02/16/2007

Contact: Maureen Lynch
ri@refugeesinternational.org or 202-828-0110

On February 15, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Chair of the Congressional Children’s Caucus, in partnership with Representative Tom Lantos and Representative Frank Wolf, Co-Chairs of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, held a joint briefing on stateless children at the urging of Refugees International as part of a broader initiative to raise awareness about statelessness and ways to prevent and reduce it. Another true advocate for stateless people, Representative Diane Watson, attended and addressed the audience.

The impact of statelessness on children is a devastating, but hidden problem. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states in Article 7 that “The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.”

However, contrary to international law, stateless children are denied internationally recognized human rights simply because they are not protected by national governments due to lack of citizenship. With a globally estimated stateless population of over 11 million people, and some forty percent of annual births unregistered, large numbers of stateless children live and die unprotected and unrecognized by any government.

Children’s Caucus Chair, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, articulated the scope of the problem and plight of stateless children. “Through no fault of their own, stateless children inherit a trying reality and an uncertain future. They are often denied access to basic healthcare and education. They cannot travel freely or access justice when necessary. As they grow older, they face significant barriers to basic freedoms like marriage, land ownership, employment, voting, or even opening a bank account,” she recounted. The Representative graciously acknowledged the important work of the Human Rights Caucus, colleagues such as Representative Diane Watson, the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, UNHCR, and non-governmental organizations.

Ellen Sauerbrey, Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration, discussed the bureau’s newest efforts on the issue and highlighted her recent trip to Cambodia and Vietnam where she raised her concerns with government officials. She expressed appreciation for earlier focused conversations with Representative Diane Watson, partnership with non-governmental organizations including those on the platform, and spoke positively about collaboration with UNHCR.

The Assistant Secretary was followed by Thomas Albrecht, Deputy Regional Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In his statement, Mr. Albrecht noted that in terms of the responsibilities for protection, “statelessness is the forgotten problem” and highlighted the fact that few states have acceded to the international treaties addressing statelessness. While acknowledging that nationality is a highly sensitive issue as it is a manifestation of a country’s sovereignty and identity, Mr. Albrecht explained that in practical terms identity documents conferring legal personality and the rights that go with this – access to health care, education, property rights, freedom to leave and return to one’s own country – are simply not available. “Statelessness can be a particularly difficult situation for children. In some instances, individuals who are stateless and are outside their country of origin or country of former residence can be detained for long periods if those countries refuse to grant them re-entry to their territories. Births and deaths may not be registered. In many ways these people simply do not exist.” He outlined steps that can be taken to avoid statelessness and highlighted UNHCR’s efforts to address the problem including successful efforts in Sri Lanka and Ukraine.

An early champion for the rights of stateless people around the globe, Representative Diane Watson expressed her solidarity for the importance of the topic of the afternoon, reiterating the welcome collaboration with her Congressional colleagues and with BPRM.

Dr. Sherkoh Abbas, Kurdish National Assembly, declared “Life without freedom, democracy, national & human rights is not a life.” Dr. Abbas gave a very brief history of the situation for Kurds in Syria, including an estimated half million denationalized Kurds. He described the situation for children and showed a short piece of video footage from Syria where a young boy explains that due to his lack of status he has been forced to borrow another person’s identity to pursue his sports activities and competitions. Dr. Abbas concluded, “The Baath regime in Syria denies democracy, freedom, human and national rights to all Syrian people. We call on the Government of Syria, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the United States government including Congress to take concrete actions to end statelessness in Syria, to pressure the Syrian regime to become a federal plural democratic regime that grants freedom, human and national rights to all people in Syria including the Kurdish nation.”

Bill Frelick, Refugee Director for Human Rights Watch focused on the situation of Bhutanese in Nepal. “I had the opportunity to visit all seven refugee camps in November to assess conditions in which the children there are living. Out of a total camp population of about 105,000 refugees, 40 percent are children. I must note at the outset, however, that the adult members of this population are stateless as well and are also left vulnerable due to their lack of a recognized nationality.” Mr. Frelick outlined the history of the problem and the current challenges faced in trying to resolve the situation. He ended with a testimony from a middle-aged man who responded while his daughter was sitting in his lap:

Repatriation would be the best solution, but there is no way that will happen. The government of Bhutan, we have learned that it would not like to address us. The Royal Government of Bhutan does not want to call us Bhutanese. In such conditions people like me, having been tortured by pointing a weapon at my chest, I cannot go back to Bhutan. My life is at stake and I am at risk. Nothing they say would convince me to go back. I also would not like to appeal to the Nepalese to allow us to stay here. The Nepalese themselves are landless. They are homeless, so how can we stay here? My wife and I have heard the rumors all over camp. We have talked about it with our children. Our children said that we want resettlement. We want to live in an atmosphere where we can eat our own bread earned from our own sweat. We don’t want to be dependent on others. We no longer want the tag of “refugee.” Half our lives have been spent as refugees. We don’t want that tag on our children’s forehead. We want them to be proud citizens.

The plight of children of Colombian asylum seekers in Panama was poignantly shared by Shaina Aber, Jesuit Refugee Services. Then Sarnata Reynolds, Refugee Director for Amnesty International, put a domestic frame on the problem of statelessness by highlighting the case of a family who arrived in the U.S. on business and student visas. Later they were apprehended in an early morning raid, separated, and detained. Because the family is Palestinian they cannot return through Israel or Jordon. Requests to 50 other countries have also been denied, leaving them stateless.