This new ISI podcast explores the relationship between discrimination and statelessness through various historical, social and political lenses. The podcast is a series of curated conversations between individuals with lived and learnt expertise, on the intersection between statelessness and various root causes of discrimination.

The podcast serves as a critical tool to help us analyse and better understand the role of colonialism in creating stateless populations by discussing different themes including the history of colonialism, patriarchy, state formation, xenophobia and racism, digitalisation of IDs.

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

The concluding episode reflects on the challenges, successes and cases presented throughout the series, and offers some conclusions while also setting a possible agenda to increase positive change.

The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion has partnered with UNICEF to produce this six-part podcast series, ‘What’s Best for Children’s Nationality’. The series aims to build knowledge around childhood statelessness and the right of every child to a nationality by exploring good practices in the field with examples, challenges and successes from real-life settings. You can share your questions and reflections on the issues raised using the hashtags #NationalityForChildren and/or #ForInclusiveSocieties and find us through our twitter handle @institute_si. You can also send an email to  [email protected].

Narrator and partner in production is Andy Clark from Podcast4u. Music comes from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Support the show

Episode five of the What’s Best for Children’s Nationality Podcast series zooms back out from the specific country contexts to explore the joint, global UNHCR-UNICEF initiative: the Coalition on Every Child’s Right to a Nationality. UNHCR’s Radha Govil and UNICEF’s Kerry Neal highlight their organisation’s involvement in this Coalition and some real-life problems of childhood Statelessness that they’ve come across through their work. 

The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion has partnered with UNICEF to produce this six-part podcast series, ‘What’s Best for Children’s Nationality’. The series aims to build knowledge around childhood statelessness and the right of every child to a nationality by exploring good practices in the field with examples, challenges and successes from real-life settings. You can share your questions and reflections on the issues raised using the hashtags #NationalityForChildren and/or #ForInclusiveSocieties and find us through our twitter handle @institute_si. You can also send an email to  [email protected]. 

With thanks to the following people for their participation in this episode:

• Radha Govil from the UNHCR
• Kerry Neal from UNICEF

Narrator and partner in production is Andy Clark from Podcast4u. Music comes from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Support the show

This episode of the What’s Best for Children’s Nationality Podcast considers stories of childhood statelessness in South Africa. An interview with Liesl Muller from Lawyers for Human Rights puts strategic litigation and international advocacy at the centre of ensuring safeguards in the nationality law in order to prevent such childhood statelessness. These good practices are also reflected upon by European Roma Rights Centre’s Adam Weiss in the context of antigypsyism in the processes around nationality acquisition. 

The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion has partnered with UNICEF to produce this six-part podcast series, ‘What’s Best for Children’s Nationality’. The series aims to build knowledge around childhood statelessness and the right of every child to a nationality by exploring good practices in the field with examples, challenges and successes from real-life settings. You can share your questions and reflections on the issues raised using the hashtags #NationalityForChildren and/or #ForInclusiveSocieties and find us through our twitter handle @institute_si. You can also send an email to  [email protected]. 

This episode was created in partnership with Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), an independent human rights organisation that supports human rights activism and public interest litigation in South Africa. With thanks to Liesl Muller from LHR and to Adam Weiss from the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC). Our special thanks also goes to Love for her additions to this podcast. 

Narrator and partner in production is Andy Clark from Podcast4u. Music comes from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Support the show

Episode 3 of the What’s Best for Children’s Nationality Podcast explores the situation in Lebanon, where childhood statelessness exists in a setting of forced migration and is linked with obstacles to the registration of births among children of refugees from Syria – leaving them without proof of their ties to their country of origin and at a risk of ending up without a nationality. Martin Clutterbuck from the Norwegian Refugee Council in this podcast talks about how legal counselling and assistance are employed to counter this. 

The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion has partnered with UNICEF to produce this six-part podcast series, ‘What’s Best for Children’s Nationality’. The series aims to build knowledge around childhood statelessness and the right of every child to a nationality by exploring good practices in the field with examples, challenges and successes from real-life settings. You can share your questions and reflections on the issues raised using the hashtags #NationalityForChildren and/or #ForInclusiveSocieties and find us through our twitter handle @institute_si. You can also send an email to  [email protected]. 

This episode was created in partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in the Middle East, a non-governmental, humanitarian organization with 60 years of experience in helping to create a safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced people. With thanks to Martin Clutterbuck from NRC and to Maalini Ramalo from Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas in Malaysia (DHRRA Malaysia). Our special thanks also goes to Kholod and to Racha El Daoi and Mike Bruce from NRC for making those recordings. 

Narrator and partner in production is Andy Clark from Podcast4u. Music comes from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Support the show

In this edition of the What’s Best for Children’s Nationality Podcast we zoom in on Nepal, where gender discrimination in nationality laws creates statelessness among children. Interviews with Nepali activists Deepti Gurung and her daughter Neha demonstrate how community mobilisation, education and awareness raising are being used to promote equal nationality rights and work towards social and legislative change. With Catherine Harrington from the Global Campaign on Equal Nationality Rights explaining that there are 25 countries left around the world that discriminate women in their ability to pass on nationality to their children, lessons drawn from the work in Nepal are relevant to many other advocacy contexts.

