Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion Podcasts

Welcome to 'Tales of Belonging' — a three-part podcast series where women affected by statelessness in the Netherlands share powerful stories of identity, resilience and hope.

The 'Journeys Through the Dutch Migration System' episode focuses on the legal barriers stateless people are forced to navigate, highlighting how procedural gaps and rigid policies deepen exclusion and delay recognition.

During this episode, you will listen to these terms: 

- IND (Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst) is the government body responsible for assessing asylum and residence applications;

- DT&V (Dienst Terugkeer en Vertrek) oversees return procedures for people who are required to leave the country;

- Gementees (municipalities) handle day-to-day services such as statelessness registration, social support and access to basic rights. 

We would love to hear from you! Let us know what your thoughts and comments are on our social media (Instagram or Facebook) or send us a message at [email protected]. 

This is the last episode for now. Stay tuned for more in the future!

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Welcome to 'Tales of Belonging' — a three-part podcast series where women affected by statelessness in the Netherlands share powerful stories of identity, resilience and hope.

The 'Life on Hold in the Netherlands' episode focuses on the lives of Mona, Farah, Halima and Sarah and their families living in AZC's (asylum seeker centres). From navigating the challenges of confined spaces and uncertainty about their future, to answering children’s difficult questions and coping with trauma, these stories reveal the emotional and practical struggles of their lives on hold in the Netherlands. 

We would love to hear from you! Let us know what your thoughts and comments are on our social media (Instagram or Facebook) or send us a message at [email protected]. 

Stay tuned! The next episode will be out next week. 

Support the show

Welcome to 'Tales of Belonging' — a three-part podcast series where women affected by statelessness in the Netherlands share powerful stories of identity, resilience and hope.

The 'Living Without a Nationality' episode focuses on what statelessness is, its causes and consequences. It follows Mona, Farah, Halima and Sarah as they share their journeys, revealing the real-life challenges of being stateless as women and mothers living in the Netherlands. 

We would love to hear from you! Let us know what your thoughts and comments are on our social media (Instagram or Facebook) or send us a message at [email protected]. 

Stay tuned! The next episode will be out next week. 

Support the show

The concluding episode featuring Amal de Chickera, Areej Al-Shammiry, Catherine Harrington, Subim Mulmi, Shahd Qannam, is a three-part roundtable with conversations across the different themes, allowing the guest speakers to speak more holistically about the issues at hand & lessons learned.

The episode is divided into 3 main parts:

1.     Relationship between statelessness and discrimination 

2.     Emerging trends and debates around statelessness 

3.     How to centre stateless individuals and those with lived experience in the field. 

 
Amal de Chickera is a co-founder and one of the Co-Directors of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, the first and the only human rights NGO working on statelessness globally. Amal is a Sri Lankan human rights lawyer, advocate and activist, with expertise in the right to nationality, statelessness and discrimination.

Areej Al-Shammiry is a researcher and a community activist. She researches, writes, advocates and consults on statelessness. Her work is inspired by post/de-colonial, Marxist, abolitionist, Indigenous and anti-racist feminist frameworks.

Catherine Harrington is the Campaign Manager for the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, a coalition of UN agencies, international, regional and local NGOs, academics and civil society partners, housed within the Women's Refugee Commission.

Subin Mulmi is the Human rights lawyer and researcher based in Nepal. He is currently the Executive Director at Nationality for All (NFA).

Shahd Qannam is a Palestinian activist and researcher, currently working on her PhD in Law at the City Law School, City, University of London. Shahd is also a programme officer at the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion.

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The State Formation episode by guest speakers Shahd Qannam and Areej Al-Shammiry, explores the roots of the idea of “nation” and the process of state formation. Statelessness dates back to the emergence of nation states and state formation in general. Some examples of where this has occurred is in Kuwait with the Bidoon community, and in Israel with the Palestinians. The guest speakers discuss the idea of borders and its artificial role in “protecting” nation states.

Shahd Qannam is a Palestinian activist and researcher, currently working on her PhD in Law at the City Law School, City, University of London. Shahd is also a programme officer at the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion.

Areej Al-Shammiry is a researcher and a community activist. She researches, writes, advocates and consults on statelessness. Her work is inspired by post/de-colonial, Marxist, abolitionist, Indigenous and anti-racist feminist frameworks. 

