Stateless: One Man’s Struggle for an Identity - Softcover

Van Leeuwen, Gerard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9492371316 ISBN 13: 9789492371317

Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers, 2017

Synopsis

Stateless is about a man who was forced to live life without an identity.

A book about the implications of having no passport, no nationality and no rights, and belonging nowhere.

Some 10 million people around the world are stateless. With no birth certificate, Kamal Kojadin was in that very position, having fled Croatia with his parents in May 1945. The family managed to build a new life, but time and again they were forced to flee. After the death of his parents Kamal returned to Yugoslavia, and it was only then that he really started to feel the effects of living without official papers, as he found he was unable to open a bank account, buy a house, and marry. After the love of his life died, their children were taken away from him. Kamal felt like a prisoner in his home country, and ended up begging on the streets of Sarajevo.

'Stateless - One Man’s Struggle for an Identity' is a moving story of the fate of an ordinary man who, for lack of a nationality, was forced to lead an extraordinary life.

About this title

About the Author

Gerard van Leeuwen is an education expert, who now helps put the results of academic research into practice. A chance encounter with Kamal and his astonishment about what can happen to one man in his life for the simple reason that he has no birth certificate, inspired him to write this book. This is his attempt to highlight the humanity of stateless people and of refugees, who are often reduced to statistics, case files and quotas, but are in fact just people like you and me.

Review

'The tragic life of a stateless Forrest Gump.... The bizarre and shocking story of Kamal in Stateless.' Maarten Reijders, Amnesty International

'The prologue grabs the reader and the book is a joy to read, even though the story is sometimes stomach-churning. The writer has captured the impact of statelessness in a very palpable way.' Rene Bruin, former head of office, UNHCR Netherlands

'A gripping tale set against the background of some extraordinary events in 20th-century history. Full of surprising, moving and sometimes heartrending twists and turns, in which statelessness surfaces again and again as an obstacle to happiness and a normal life.' Laura van Waas, director Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion

Edition details

• Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9492371316
• ISBN 13: 9789492371317
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 220