The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion has partnered with UNICEF to produce this six-part podcast series, ‘What’s Best for Children’s Nationality’. The series aims to build knowledge around childhood statelessness and the right of every child to a nationality by exploring good practices in the field with examples, challenges and successes from real-life settings. You can share your questions and reflections on the issues raised using the hashtags #NationalityForChildren and/or #ForInclusiveSocieties and find us through our twitter handle @institute_si. You can also send an email to  [email protected]. 

With thanks to the following people for their participation in this episode:

• Deepti and Neha Gurung, from the Citizenship Affected People’s Network in Nepal
• Catherine Harrington, campaign manager for the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights 

Narrator and partner in production is Andy Clark from Podcast4u. Music comes from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Support the show

What are the causes of childhood statelessness? And what would be the consequences? This first episode of the What’s Best for Children’s Nationality podcast covers the basics of the causes and consequences of childhood statelessness, the obligations under the CRC and some reflections on opportunities, challenges and good practices. The episode includes an extended interview with Benyam Dawit Mezmur, a leading international expert on and proponent of the child’s right to nationality, and a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC). 

The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion has partnered with UNICEF to produce this six-part podcast series, ‘What’s Best for Children’s Nationality’. The series aims to build knowledge around childhood statelessness and the right of every child to a nationality by exploring good practices in the field with examples, challenges and successes from real-life settings. You can share your questions and reflections on the issues raised using the hashtags #NationalityForChildren and/or #ForInclusiveSocieties and find us through our twitter handle @institute_si. You can also send an email to  [email protected]. 

With thanks to Benyam Dawit Mezmur, member of the CRC and ACERWC Committees and Associate Professor of Law at the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights at the University of Western Cape. Thanks also to Laura van Waas from the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion. 

Narrator and partner in production is Andy Clark from Podcast4u. Music comes from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Support the show

ISI has partnered with UNICEF to produce this six-part podcast series, ‘What’s Best for Children’s Nationality’, to build knowledge around childhood statelessness and the right of every child to a nationality by exploring good practices in the field with examples, challenges and successes from real-life settings. 

A child without a nationality can struggle to obtain a birth certificate, access schooling, see a doctor and participate fully in society. To be stateless is to be an outsider, even in your own country, which can also have a severe impact on a child’s mental well-being and sense of self-worth. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) affirms the right of every child to a nationality precisely because it is a critical enabler for other child rights and integral element of a child’s identity. Yet it is a right that has historically received relatively little attention, as compared to other child rights, in part because the phenomenon of childhood statelessness is often invisible and/or poorly understood. This is now changing as the international community steps up its efforts to address statelessness globally, with a strong focus on children and this podcast series explores some of the lessons learned so far. 

Support the show

In this, the final episode of the Paperless People Podcast, we reflect on what we have learned from the series and try to explore possible solutions to the issues raised.

After highlighting the risks of SDG Goal 16.9, in this episode we hear from a range of experts on how we can help to make people visible, without leaving them excluded,  and as more people gain a ‘legal identity’, we discuss ideas on how to ensure those left without are able to benefit from development processes. 

With thanks to the following people for participating in this episode:

• Joshua Castellino, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and Middlesex University 
• Laura Goodwin, Namati 
• Kata Buzkich, Microjustice4all
• Peter van Sluijs, Cordaid
• Laura van Waas, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion

Please join the conversation, send us your ideas, reflections and feedback on #PaperlessPeople to our twitter @institute_si or reach out to us at [email protected]

This podcast series was produced by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion was hosted by Senior Researcher, Zahra Albarazi. The podcasts were supported by the Knowledge Platform for Security and the Rule of Law (Knowledge Management Fund) and created with the help of podcast expert Andy Clark who you can reach via www.podcasting4u.com

Music from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Support the show

In this edition of the Paperless People Podcast we follow the stories of two people from the Dominican Republic, exploring how domestic law and policy is perpetuating their legal invisibility and discrimination against them. Through these stories and expert analysis, we explore how the UN Sustainable Development Goals may struggle to achieve what they set out to do if the approach to implementation and monitoring does not account for structural discrimination that is too often leaving certain people behind: in this case the Dominicans of Haitian descent.

This podcast series, produced by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, with the support of the Knowledge Platform for Security and the Rule of Law (Knowledge Management Fund), explores how the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals need to be re-thought in order to effectively address statelessness challenges. Share your questions and reflections on the issues raised via @institute_si  /  [email protected]

This episode was created in close partnership with OBMICA, a human rights organization based in the DR. With thanks to Bridget Wooding and her team.

Music from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Support the show