OBMICA Contributes to a Global Report on Childhood Statelessness

2 February 2017--Every 10 minutes a child is born without nationality somewhere in the world, according to the new report, "The World's Stateless," launched in London by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion. The report focuses on the 6 million children in situations of statelessness around the world; a chapter on the Dominican Republic was prepared by Allison Petrozziello, OBMICA's Research and Programs Coordinator.

The ISI report calls for action to eliminate childhood statelessness through social mobilization, advocacy, litigation, and other means. When they do not enjoy the right to nationality, stateless girls and boys commonly have trouble accessing health services, education, and other fundamental rights. The situation of statelessness causes despair both for children and for their mothers and fathers.

Mothers such as Genoveve, from a community in Santo Domingo Oeste, told OBMICA, "Of course I worry about my children because we do not have support from their father. So I think, 'I am their mother and I have to raise them so that tomorrow they can work.' I love my children, but look how they are going... All children need to have papers. If something happens out there on the street and you do not have papers, you cannot speak for them. You do not have papers and you cannot protect them".

There are multiple causes of childhood statelessness. Sometimes statelessness is passed from parents to their children. In other cases, the newborn does not acquire a nationality at birth due to a conflict between different nationality laws, or it may be impossible to prove their legal identity because no birth certificate was ever issued.

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the problem of statelessness around the world. In addition to compiling more than 70 contributions on the situation of childhood statelessness in the world, the report also points to the necessary steps toward solving the problem.

"Childhood statelessness is entirely preventable. It is never a child's 'fault' if they are without nationality. A child-focused approach helps us move forward toward identifying permanent solutions and preventing the problem from continuing to spread. In this way, we not only help the girls and boys born today, but we also prepare the ground to create broad long-term solutions," explains Laura van Waas, co-director of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion.

For more information about our work in defense of the right to nationality, click here.

To download the full report (available only in English), click here.