THE STORY OF THIS PLAY For a moment… let’s imagine this little play - (and it really is only very little) – is stateless. What then would its story be? Nationality Rights) and Laura Bingham (Open Society Justice Initiative). The Certificate is only a few years old. It was born in London in 2017 on a very cold January day. There were a number of people who witnessed the birth of this monologue – though some may have already forgotten it. These were the people who came to the launch of the report “The World’s Stateless’ by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion. The book launch was an important event because it brought attention to the issue of stateless children and called for immediate action to address childhood statelessness through mobilisation, advocacy, litigation and other means. The event was well attended and several key individuals and organizations involved in the issue of Statelessness, including Melanie Khanna (UNHCR), Catherine Harrington (Global Campaign for Equal When The Certificate was first born, no one really remembered to take pictures, but one person did have the presence of mind to take a video of it on a phone. This birth is on record and we are very grateful that this evidence exists. The Certificate was first brought to life by a young student activist called Kadhija Badri. After her performance many people said that The Certificate raised some very important questions about the issue of Statelessness. 12