People usually receive nationality automatically at birth, either through their parents or the country they are born in. Unfortunately, not everyone can enjoy the right to acquire a nationality: discrimination against particular ethnic or religious groups or gender, transfers of territory between existing States or the emergence of new States render statelessness.

According to UNHCR, "the international legal definition of a stateless person is a person who is not considered a national by any State under the operation of its law. In simple terms, this means that a stateless person does not have a nationality of any country. Some people are born stateless, but others become stateless."

The European Network of Statelessness hosts this episode, and the panellists Zoe Gardner, Ahmad Jaber, and Sirazul Islam joined in person, and Zully joined the panel live from a cafe in Istanbul.

The panel delves into statelessness and shares their experience as a stateless person and the U.K. asylum system.

Azadeh Hosseini, the Communication & Engagement officer at Refugee Action, produced and edited this episode.

If you like to take action, fight the hostile environment and support asylum seekers, please visit ⁠⁠Refugee Action.⁠⁠

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