A website for statelessness: www.whatisstatelessness.org

When the Statelessness Programme in Tilburg University was created by Mrs. Van Waas, I was a teenager dreaming of working in a university and becoming like Mrs. Van Waas - make a change and help other people. I knew those were my dreams, but I did not have any idea about how to make them a reality. In 2012, I took the chance to study in Tilburg University, moved to the Netherlands and stared a life changing journey.

           

Enrolled in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Bachelor, I truly enjoyed my studies. Nevertheless, I had great difficulties adapting in the new environment and learning to live alone. I started searching for more opportunities than just attending lectures and studying. I dreamed of a challenge and a real experience from the academic area. Applying for an internship in the Statelessness Programme was just a dream that seemed quite impossible before I realized that I was actually given the opportunity for 6 months to work for the world’s most innovative and hardworking programme about Statelessness.

          

I joined the Statelessness team as an intern to help with awareness raising on statelessness, by creating a web-site about Statelessness and Nationality. While still a student in high school I was highly influenced by my brother, a computer engineer, and my mother, a physics teacher; they made me passionate about studying and creating web-sites. When applying for the Statelessness Programme I had basic knowledge on how to manipulate ready web-site templates and adjust them to the content desired. Nevertheless, I was lacking the essential knowledge of building my own web-site from a scratch. Realizing how important the Statelessness programme is, I decided that it would be highly inappropriate to use free online template and therefore, I started taking online courses for programming. My internship was 6 months, 3 months of which I spent studying how to create the perfect web-site for the needs of the Programme. In that sense, I am extremely grateful at Laura van Waas and everyone in the team for giving complete freedom to decide on my own and to create the web-site gradually. Working on Microsoft Web Expression 4, the web-site has a ‘bone’ structure of HTML, with some HTML5 elements, and a ‘skin’ structure of CSS and j-Query. I really wanted to create a PHP form for comments, but for now my knowledge of PHP is insufficient to do that, although I tried.

            

The web-site presents two sides of the Statelessness problem – Statelessness and Nationality. Before, my mind could not understand how it is possible one legal term to envelop to such a degree a human creature and condemn it to belong nowhere. The right side of the web-site is about Nationality and the left is about Statelessness, and each of the two parts have their own drop-down menus. The main purpose of this separation of those two terms is the clear distinction between the legal terms and the social consequences of those terms. The web site dedicates parts to all aspects of both Statelessness and Nationality that affect all people in the world – those with and those without citizenship.

            

The Statelessness section gives more information about what statelessness itself is, how it occurs and why, as well as what can be done about statelessness and what is done today by whom. In order for the Statelessness part to be fully understood, the essence of Nationality has to be explained as well. Hence the web-site is separated in two mutually complementing parts.  In the Nationality part, you can find why we have citizenship of different countries and how this affects our lives. People can learn how due to the concept of Nationality and the legal gaps connected with it, another legal term developed – Statelessness.

            

Creating a duo-website about both Statelessness and Nationality was extremely helpful for me as well. Working in such a great professional environment I started feeling at home, surrounded by friends. The Statelessness Programme and everyone working in it helped me grow as a person and to create something meaningful. I received great help from Mrs. Van Waas and Miss Albarazi for the content of the web-site. Back then, being a first year student, I realize now that I was not able to explain the essence of the Statelessness issue without the great guidance of the before mentioned people. Most of all, I am endlessly grateful for being found, when I was lost. That is what the Statelessness Programme in Tilburg University is doing – it is helping people all over the world to find their place, where they belong.  

Zhasmina Kostadinova, former intern with the Statelessness Programme and designer of the website www.whatisstatelessness.org

Introducing … Zhasmina Kostadinova, intern working on statelessness awareness raising

Zhasmina joined the Statelessness Programme in February 2013,as an intern for a 6-month project to develop new outreach tools on statelessness. In the interview below, she introduces herself and talks about what she has been learning and what she hopes to achieve thorough the internship.

Please start by telling us a bit about yourself.

My name is Zhasmina Kostadinova, I am from Bulgaria. I am a first-year student of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Tilburg University.

What made you interested in an internship at the Statelessness Programme?

My studies are organized in such a way that at the end of the first year I have to choose a major, i.e. in which field I will continue my work. I was searching for an activity with which I will guide my mind and make this decision. At that moment, I saw the free intern positions at the Statelessness Programme. I started reading about the issue, and as I found it to be the perfect combination of Law and Social Sciences, I applied for the programme.

In this way, in February 2013 I joined the Statelessness Programme as an intern to help with raising awareness on Statelessness. My internship project is 6 months long and until now I feel extremely thankful, for the opportunity to contribute to the Programme and to realize my dreams and plans.  One of the greatest benefits of working with the Statelessness Programme is doing real tasks, while participating in a professional international team. I am having the enormous pleasure to learn constantly by interaction.

As you are starting to learn more about statelessness, what do you find most interesting and why?

With my first day in the Statelessness Programme I was surprised to realize in what great detail Nationality is needed for every person. While preparing for my first steps with the team I was searching for information about Statelessness and Nationality, on the internet, which will broaden my knowledge of this topic. Unfortunately, I could not find one single web-site that could combine the issues of Nationality and Statelessness at one place, together with examples and theory.

Very important for the development of my understanding and knowledge of the topic of statelessness, were a lecture about Statelessness by Jason Tucker and conversations with Laura van Waas. During the lecture, Mr. Tucker drawn a simple circle with the typical rights and duties that we have together with our nationality, and then he started to cross out all the things that a statelessness person doesn’t possess. This, so simple picture, touched me at that very moment. I had thought that the information on the Internet was enough and provides basic knowledge, but I could not find such a strong and at the same time simple explanation of how statelessness affects people.

Moreover, during my training by Mrs. Van Waas, I learned about the nationality laws of different countries and how the way in which states regulate nationality can lead to statelessness. In the beginning I was deeply indignant of the discrimination of some Muslim countries, where a woman married to a foreign man, cannot pass her nationality to her children.

Can you tell us a bit about what you are working on as your internship project?

As an intern at the Statelessness Programme, I am creating a “duo” website about Nationality and Statelessness. I am working with Web-expression 4 and HTML 5 for the creation of a simple, but interactive and creative website. The aim is to make the awareness of the statelessness issue more accessible to people of all ages and especially, to catch the attention to the young people. 

Young people, who are still studying in schools, are a very important target because children learn quickly and make the change they want to see in other people. We believe that with more people informed about the problems faced by stateless people, this can make a difference over time.

Awareness leads people not only to sympathize the Stateless people, but to realize how much we have taken for granted the nationality that we have. People do not think about their nationality or when they need it for something and it is difficult to realize how important it is, actually. With simple examples, videos and an interactive design the website will combine the issues of Statelessness and Nationality with the idea of a better society, through better awareness.

What are your impressions of the Statelessness Programme so far and what do you hope to learn during the rest of your internship?

Until now I think that this internship is the most interesting challenge I have ever faced. I feel really happy and thankful to the whole team, which is very supportive, has a broad knowledge of the topic and is very creative. I hope the website will arise more awareness on statelessness and will change the attitudes of more people, which may help for the improving of the laws and better addressing the statelessness issue.

Zhasmina Kostadinova, Statelessness Programme intern