Case Study – Living Stateless as a Child – Rama (Taken from the UNHCR’s Report ‘Gender Discrimination and Childhood Statelessness’, available herelxxiv) ‘I don’t like to be stateless because it is not fair.’ – Rama, Lebanon Rama was born in Lebanon to a Lebanese mother. Rama, however, is stateless. Rama’s father is stateless and her mother is denied the right to pass her nationality to her child (as are all Lebanese women). Lacking identity documentation because of her stateless status, Rama cannot travel freely and faces many obstacles. Rama dreams of becoming a paediatrician. Because Rama is stateless, it is unlikely she will be able to sit for the public exams required to become a doctor. ‘I feel that Rama has no future. The situation of stateless people in Lebanon should change so that they can exist and live with everyone in society.’ – Rama’s mother ‘All my friends go to places and I could not go to them. I feel sad because I don’t have an ID and all my friends have an ID. I want my job when I grow up to be a baby doctor, because when the baby is sick, I want to help them.’ – Rama 43