By Nomena Irintsoa Rakotonindrina<\/p>\n
What does it feel like to not belong? What does it feel like to grow up in a home where you are viewed as a stranger even though it is the only home you ever had? What does it mean to be stateless?<\/em><\/p>\n While we are here simply imagining the feeling, it is the reality of around 100,000 people in Madagascar (\u201cStatelessness affects millions in Africa: Madagascar is tackling the problem \u2013 Madagascar\u201d, 2017). This has been Sougrabay Ibrahim\u2019s life for 84 years as she shares the challenges she faces as a stateless person in\u00a0an interview with UNHCR<\/a>\u00a0in 2017. Sougrabay Ibrahim is from the Karana community, one of the stateless minorities in Madagascar. The Karana are Indo-Pakistani Muslim descendants who have lived in Madagascar for over a century now. When Madagascar gained independence in 1960, many failed to acquire a nationality and remain stateless until today (Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 34 th Session of the Universal Periodic Review<\/em>, 2019). Back then, the Malagasy law only provided nationalities to individuals who have blood affiliations with a Malagasy parent (\u201cApatridie : toutes \u00ab ces personnes fant\u00f4mes \u00bb que Madagascar ne reconna\u00eet pas\u201d, 2020). This law perpetuated statelessness within the community even though they were born and raised in Madagascar.<\/p>\n