Maha Mamo

Maha Mamo (born February 29, 1988)[2][3] is a Brazilian human rights activist. She is an advocate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' #IBelong campaign, which seeks to end gender discrimination in nationality laws through local and international advocacy.[4]

Maha Mamo
Maha Mamo in a #IBelong campaign video
Born (1988-02-29) February 29, 1988
CitizenshipBrazil
OccupationHuman rights activist
AwardsOrder of Rio Branco[1]
Websitemahamamo.com

Early life

Mamo was born in 1988 to Syrian nationals. Her father was Christian and her mother was Muslim,[5] barring them from legal marriage and thus preventing Mamo and her two brothers, Souad and Eddie, from obtaining Syrian citizenship.[6] In absence of identification documents during the Lebanese Civil War, Mamo and her brothers avoided potential security checkpoints, thus restricting them from education and healthcare services.[7]

Activism

In 2014, the Brazilian embassy invited Mamo and her siblings under a special visa for Syrians.[7] Members of the United Nations helped her obtain a travel document, and Mamo began advocating for the creation of legal avenues to citizenship. The New York Times described Mamo as "the face" of this campaign.[7] In 2018, after Brazil legalized stateless people to apply for citizenship, she became a registered citizen of Brazil.[8]

References
  1. "Página 4 do DOU - Seção 1 - Edição Extra A, número 225, de 01/12/2022 - Imprensa Nacional". Diário Oficial De União. 2022-12-01. ISSN 1677-7042. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  2. MahaMamo on X
  3. ""Imagine Living and Dying With No Documents?" Children of Civil Marriage in Syria". SIRAJ. 2020-12-25. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  4. "Maha Mamo, a stateless refugee in Brazil, talks about the challenges of life without a nationality". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2016-12-13. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  5. "Born stateless: Looking for a country to love me". BBC Online. 2017-10-01. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
  6. "A gratidão ao Brasil da refugiada sem pátria que acabou perdendo irmão em assalto". BBC News (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2017-10-06. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  7. Londoño, Ernesto (2020-12-25). "Stateless, She Became the Face of a Largely Invisible Plight". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-02-16.
  8. Batha, Emma (2019-10-06). "I found a country, but lost my brother - stateless activist". Thomson Reuters Foundation. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
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