STATELESS
His mother is dying in a hospital in Egypt, giving him the impetus to finally leave.“ They told me if I wanted to go visit her then I could never come back again.” But he does not know what will happen when he lands in Cairo. He says:“ I have told my mother I will see her today but they could deport me again when I get there.”
He cannot be sure whether the Egyptian authorities will accept his Palestinian documents or not. He is documented but he is considered without nationality. Chris Nash, from Asylum Aid explains:“ It is very important to make a the distinction between undocumented and stateless but it is not an easy one.”
Nash directed the UNCHCR and Asylum Aid study that, in 2011, mapped Statelessness in the UK and uncovered that many were left in this illegal limbo for years. He says:“ The Home Office has a crucial role because most stateless are denied legal aid to prove their status.”
The 1954 Convention on the status of Stateless People defines‘ stateless’ as“ a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”- but this is easier said than proved. In Bagwam’ s case, he could not do it.“ They say I am not stateless but my documents say Palestinian authority not Palestinian state. I have nowhere to go or call home.”
Guy Taylor, lawyer at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants says:“ These cases are rare but they are very complicated because proving statelessness requires showing you have a link to a
country but you are not a citizen of it and have no legal residence, consular protection or right to return to the place where you were born.”
Mohamed Albadry Alenezi was born in Kuwait and was also stateless for most of his life. He was granted British citizenship when he was Ibrahim’ s age, after years of going from country to country seeking asylum.“ You feel like you are less than everyone else; People don’ t see you.”
His family is now spread over eight different angelo desantis cody benally
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