SOLUTIONS “Our country is dear to us. We need the conditions to be able to live here.” “Why are we treated as foreigners and even asked to request visas to stay in our home?” “Everywhere else we are foreigners. Here we are at home.” These were the most frequently articulated sentiments to emerge from UNHCR’s consultations with stateless minorities in 2017. The strongest message to come out of the discussions is that stateless minorities feel that they belong to the countries in which they have lived for generations as much as citizens of those countries do, and they seek the full recognition and participation in society that comes with citizenship. None of the minority groups consulted had chosen to be stateless. Many were frustrated with the indignities they had lived through in trying to obtain identity documentation and citizenship for themselves “this is our homeland.” Hatibu Bakari, 41, Pemba community, Kwale County, Kenya. 44 • UNHCR STATELESSNESS REPORT 2017 and their children, and a number continue to be caught up in financially and psychologically draining quests for nationality. As Ismael Ramjanali from the Karana community put it: “You only feel peace if you have citizenship. Without nationality, the insecurity takes up a lot of energy.” The exclusion that stateless minority groups endure takes a heavy toll on them, but is also a potential loss for the communities in which they live. This was the view taken, for example, by the Bangladeshi High Court in 2008 when it handed down a path-breaking decision recognizing the stateless minority Urdu speakers as nationals of Bangladesh. The Court observed that: “By keeping the question of citizenship unresolved on wrong assumptions over decades, this nation has not gained anything – but rather was deprived of the contribution they could have made in nation building.” 2017 UNHCR STATELESSNESS REPORT • 45