How are the activities connected to The Girl Who Lost Her Country? Neha’s encounters in The Girl Who Lost Her Country raise certain questions that are addressed in this theme and the relevant parts of the book: • Question 3: Is it your birth certificate that gives you a nationality? (p.17, 52) • Question 4: What kind of things are children who don’t have a nationality not able to do? (p.21, 53) • Question 6: Why can’t countries make sure all children get a nationality, even if they don’t know where they were born or who their parents were? (p.24, 56) Real-world examples encountered by Neha and included in this theme show how denying a person citizenship limits their ability to enjoy other rights and to participate in society: • Aasif from the Bajau Laut community who cannot go to school because Malaysia does not recognise Bajau Laut as nationals. (p. 30-33) • Talia who has not been provided with a birth certificate by the Dominican Republic due to her Haitian migratory background. (p. 17-21) • Grace, a foundling in Cote d’Ivoire, who fears that she won’t be able to go to school or travel because she doesn’t have a birth certificate. (p.21-22) Before you begin Before you begin with any of the activities, take a look at the main issues that will come up in this theme. You can also ease the participants into the activities in the form of a warm-up discussion around the concepts set out below. Citizenship Having a citizenship is like holding the official membership of a country. Once you are ‘in’ and are a member of the country, you have access to the benefits that come along with that membership: you can enjoy the rights of citizens of that country. Citizenship also offers a sense of belonging – to a place and to a community – and recognition of your place in the world. Each country has its own rules about how you can become a member: rules (or laws) that set out which people are granted nationality. Some countries give nationality to anybody born there. Other countries give nationality to anybody who has a parent from the country. Most countries allow people who have lived there for a long time or married someone from the country, to apply for nationality. In this way the real-life connections that a person has with a country form the basis for becoming a national. Sometimes things go wrong and a person’s real-life connections do not allow them to access citizenship in any country. This leaves them stateless and excluded from the benefits of citizenship. It also means that they are treated as outsiders and may suffer from prejudice, xenophobia and discrimination. Rights (Human) rights are the rights that every single person in the world has, such as being able to go to school or see a doctor. No matter their nationality, race, sex, religion etc., everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination. There is also a special set of human rights specifically for children, often known as “child rights”. However, stateless people around the world are often unable to participate in life in the same way as others and enjoy rights such as going to school, seeing a doctor or having a job. That is because certain countries require individuals who live within their borders to have a nationality to be able to enjoy these rights. This is clearly wrong, goes against every human’s rights and must be changed. No matter if a person is stateless, he/she should be able to enjoy all human rights! 29