A Place to
Call Home:
Shining a Light on
Unmet Legal Need
for Stateless
Children in
Australia
Established in 2018, RACS’ Stateless Children
Project is Australia’s first and only legal service
dedicated to providing assistance to stateless
children in obtaining Australian citizenship.
RACS is one of Australia’s leading refugee
legal centres providing free, dedicated legal
assistance to people seeking asylum. As an
independent community legal centre, RACS
has been protecting and advocating for human
rights for people seeking asylum, who have
made it to Australia for over 30 years. Over this
time, RACS has assisted hundreds of stateless
people to apply for asylum. Through working
with key external partners also working in this
space, RACS identified a specific need to assist
stateless children born in Australia apply for
citizenship, under domestic legislation.
The Refugee Advice & Casework Service (RACS) and Peter
McMullin Centre on Statelessness have partnered to conduct
groundbreaking research into the legal needs, barriers, and gaps
experienced by stateless refugee children and their families in
accessing and acquiring Australian citizenship. The ‘A Place to
Call Home’ Project aims to educate stateless community groups
about any potential entitlement Australian-born children may have
to citizenship, as well as link them to RACS’ Stateless Children
Project for expert legal assistance. The project also aims to
identify the legal need and potential legal assistance models for
stateless refugee children nationally across Australia.
I hope for better for my children.’
— Amir, stateless Palestinian father of four
Melbourne Law School’s Peter McMullin Centre
on Statelessness was established in 2018 with
the objective of undertaking research, teaching,
and engagement activities aimed at reducing
statelessness and protecting the rights of
stateless people in Australia, the Asia-Pacific
region, and as appropriate more broadly.
The ‘A Place to Call Home’ Project is led by
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness
Research Fellow Katie Robertson, who has
extensive experience working with stateless
children through her role as a lawyer and is
supported by Sarah Dale, who supervises the
legal service delivery.
The ‘A Place to Call Home’ Project also documents the lived
experience of statelessness with the aim of providing human
insight into the everyday challenges experienced by stateless
children and their families in Australia — in their own words.
A Place to Call Home – Shining a Light on Unmet Legal Need for Stateless Children in Australia
‘Being stateless has been a huge source
of sadness for me in my life. At times
it has made me question my very
existence and made me wonder why
my parents chose to bring me into this
world. I’ve never felt like I have a future.
Wherever I’ve gone, I have no rights.
8
A Place to Call Home – Shining a Light on Unmet Legal Need for Stateless Children in Australia
9