No Legal Bond, No Family Life 15 rejected.7 In other countries these limitations are tailored not towards prohibiting marriage, but towards the simple fact of not possessing any form of documentation – when someone is not legally in a country this renders the registration of any form of official process limited or impossible. The legal obstacles to marry for stateless people are only part of the problem. Being stateless, and shouldering the associated economical, psychological and social implications that come with it often means that people are unwilling to marry someone who is stateless. This is specifically true when the status of being stateless will be inherited by their children. Often this comes from individuals themselves who refuse to marry someone who is stateless, but sometimes it is the family who opposes such a marriage out of fear of the future, as highlighted in this example from Lebanon: Bilal and his wife Amal were born in Lebanon. (…) When they married eight years ago, their marriage was opposed by Amal’s parents. How could their daughter marry a stateless man? Someone with no documents? Someone, who even though he was born in Lebanon and had lived his entire life in Lebanon, could not prove he was Lebanese? Someone who, in their eyes, had very little future ahead of him.’8 These limitations on marriage for stateless persons means that many are left without the option of marriage, and additionally, as in many countries, not being married means you are unable to start a family.9 This means that even beginning a family life by getting married and starting a family has become impossible. 3.2 Family Unity The physical unity of the family is additionally often undermined when an individual is stateless. Stateless persons, who find no state in the world in which they can live legally, are constantly at threat of being detained or deported. When this fear materializes the unity of their family becomes violated and the enjoyment of family life is interrupted. 7 The Irrawady, Rohingya Plight Highlighted in London, 2012, http://www.irrawaddy.org/ archives/9430. 8 G Constantine, Lebanon: Born Here But Not a Citizen (Pulitzer Centre 2012). <http:// pulitzercenter.org/reporting/lebanon-stateless-gender-discriminating-citizenship -laws-women-rights-politics>. 9 Many countries have social and sometimes even legal norms that are against having children out of wedlock. An example of this would be Iran – see UNICEF, 2005, Birth Registration in Iran: An Analysis of the State of Relevant Laws in Iran, 9. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 11-19