Introduction<\/p>\n
No document is more critical to free movement of people across international borders, than that small booklet commonly called a \u2018passport\u2019. Without it, a person is without an identity \u2013 at least outside his or her country of origin. Neither a driver\u2019s licence, voter\u2019s card or other means suffices in such circumstances, and he or she is effectively Stateless and a citizen of the world.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, such people have few, if any, legal and diplomatic protection, and are often in a legal \u2018no-man\u2019s\u2019 land, where they belong to no one and are on their own. A case in point is the curious story of a man who lived in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France, for 18 years (between 1988 and 2006). Mehran Karimi Nasseri had arrived at the airport without proper documentation, and couldn\u2019t get on a plane without a passport. If he left the airport to go into France, he would be arrested for not having ID papers.<\/p>\n
While Mr Nasseri\u2019s case is probably the most dramatic (it even attracted interest from famous Hollywood director, Steven Spielberg, who reportedly paid him $250,000 for the rights to his story) illustration of the value of a passport, it is by no means an isolated one. Countless people have found (and continue to find) themselves in the same legal limbo and black hole- sometimes, through no fault of theirs, but rather, as a result of State action in the form of passport seizures, retention, revocation and deprivation. So what exactly is a \u2018passport\u2019, and what are the implications of its denial, seizure or revocation under the law? Let\u2019s find out . . .<\/p>\n
Read further:<\/p>\n
Part 1: https:\/\/www.thisdaylive.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/19\/passport-seizure-retention-revocation-and-deprivation-legal-and-human-rights-implications-part-1\/<\/a><\/p>\n