In February, Amal de Chickera, Co-director of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, visited Refugee Legal to deliver a guest lecture focusing on the themes of forced migration, discrimination, childhood statelessness, legal identity, citizenship stripping and counter-terrorism, and immigration detention.
An expert on statelessness and related issues for the UN, NGOs and academia, Amal leads the Institute’s human rights engagement work while also playing an important part in the Institute’s work on childhood statelessness, gender discrimination and the sustainable development agenda.
Amal discussed the growing need for compassion and awareness around the issues of statelessness in an increasingly polarised, insular-looking and xenophobic world.
He addressed the devastating consequences of populism and strong-men leadership, which include the scapegoating and vilification of migrants, refugees and minorities all over the world, and the mutually reinforcing relationship between discrimination and statelessness.
Amal also offered practical advice to lawyers and migration agents dealing with issues of statelessness.