When you get into political philosophy, one of the first things you are taught is that upon birth, you are considered a citizen of the state you are born into.

You are given an ID, passport and awarded all the benefits of living within the borders of the country. While some countries truly honour peoples’ human rights, others don’t.

But what happens when you don’t even belong to one?

There are 10 million stateless people in the world, and 10 000 of them are in South Africa. According to Times Live, “a stateless person is someone who has been denied any nationality by a state, and is not considered a national subject to its laws”.

So you’re basically free, right? Pretty much, but it’s not exactly the freedom you want. You cannot access anything that requires you to have an ID. Think banks, hospitals, and even most jobs require you to be registered.

Times Live met with one such case. Watch the video (synopsis below):

Meet Elizabeth; a stateless girl living in South Africa. Stateless people do not hold citizenship with any country and are often denied basic human rights such as education and health care. South Africa is not a signatory to either of the two main conventions that protect stateless people.

[source: timeslive]