1.3 B: A right to belong Duration: 45 minutes Instructions: Level of complexity: 2 Before beginning the activity, it might be helpful to refresh participants’ knowledge on statelessness as a global problem by sharing some quick facts: Knowledge/Subjects: Civics, Politics, International Relations, Social Activism • There are an estimated 15 million people who are stateless in the world meaning that they are not considered as nationals by any state. Skills: Activism, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Empathy, Research • Statelessness is often the result of bad rules, like not allowing women to pass on their nationality to their children or saying that people who belong to certain minorities cannot have a nationality. • Stateless people are often unable to see a doctor, get a job or even get married because of their status. For children who are stateless it can also mean that they can’t go to school, play, be with their families and carers and enjoy their childhood. Values/Attitudes: Belief that people can bring about change, Commitment to participation & inclusion, Respect for people & human rights Objectives: • For participants to explore the UN as a forum to advocate for the right to nationality for everyone using the UDHR as a tool. • For participants to critically reflect on existing actions against statelessness. Materials: Internet access (optional) It is often difficult for countries to deal with global issues such as statelessness on their own. Sometimes it is countries themselves who have bad rules that lead to statelessness. To help them deal with such issues, countries have created the United Nations (UN) as a place in which they work together to help them get along, improve living conditions for people all over the world and make the world a better place. One way the UN works together and tries to hold countries accountable for their actions is via written and agreed upon documents including declarations, compacts, and treaties. There is a very important document called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which sets out the rights of every single person in the world such as going to school or being able to see a doctor. The Declaration also says that “everyone has the right to a nationality”. This means that nationality rules should be fair, and everyone should be able to get a nationality somewhere. No one should be stateless. Everybody should belong somewhere! Alternatively, you can refresh participants knowledge on statelessness through this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ9SzaumyW0 and provide a brief introduction to the United Nations through an educational rap video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l2W7Ikrp6Y and to the UDHR through an witty educational video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew993Wdc0zo. Next, have a discussion about Article 15 of the UDHR and statelessness. You can write Article 15 on the board or hand it out to the participants: 1. Everyone has the right to a nationality. 2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. Guiding questions for the discussion include: 1. What does Article 15 mean? If nationality is a right, how come there are 15 million stateless people in the world? • The right to a nationality is a fundamental human right. Statelessness is the most extreme violation of this right because it leaves people without a nationality, anywhere. However, stateless people can still be found in all regions of the world as many countries have bad rules that lead to statelessness like not allowing women to pass on their nationality to their children as in 26