How people become stateless

The World

A man is caught in legal limbo and left to live at an airport terminal — that’s the plot of “The Terminal,” a 2004 Steven Spielberg film starring Tom Hanks. But it was based very loosely on the lived experience of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, a refugee from Iran. He died this weekend after suffering a heart attack in France’s Charles de Gaulle airport, a place he called home for nearly two decades, between 1988 and 2006. While his exact circumstances were perhaps unusual, many today are left vulnerable by statelessness. To learn more, host Marco Werman spoke to Amal de Chickera, the co-director of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion.

Help keep The World going strong!

The article you just read is free because dedicated readers and listeners like you chose to support our nonprofit newsroom. Our team works tirelessly to ensure you hear the latest in international, human-centered reporting every weekday. But our work would not be possible without you. We need your help.

Make a gift today to help us reach our $25,000 goal and keep The World going strong. Every gift will get us one step closer.