide

Human-rights activist, motivational speaker, and Brazilian writer Maha Mamo answers OBMICA's questions in an interview conducted in Santo Domingo.

BIO: Born in Lebanon to Syrian parents, Maha Mamo was denied citizenship and grew up as a stateless refugee in her own country. As the child of immigrants, Lebanese law did not allow her to have automatic citizenship by birth. Syrian law prohibited her mother from transmitting her nationality; only fathers have that right. Maha, her sister Souad, and her brother Eddy sought protection abroad. Brazil finally granted them visas in September 2014 and refugee status in May 2016. Since arriving in Brazil, Maha has become a spokesperson for stateless persons, of whom there are around 10 million in the world.

Maha answered OBMICA's questions in an interview conducted in Santo Domingo on December 6, 2021.

In one interview you once said: "Being stateless hurts much more when you know you are capable of doing so much (...) You cannot realize your potential if they do not give you the right to exist." Can you explain what you mean by this? What are some of the main obstacles stateless persons face?

You are not able to realize all of your potential. When I was a teenager, I used to dream that I could become a doctor or the next Michael Jordan. That I had all the potential in the world to go out and be whatever I wanted to be, but I could not because of statelessness.

I realized I was so limited because I did not have the right papers to simply exist.

What factors are at play that make solving statelessness so difficult?

What makes it difficult is the fact that we are always the last issue to be discussed. States always have other priorities and agendas, no matter where or what organizations. They always think statelessness is the last thing to talk about. People compare statelessness with refugees - which is not really comparable - but refugees have documents and most of them flee their countries. They move. Stateless persons live in the shadows, unlike refugees, because they did not have a country to begin with. Stateless persons do not move, they simply live in the shadows. That makes them seem less important. They are just trying to survive day by day.

Who has the responsibility to protect these persons?

No one. You do not belong to a country, a nation, or an organization. No one knows you exist, no one is willing to help you. The most challenging part is that we do not have data on how many people are facing statelessness right now. There is no number showing the magnitude of this problem. Statelessness is often associated with terrorism and with "illegal" people. They are criminalizing stateless persons. But as a stateless person, you do not have a country to run to, you do not have a country you belong to that will protect you.

How did you gain access to all this information about statelessness? When did you start fighting for your rights as a stateless person?

By reading. By researching. I still have so much to learn when it comes to understanding statelessness. There is no glossary or dictionary that tells you how you are going to solve the problems. But there are resources in the #IBelong campaign that tell us how we can cover all stateless persons all over the world.

How can people learn to speak about injustices, fight injustices, and resist violence in their own communities?

In terms of raising awareness about statelessness, the first thing is to allow people to understand the meaning of statelessness. But also to understand that it is a condition life has given you. It can be beautiful and horrible, but what matters is how you handle it. You have to work on yourself. I think it is important to look at the community once and ask what the need is. If, for example, we focus only on fighting statelessness, I do not think we are going to solve anything. We need to find out what needs are not being met in our communities and try to solve them from there.

You always wear the Brazilian flag around your neck. Many politicians relate restrictions in migration policy to nationalism and identity. As a former stateless person, what does national identity mean to you?

I would say that I am a citizen of the world. I would say that dividing communities and countries is a very new concept. I have seen many different countries and cultures. I have seen how humanity is divided but that at the same time we are all the same. I am proudly Brazilian. I found my identity and existence in Brazil, but at the same time I am proudly Lebanese. I also live proudly with Lebanon. I am Syrian because my mom and dad are Syrian.