A life without an ID, high school, health insurance, and Bosnia and Herzegovina citizenship.
This 12-minute documentary film, which premiered at the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival, talks about statelessness as a problem that UNHCR is addressing globally, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). In 2022, UNHCR BiH assisted Giorgio Ghiotto, a young Italian documentary film director and cinematographer, in making this short film about a person from Sarajevo who lives without documents (at risk of statelessness).
Born from a Bosnian refugee family in Kosovo*, Nihada has a birth certificate from Kosovo. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina does not recognise Kosovo as an independent state, Nihada cannot get any documents in this country.
She lives without an ID, without Bosnia and Herzegovina citizenship, and cannot attend high school, cannot get health insurance. This is her story.
*All references to Kosovo, whether the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.