The Black Box: Statelessness and the Hidden Harms of Digital ID
A screen capture for the Black Box digital ID event
In June 2026, the Global Movement Against Statelessness in collaboration with regional statelessness networks - the Pan African Nationality Network (PANN), the Southern African Nationality Network (SANN), the Eastern African Nationality Network (EANN), the European Network on Statelessness (ENS), the Americas Network on Nationality and Statelessness (REDANA), and the Statelessness and Dignified Citizenship Coalition - Asia Pacific (SDCC-AP) - took participants inside the “black box” of digital ID.
The webinar was initially proposed as a session during Rights Con but due to the unexpected cancellation of Rights Con GMAS decided to independently host the webinar as it was a timely discussion on the impacts of digital ID systems and statelessness. Like flight recorders, these systems capture and determine critical outcomes while their inner workings remain opaque, and failures only become visible once harm is done. By deconstructing core building blocks of digital ID systems, GMAS and the regional networks unpacked what digital ID systems mean for stateless persons and how harms can be anticipated, mitigated, or prevented.
Through a facilitated cross-regional discussion, participants:
Mapped harms and exclusions: tracing how digital ID functions as a border in daily life for stateless persons
surfaced community strategies: drawing from lived experiences of resisting exclusion and navigating ID system
explore shared advocacy priorities and responses: advocacy tactics, solidarity actions, legal safeguards, and design shifts
Facilitated by the GMAS Advocacy Lead, Thandeka Chauke, the discussion was rooted in regional case studies and reflected on the intersectional nature of statelessness.
Watch the full event Here
