BEIN G A C H I L D “I don’t play baseball this summer.” JOE, 13, THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC In addition to denying fundamental children’s rights, statelessness threatened the freedom of the participants to feel secure, to play, to be carefree – to simply be children. Competing in sports and enjoying school holidays are things that many children take for granted, but the story was often very different for the children and youth who were consulted. Labelled as outsiders in what they saw as their own country, they had to deal with being treated differently from an early age. Some were also forced to grow up too quickly – because they had to work from a young age, live in insecure housing arrangements or endure troubled relationships with authorities. In more extreme situations, these children found themselves prey to exploitation and abuse. ments it is not possible for him to register with the team”, explained one mother. By imposing limitations on access to work and welfare services, statelessness often places a severe financial strain on families, forcing even the youngest family members to work. In Georgia, access to all State services, including social assistance, requires identity documents. Jirair says: “When you do not have documentation, you are not entitled to any assistance […] I have always worked, ever since I was very young. I have responsibility for my grandmother. She is also stateless.” Some teenagers in the Dominican Republic revealed how they spent their school vacations scavenging in the hopes of earning a little extra income for their families. One of them is Joe, who can often be found “on vacation” in the San Pedro de Macoris rubbish dump. Set among the sprawling sugar plantations in the eastern part of the country, this “playground” is where he spends entire vacation days, sorting through the rubbish for scraps of metal. He says can earn up to 50 pesos (just over one USD 1) per day. “I like going to school,” says Joe, who lives with his family and attends school in nearby El Soco, one of the cinder-block compounds built to house plantation labourers and their families since the first half of the 20th century. “I especially like maths,” he says, although his baseball cap suggests another interest shared by almost all Dominican youth. “When I grow up I want to be a baseball player,” he confesses. “But I don’t play baseball this summer.” ©UNHCR / M. REDONDO Growing up too soon Like children anywhere, many stateless children spend their spare time playing sport and dreaming of careers as professional athletes. But the wings of such dreams are often clipped early on. As Niran (16), in Thailand, explained: “I want to play with others. But sometimes, because I don’t have nationality, I cannot join the competition. I really want to be a professional football player.” In the Dominican Republic, many of the participants highlighted baseball, the most popular sport in the country, as their favourite recreational activity. Even though some of them had proven abilities to take their hobby a step further, playing baseball competitively was simply out of the question: “My son was offered the possibility to join a team and go and play baseball even abroad. But without docu- 16 S TAT E L E S S N E S S R E P O R T S TAT E L E S S N E S S R E P O R T 17