Myth-busting • • • Statelessness is NOT a choice. Normally, if a person does not have a nationality, it is not because they have done something wrong. It is usually because the country has done something wrong – because it has bad rules, like not allowing women to pass on their nationality to their children or saying that people who belong to a certain minority cannot have a nationality. It can also be because a country has gaps in its rules or doesn’t properly practice its rules. Being undocumented is NOT the same as being stateless. Lack of birth registration, however, can heighten the risk of statelessness as a birth certificate can prove where a person was born and who their parents are, which can be crucial to establishing nationality. Being stateless is NOT the same as being a refugee or an [irregular] migrant. Not all refugees are stateless (most refugees have a nationality) and not all stateless persons are migrants or refugees (most stateless persons live in the country of their birth and ancestry). However, stateless persons are non-citizens, meaning that they are treated as foreigners by every other state, even their own. They also may be considered to be in their country irregularly, so they can face similar problems to e.g. migrants with an irregular status. Learn more If you want to know more about the issue of statelessness or have questions about either this Teaching Guide or The Girl Who Lost Her Country, don’t hesitate to contact us at: neha@institutesi.org You can also find useful resources here: • http://www.kids.worldsstateless.org/ • http://kids.worldsstateless.org/learn/further-resources • https://www.institutesi.org/ • https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/about-statelessness/ • https://www.unhcr.org/ending-statelessness.html • https://www.statelessness.eu/ 9