We previously spotlighted Global Statelessness Fund grantee partner United Stateless and its call to protect birthright citizenship in the United States. United Stateless warned that efforts to restrict this right could increase the number of people facing statelessness and the deprivation of rights that comes with it.
A recent Guardian investigation brings another dimension of this issue into focus: what happens when someone may have a right to citizenship, but lacks the documents needed to prove it.
The article explores the experiences of “unregistered Americans”, people born in the United States without birth certificates or other foundational documentation. Without proof of their birth or identity, many face barriers to obtaining identification, pursuing education and employment, accessing healthcare, opening bank accounts and participating fully in everyday life.
United Stateless features prominently in the investigation. Samantha Sitterley, an attorney with United Stateless, explains that when parents choose to keep their children entirely outside official registration systems, they can leave them effectively stateless and without a recognised legal identity.
As she puts it, “They believe that they’re doing their children a favor. But not having a legal identity is torture.”
The article also follows Larissa Mak, who spent seven months working with an attorney from United Stateless to build the evidence needed to prove her identity and obtain a US passport. After years without a birth certificate, securing her passport opened access to opportunities that had previously been out of reach, including enrolling for her GED.
Together with United Stateless’s ongoing advocacy to protect birthright citizenship, this work highlights a broader reality: the right to nationality must not only exist in law but also in implementation, people must also be able to prove, access and enjoy that right in practice.
United Stateless’s advocacy and legal support show why protecting nationality rights must go hand in hand with ensuring universal access to birth registration, documentation and legal identity.
For the Global Statelessness Fund, supporting organisations like United Stateless is fundamental to advancing a world where everyone can enjoy the right to nationality on an equal basis. As nationality rights face growing challenges and barriers to legal recognition persist, sustained support enables organisations to combine lived experience and legal expertise to ensure people affected by statelessness can help shape the solutions.
Read the full Guardian investigation and learn more about the work of United Stateless.
United Stateless is a stateless-led organisation in the United States working to build community among people affected by statelessness and advocate for their human rights. Its work includes expanding access to protection and documentation for unregistered Americans through legal clinics, training, community engagement, psychosocial support and federal advocacy.