I
participated in the 2015 ASEAN Youth Forum (AYF), held in Malaysia, which was
both enjoyable and very powerful. Youth from the ASEAN community, including
people from Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia,
Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam, came together and shared and exchanged
their concerns and views on issues such as development projects, education,
sexual diversity, democracy, and the environment.
I am proud
of the youth because they discussed these issues with a great amount of
strength and clarity. They raised their voices about wanting to see good
governments without corruption, real democracy, sustainable development, equal
rights in society, participation rights in developing countries, and to see
people’s human rights respected.
During the days of the AYF, the youth from ASEAN countries joined
each other for discussions, enjoyment, learning and raising their voices
together.
During the
forum, some questions came to my mind: Where is the discussion about stateless
youth participation rights? Where are the voices of the stateless youth? Where
is the stateless youth body in the ASEAN Community? From which countries do
stateless peoples belong to?
Stateless
youth in the ASEAN Community are from many countries. Most of the parents of
stateless youth come from Myanmar, some of them from Laos, Cambodia and
Vietnam, and some of them from China.
I missed the
chance to share across borders when I was a stateless child; I had many
opportunities to share about my life, problems, and dreams as a stateless
person, but I could only share all of this in Thailand. One time I had an
opportunity to be able to share my experiences in Kenya, but I couldn’t go
because I was a stateless child.
Now we are
an ASEAN community, one community, in unity. People across nationalities are
become one ASEAN population. But nobody can answer the question of whether or
not stateless people are part of this ASEAN population as well. If you are a
stateless person, what do you do? The people in ASEAN discussed issues like
equality rights and security. For stateless people, even having legal status
like a normal human being is something denied by the state.
My
experience as a stateless child taught me that we don’t want any nationality
but we do need to have equal rights in society. We are trying tirelessly to
demand nationality or legal status. Because if we are illegal or are without a
nationality, we are nobody in the world: No voice, No rights, No status, No
state.
I want to
see the states in the ASEAN Community discuss this issue and find the solution
to achieving legal status for stateless people. I want states to do this
together because stateless people are human beings and belong to the ASEAN
Community. Now stateless people have no freedom of movement, no public health insurance,
no political rights, are paid low wages, are restricted in their field of
study, have no rights to own property, and they are a target group for human
trafficking.
Do you want
to see an ASEAN Community without illegal peoples? Do you want to see all
people’s human rights respected? Do you want to see equality? Do want to see
non-discrimination? Do you want to see everyone have a good quality and secure
life? If your answer is YES! We have to put stateless people’s
rights on the agenda. Let’s get into the habit.
Writing by Flower of Salween (Mueda Nawanat), link https://mekongyouth.wordpress.com/2015/05/01/asean-youth-forum-where-is-my-voice/
