Around 10 to 15 million people worldwide are considered “strangers” within their own countries. These individuals often face ethnic or religious discrimination. They have been denied government recognition. Without citizenship, they lack basic rights such as birth certificates, education, healthcare, property ownership, and marriage. In extreme cases, they are vulnerable to violence and human trafficking.
In March 2018, a Kurdish woman danced at a Nowruz celebration in Tokyo, Japan. Nowruz marks the first day of spring. The Kurdish community worldwide celebrates it. About 2,000 Kurds live in Japan. Many of them sought asylum due to human rights violations in Turkey and Iraq.
Stateless people are defined by international law as “individuals not recognized as nationals by any state.” Some stateless individuals are refugees, but not all refugees are stateless. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that one-third of stateless individuals are children. Over 75% are from minority groups. Because they face severe human rights violations, the UNHCR launched the “I Belong” campaign in 2014 to eliminate statelessness within ten years. 
The Kurds are one of the most famous and largest stateless groups. Other stateless groups include the Rohingya from Myanmar and Palestinians. Let’s explore five of the most famous stateless groups and how they became stateless.
1. Kurds
If Kurdistan were a country, it would span about 500,000 square kilometers, including southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northern Syria, and northwestern Iran. The Kurdish people have claimed this land for centuries, yet they still do not have a recognized state. After World War I, Western allies planned to create “Kurdistan.” However, this plan was canceled, and the Treaty of Lausanne defined Turkey’s borders, leaving no land for the Kurds.
The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 20 and 40 million. Most Kurds are Muslim, but they are united more by language and customs than religion. Over the years, Kurds have been treated as “foreigners” in their own land. In 1980, about 300,000 Kurds in Iraq lost their citizenship for opposing Saddam Hussein‘s regime. In retaliation, Saddam used chemical weapons on a Kurdish village, killing 5,000 civilians.
After Saddam’s fall, Iraqi Kurds established the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a semi-autonomous region, but it was still not an independent Kurdish state. In Syria, a government program in 1962 left hundreds of thousands of Kurds without citizenship. When the Syrian civil war broke out, about 300,000 Kurds remained stateless.
2. Rohingya
The United Nations calls the Rohingya “the world’s most persecuted minority.” The Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh is one of the largest refugee camps, housing over 600,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar. By 2019, more than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State to escape violence.
The Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for centuries. Some scholars believe they arrived in the 9th century. Unlike the majority Buddhist population, they practice Islam and speak their own language. In 1982, Myanmar passed a new citizenship law that stripped the Rohingya of their nationality. Without citizenship, they have faced discrimination and harsh policies, including restrictions on movement and land confiscation.
In 2017, Rohingya militants attacked police outposts. The Myanmar military, with Buddhist mobs, carried out a brutal crackdown. The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights called it “a classic example of ethnic cleansing.”
3. Palestinians
Palestinian statelessness is a complex issue. While 136 of the United Nations‘s 193 member states recognize Palestine as a sovereign state, it is not yet independent. Israel and the United States do not recognize Palestine’s independence. Israel claims all of Palestine as “occupied territory,” and the U.S. has not recognized Palestinian statehood.
In February 2019, in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, originally established in 1949 for Palestinian refugees, over 1.5 million Syrians were living in Lebanon, but without formal refugee camps. Most refugees live in informal settlements or rent spaces in long-established Palestinian camps.
Unlike the Kurds and Rohingya, Palestinians are not a single ethnic or religious group. They claim they were forcibly displaced, particularly during the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli conflicts. In 1947, the UN proposed dividing Palestine into a Jewish state (later Israel) and an Arab state, but this plan was met with strong opposition. After the 1948 and 1967 wars, Israel occupied large parts of Palestinian land.
The UN established the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to help Palestinians who lost their homes in the Arab-Israeli wars. Today, about 5.5 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA. Since Palestine is not yet a state, these Palestinians are stateless. Over half live in Jordan, a third in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and 15% in Syria and Lebanon.
4. Roma
The Roma, often referred to as “Gypsies,” have faced centuries of ethnic persecution in Europe. Roma migrated from northern India between the 13th and 15th centuries. Their language still shares many words with Hindi. The term “Gypsy” comes from the mistaken belief that the Roma originated from Egypt.
The Roma have always lived on the margins of European society. During World War II, tens of thousands of Roma were killed in Nazi concentration camps. Their situation was relatively stable in Yugoslavia, but after its breakup in the 1990s, many Roma were displaced by conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Because the Roma distrust government institutions, many fled their homelands without citizenship documents. As a result, they have been unable to acquire citizenship in countries like Macedonia, Montenegro, and Italy. Today, many Roma in the Balkans and Europe are stateless. It is estimated that 10,000 to 20,000 Roma in Italy lack citizenship, and in Macedonia, between 110,000 and 200,000 Roma lack nationality.
5. Ethnic Minorities in Thailand
Thailand has between 2 and 3.5 million stateless individuals, mostly in the northern border regions, known as the Golden Triangle, bordering Myanmar and Laos. The Golden Triangle has been home to many ethnic tribes and militias that have fought with the Thai and Myanmar governments.
In 2018, a Thai soccer team, consisting of 12 young players and their coach, was trapped in a flooded cave. Three of the children were stateless. These children, many of whom are descendants of undocumented immigrants fleeing Myanmar, lack the documents needed to apply for citizenship.
Thailand has thousands of stateless people, including the Akha, Lahu, Lisu, Yao, Shan, Hmong, and Karen peoples. These indigenous tribes have been denied citizenship by the Thai government since the 1980s.
Unlike other countries, Thailand is actively working to provide citizenship for stateless minorities. In 2017, Thailand passed a resolution to pave the way for 80,000 stateless individuals, mainly children of refugees and immigrants, to acquire citizenship.
