Reconstructing statelessness
Unione Italiana Apolidi is the first stateless-led organization in Italy — and they’re innovating for change with the support of UNHCR’s Refugee-led Innovation Fund.
In November 2014, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, launched the global #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness and the Global Action Plan — a guiding framework with 10 actions to end statelessness within 10 years. In the nine years since that launch, 23 countries around the world have become signatories to statelessness conventions — and tens of thousands of people have gained pathways to citizenship thanks to legislative change.
But the inclusion and empowerment of stateless people isn’t just about legislation. It’s also about awareness-raising, knowledge creation, and social policy. Armando Augello Cupi knows this well. Having realized he was stateless at 18, Armando has spent a decade learning more about this status. Last year, he co-founded Italy’s first stateless-led organization — Unione Italiana Apolidi — which soon became one of the first grantees of UNHCR’s Refugee-led Innovation Fund.
With the support of the Fund, Armando and his team are building the capacity of stateless people in Italy to raise awareness about, and change the narrative on, statelessness. As the #IBelong anniversary events kicked off, we spoke with Armando about the project.
To begin with, could you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you came to this work?
I was born in Sanremo in 1995. After some months my biological parents went to Rome and abandoned me there. An Italian family raised me, but I had no documents except for a birth certificate. When I reached the age that I could legally leave school, the school decided to kick me out because I had never brought a document. I was so confused. I didn’t understand what was happening. I saw all my colleagues at school going on with their lives, getting their diploma, going to work, whatever. I was stuck in a sort of limbo. I wasn’t aware of my situation. I just knew I was adopted. When I turned 18, we thought it would be simple to get me an ID, but it was not. So, we hired a lawyer. The second one we engaged has been able to secure me the status of statelessness.
How did being recognized as stateless change your life?
My life changed radically. I’ve been able to get an ID, a driver’s license — almost do what ‘normal’ people can do with their citizenship. I started working, I did a lot of jobs because everything was new for me. I worked for two or three years, then I thought that I could do more. So I quit my job and I started a bartender course, because it could allow me remuneration and free time for study. I moved to work in that and, in the meantime, I went back to school. In two years I got my diploma. I enrolled in university. This year, I graduated with a degree in global humanities and I will soon start a master’s programme.
How did you come to found Unione Italiana Apolidi?
When I was trying to enroll in university, there were a few universities where the citizenship label ‘stateless’ did not appear in their system. I got in touch with UNHCR and asked if they could give me any tips. That’s how we got in touch. On a regular basis, they hold an online meeting with stateless people to ask their opinion and experiences. At first I was a little bit skeptical, because the idea of being stateless was something new for me. But these meetings put me in touch with other stateless people and opened my perspective on this topic. We figured out there was a need for something Italy didn’t have: an organization led by stateless people. So, in 2022, I worked with three other stateless persons to create our own organization, a website, and videos with information about statelessness. At the end of the year, we were awarded the Refugee-led Innovation Fund.
Tell me about the project you’re implementing with the support of the Refugee-led Innovation Fund.
What we wanted to do — and what we have done — is to empower stateless people through a public speaking course, which enables them to deliver workshops about statelessness at universities. In collaboration with the Department of International Refugee Law and Migration Law of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law of Sanremo, we made a toolkit that we’re using to teach about what statelessness is and how it is perceived. What’s innovative about our project is that stateless people for the first time, even those who don’t have an education, have been able to go to the university to speak about statelessness, informing students and offering their own experiences.
What does the toolkit for the workshops involve?
It is divided into three parts: the first part provides a legal framework and an explanation of who stateless people are; the second part is a simulation, in which we roleplay a situation where some of the students are stateless, some have citizenship, and some become stateless while trying to update their temporary documents; the third part brings in our personal stories of statelessness. We put ourselves in the condition of question and answer. We want the students to ask as many questions as they can. Because it’s a rare situation in which stateless people are in a comfortable situation and can speak feely.
How has the response been so far?
We’ve held three sessions so far, with up to 30 students per session. We received very positive feedback. Many students weren’t aware of what statelessness was, or had misconceptions about it. We’ve been able to deconstruct these biases and reconstruct what statelessness really is.
Has anything surprised you during the project?
Yes, primarily during the simulation. After the first part of the toolkit, there is a break and the students are invited to leave the class. They go out, and the moment they re-enter, a facilitator brings them a temporary document. But the last students to return do not receive any documents. So, there’s a bit of confusion at first: ‘Where can I get my document?’ And they start laughing. Then, as it continues, and those with documents get certain privileges, there aren’t smiles anymore. The ‘stateless’ participants start getting a bit sick of the situation.
And you’re hoping the toolkit will be used by other organizations as well?
Yes, we want to promote the toolkit, so that it’s not solely used in universities but has broader impact. It’s important that we reach students who can then create new data that can be used for future social policies, but we also want to reach NGO staff, and those who work in public administration, in policy, because they are the ones who are in touch with stateless people and shape the social and legal context. Everything is about information and awareness — by improving decision-makers’ understanding of statelessness, we can improve the reality of stateless people.
What are the main misconceptions about statelessness?
A very common one is the idea that statelessness is primarily a migration issue. When, as a matter of fact, many stateless people are ‘in-situ stateless’ — they are born and raised in the country in which they are resident. Another thing: people think statelessness is something that only happens in other countries, perhaps those that are considered a bit backward. But it’s something that happens in every country, even those considered more innovative or more advanced.
What has been most rewarding about the project?
When I speak about statelessness with other stateless people, many of them are a bit nervous to talk about their story. But since we started working on this, I noticed that people who were in this condition became more calm, more comfortable to speak about this topic. For them, it is a sort of cure. This is very important, because the mental health of stateless people is an overlooked issue. And the contact with universities has been very important. Some people I work with at first didn’t feel comfortable going to universities, because they felt themselves to be a little beneath the students. But once they go there, they notice that they are the experts: they have the expertise that allows them to conduct a session like this, and people recognize this. That’s something fantastic.
That’s a huge part of the Refugee-led Innovation Fund’s mission. It’s designed to enable people who are experts in these situations — whether being a refugee or being stateless — to take centre stage and devise solutions themselves.
If there weren’t organizations like mine — a stateless-led organization — who could change my situation? I can’t wait for someone to change it for me. I need to do it for myself and for all stateless people who are in the same situation. We need to be the actors of our own futures.
The Refugee-led Innovation Fund champions the creativity of all displaced and stateless people. For more information about the Fund and its supported projects, click here.
