Stateless - Lebanon

Stateless people are not protected by any state or law. They are denied basic rights. Stateless people cannot vote. They cannot register their children at birth. State education and health systems often remain closed to them. Opening bank accounts, signing contracts, traveling - eventhis is almost impossible without a passport. This is the reality for over 60,000 people in Lebanon: unregistered Lebanese who pass on their statelessness to their children, Palestinians whose families have lived in Lebanon for generations and yet are not granted citizenship. Or refugees from Syria and Iraq who have lost their citizenship because of the wars in their home countries. In a world where our existence is defined by state affiliation, they do not belong. Not only people in Lebanon are affected. Statelessness is a global problem. The UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, estimates that approximately 4.2 million people worldwide are stateless. Experts estimate that there are around 10 million. This makes it more important to shed light on the global issue of statelessness.