2 NEW EPISODES EVERY MONDAY, 12 JUNE - 3 JULY 2023.

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Our introductory episode by guest speaker Amal de Chickera, discusses the overall aim of the podcast, the themes that will be covered, the structure of the podcast, and a brief historical background on the issue. The episode highlights the different themes that will be covered throughout the podcast series including history of colonialism, patriarchy, state formation, xenophobia and racism, and digital ID and documentation.

Amal de Chickera is a co-founder and one of the Co-Directors of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, the first and the only human rights NGO working on statelessness globally. Amal is a Sri Lankan human rights lawyer, advocate and activist, with expertise in the right to nationality, statelessness and discrimination.

2 NEW EPISODES EVERY MONDAY, 12 JUNE - 3 JULY 2023.

Support the show

The Colonialism episode by guest speakers Joshua Castellino and Subin Mulmi, discusses the history and impact of colonialism and its role in creating statelessness. The causes of statelessness that exist today were habituated by the colonial powers to their own benefits with the forced displacement of the colonised leaving thousands of people stateless.

Joshua Castellino is the Executive Director of Minority Rights Group International and Professor of International and Comparative Law at Derby University, United Kingdom. 

 Subin Mulmi is a Human rights lawyer and researcher based in Nepal. He is currently the Executive Director at Nationality for All (NFA).
 
2 NEW EPISODES EVERY MONDAY, 12 JUNE - 3 JULY 2023.

Support the show

The Digital ID episode featuring Laura Bingham and Mustafa Mahmoud, looks at digitalisation of IDs and the impact this has on statelessness. Colonial powers introduced the idea of documentation to determine who “belongs” to the state and who does not. IDs are another form of discrimination against stateless people that first started with colonialism and this part of the podcast unleashes the history of documentation, politics of digital ID and the discrimination against stateless individuals through the lens of colonialism. 

Laura Bingham is an international human rights lawyer and Executive Director of the Institute for Law, Innovation, and Technology at Temple Law School, United States.

Mustafa Mahmoud is a Co-Director of Namati with over nine years of experience supporting partner organizations working with community-based paralegals on Citizenship rights, inclusion, and statelessness in Kenya, Bangladesh, Jordan, and Myanmar.   

2 NEW EPISODES EVERY MONDAY, 12 JUNE - 3 JULY 2023. 

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The Racism & Xenophobia episode featuring Tendayi Achiume and Jaivet Ealom, explores the relationship between institutional racism, xenophobia and statelessness. Many states, whether through their politics or laws, discriminate against minorities, denying them equal access to citizenship. This discrimination against the stateless is rooted in the idea of “outsider”. Colonialism created a system of hierarchy where certain groups think of themselves as superior and more deserving of life. As a result, statelessness is manufactured, and the stateless are denied access to fundamental rights.  

Tendayi Achiume is a Professor of Law at UCLA Law School and former UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

Jaivet Ealom is a Toronto-based author, former refugee, refugee advocate, and the only person known to have escaped from Manus Island Detention Centre in Papua New Guinea. Ealom was born in Mynamar where he faced persecution, as a Rohingya ethnic minority.   

 2 NEW EPISODES EVERY MONDAY, 12 JUNE - 3 JULY 2023. 

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Our Patriarchy episode by guest speakers Catherine Harrington and Patricia Low, discusses the patriarchy and its role in creating statelessness. The episode will analyse deep-seated patriarchy, how it views and constructs identity, political participation and gendered roles, and how this creates layers of discrimination against women—women are often seen in opposition to men and their rights, and lives, are at the discretion of men. 

Catherine Harrington is the Campaign Manager for the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, a coalition of UN agencies, international, regional and local NGOs, academics and civil society partners, housed within the Women's Refugee Commission.

Patricia Low is from Malaysia and she is a writer, a mother of two, and an advocate from the Family Frontiers Mothers’ Network. She is one of the many women affected by Malaysia’s gender-unequal citizenship law, which denies citizenship by operation of law to children born abroad to women married to foreign spouses.

2 NEW EPISODES EVERY MONDAY, 12 JUNE - 3 JULY 2023.

Support the show