5.4 Statelessness as intrinsically linked to concepts of ‘belonging’ “The legal part of citizenship aside, to be called a citizen of a country is something I’ve always wanted. I wanted to belong somewhere. .. It’s like being an orphan your entire life and never being adopted. That’s what it feels like. Getting a passport is one of these countries finally adopting you and saying, “You are my son or my daughter. Legally, I’m going to take care of you.” — Fadi A key finding of the qualitative research conducted for this study indicates that experiences of statelessness are intrinsically tied to concepts of belonging. Notions of ‘belonging’ and ‘exclusion’ are central to peoples lived experience of statelessness and inform and shape self-identity. “Being stateless is like not belonging, not having somewhere to reside completely – not having that right. A feeling of limbo, the feeling of hanging in the air. A while ago, someone said, “The only place I feel I belong in is the airplane. Between two places, fully existing in neither.” — Amir Belonging can mean a lot of different things to different people; stateless people are no different. For some stateless people we interviewed for this Project, being outside one’s country of origin means being able to celebrate and connect with their community and culture for the first time. For others, there is a sense of being rejected by their home country while not feeling accepted or like they ‘belong’ in Australia either. “The identity documents I have been given in Australia list me as ‘stateless.’ Because we have no country. Now, if I was to go back, they would put me in jail. Straight away. Because I am Rohingya... I don’t have a country. That’s why I came to Australia.” — Hassan* The inherent importance of feeling like one ‘belongs’ was further highlighted by Australian health professionals who work with stateless people. “I think of it as kind of attachment relationship with the country and identify, “Someone’s claiming me. In claiming me, that validates my worth.” That’s a huge part of the trauma for them, I think.” — Health Worker Understanding Statelessness in Australia | Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness 65