The Power of Paper

Like many privileges, documents go mostly unappreciated by the people who possess them. Passports are an accessory to life, annoying to renew but important to remember on a trip. A driver’s license is exciting when you first turn sixteen, but it quickly loses its charm when you change your address and have to wait in line at the DMV. But for people without them, the problem of documentation can be all-consuming. 

I am working this year at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. I knew before I began that refugees face many problems, including not only violence or persecution in their country of origin but also discrimination and hardship in their country of asylum. But I did not expect this problem of documentation to be a theme that returns again and again in my work. A variety of circumstances can leave someone without valid documents. Some individuals had to flee quickly, leaving everything behind. Others lost documents along the journey to criminals or traffickers. Many brought a passport when they fled, only for it to expire afterwards, and any country that forces its citizens to flee does not typically have well developed infrastructure for them to conveniently renew their passport. 

Some individuals have never had any documentation from any country altogether, because no country considers them a citizen. These individuals have a particular name: “Stateless.” Without citizenship, stateless people have no legal protection and no right to vote. They often lack access to education, employment, health care, birth registration, marriage, and property rights. This problem is not constrained to a particular area; individuals all over the world face this problem. The lack of personal documentation can create a cycle of vulnerability and exclusion, which makes it difficult for individuals to fully participate in society and access their basic rights. Addressing the issue often requires complex coordinated efforts from governments, international organizations, and NGOs to provide alternative forms of identification and pathways to documentation for those affected, not without great stress to the individual in question.

I have really realized how lucky I am to have documents that prove who I am. My passport allows me to travel, visit my family, and easily apply for jobs and scholarships. Just last week, I traveled to Montreal. As I strolled through border security into Canada, I did not have any anxiety about whether I would be able to return to the US. I thought about some of the cases I have seen, about children separated from their ailing parents; about refugee students trapped in limbo with no formal status, about immigrants to this country waiting as their case languishes in the asylum backlog. To lack documentation is to lack protection and security. And the power of a paper is not just practical. It also fulfills a basic human need; a document proves “you are alive, you experienced these things, you are connected to a greater whole.”

Question for Reflection: Imagine not having a passport from any country. You are essentially unable to travel internationally, as most countries require a valid passport for entry. You will likely have a very difficult time accessing services or applying for jobs. How would you feel about those changes?