From living in the shadows, to freedom: Lessons from Kenya’s work towards ending ‘statelessness’
The country’s efforts to amend laws and create awareness has yielded results but the scale of the problem remains enormous across the continent.
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Nosizi Dube beams with pride as she clutches her newly issued Kenyan passport.
For many, obtaining a passport might be a mundane task, but for 24-year-old Dube, who was born into the stateless Shona community in Kenya, it symbolises the end of a gruelling journey towards recognition and the beginning of new opportunities.
“Being stateless is like you don’t exist. You look like everyone else, but because you have no identification documents you live in the shadows, unable to do basic things like go to school or even get a mobile phone number,” Dube told Context.
“Getting recognition as a Kenyan citizen has given me visibility and rights just like everyone else. I feel like I am free, like the chains of statelessness have been broken.”
Now a trailblazer as the first Shona woman in Kenya to graduate from university, Dube hopes to go to Geneva next week to attend a major intergovernmental meeting marking the end of a global campaign to end statelessness within a decade.
The #IBelong campaign’s success varies across the world, and while millions remain stateless, the campaign has been a beacon of hope in Kenya, with thousands of stateless people from the Shona, Makonde and Pemba communities gaining recognition.
More than 50% of the 20,000 people who registered as...
