20-year-old Shahi Hussein feels like a second-class citizen in his own country

How does it feel when, as a stateless person, you are repeatedly met with a bureaucratic obstacle course? 20-year-old Shahi Hussein will put this into words when she participates in the People’s Assembly for the first time.

In Denmark, there are around 80,000 people living without a Danish passport, many of whom are children and young people. One of them is 20-year-old Shahi Hussein, a Kurd from Syria. Since she came to Denmark with her parents at the age of seven, she has found herself in what she calls a “bureaucratic obstacle course”.

She came to Denmark before she was eight years old and thus met the rule that can grant a permanent residence permit: You must be between 18 and 19 years old. Now all she needs is citizenship. Because even though she lives a completely ordinary youth life in many ways like many of her fellow students at the political science program in Odense, she feels like a second-class citizen who has to fight a system time and time again to prove that she has the right to be just as much a part of Denmark as her classmates.

“I really feel that I am not being treated equally. When I was younger, it was almost shameful to say that I did not have citizenship. Now I am also a political science student, so I get to feel up close how many things I cannot do systematically,” she says and begins to talk about a class on voting behavior in the study.

“I just thought, what is it like for us who don’t have citizenship? We are not considered part of this. You can’t do much research on us because we are invisible.”

It is precisely the feeling of having been made invisible in a giant obstacle course that Shahi Hussein hopes to draw attention to when she participates in the People’s Meeting for the first time.

FAKTA

Young people without citizenship

They want to contribute to society and be part of democracy. But complicated processes make it almost impossible. The organization Unge for Statsborgerskab works to highlight the group of young people who are outside of democracy.

The event, which is organized by the Danish Institute for Human Rights, will take place at Circus Square at area C35 on Saturday, June 14th at 2 p.m.

Limit your emotions

It is together with the organization Unge for Statsborgerskab that Shahi Hussein will participate in a panel debate with the non-partisan youth organization SAGA, which works to get young people involved and participate in democracy. In addition to the event, which is hosted by the Danish Institute for Human Rights, she will also participate in a number of other conversations and debates.

Her goal is primarily to talk about the problems that she and many other young people face when applying for Danish citizenship.

“The process is so technical and complicated, there are fees, a citizenship test, a lot of requirements, submitting motivated applications and calls to parliamentary politicians in the Citizenship Committee and so on,” she says and continues:

“I really hope that I can get this message out in a way that is digestible for those who have not tried it. When I talk to my best friend, it can get very emotional, so I go and practice my debating skills a little, so that I can keep it as educational as possible.”

Last year, Shahi Hussein became part of Mellemfolkelig Samvirke’s youth platform for young people, which works to shed light on the problems of being young without citizenship in Denmark. Here she met others who, like herself, are also very interested in politics and are passionate about being part of democracy. Since then, that platform has become the organization Unge for Statsborgerskab.

“Because I am active in this young platform, I have really noticed how much it takes that we have to prove time and time again that we are part of Denmark. And it requires that you are quite resourceful, because you are faced with this administrative burden all the time, and many may well ask themselves, how is it that I have to be subject to this long process?”.

Shahi Hussein will take the citizenship test on May 27. She hopes that she will be granted Danish citizenship relatively quickly and can get a Danish passport.

“The difference will be quite fundamental. Then I can legitimately participate democratically in the country that I live and study in, and to which I contribute. It will mean that I can travel freely, have greater mobility, and that I can vote.”

“It’s quite paradoxical that we, who are affected by it, can’t do much about it democratically.”

Overview

You can experience this on Politiken’s stages

Politics traditionally has a large program at the People’s Assembly.

Experience, among others, Roald Als in conversation with Mette Frederiksen, Danish Prime Minister in debate, Elisabet Svane and Noa Redington, a live edition of Bente Klarlund’s letterbox, Margrethe Vestager interviewed by Christian Jensen and much more.

The musical performances are provided by Anne Linnet and Peter A.G. Nielsen.

See the full program here.

Josephine Mosbæk Quinones