Living Stateless: In Conversation with Fadi Chalouhy

Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness

The inaugural Hiam Chalouhy ‘Living Stateless’ lecture.

Room 920, Melbourne Law School (and online)

Imagine being born with no right to an education, employment, healthcare, or freedom of movement.Imagine experiencing ongoing discrimination from your government and its citizens.Imagine not even having a last name.This was how Fadi Chalouhy was born…stateless. A stateless person is not recognised as a citizen by any country. They do not have a nationality; no identity – they are not recognized as belonging to any country in the world. This lack of nationality can have devastating impacts on a person’s ability to enjoy basic human rights – many of which we take for granted, such as access to education and healthcare.Fadi lived the first 28 years of his life illegally in Lebanon with his mother Hiam. Yet this incredible young man defied the odds and made it all the way to Sydney, Australia. His journey is one of suffering, despair and eventually triumph. A true testament of strength, perseverance and most importantly - hope. Now based in Australia, Fadi supports the work of Melbourne Law School’s <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness/engage/stateless-children-legal-clinic" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Stateless Children Legal Clinic</a>, helping to ensure other stateless children secure citizenship and the basic rights and entitlements he missed out on as a child.The Stateless Children Legal Clinic, in partnership with the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness</a> and the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/students/jd/enrichment/mls-clinics" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Melbourne Law School Clinics</a> is proud to host Fadi Chalouhy at this event, where he will speak about his life and the importance of initiatives such as the Stateless Children Legal Clinic, in helping to reduce childhood statelessness in Australia.

Speaker: Fadi ChalouhyStateless since birth, <a href="https://fadichalouhy.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Fadi Chalouhy </a>has endured a life of hardship and difficulties, from being denied basic human rights such as education and medical assistance, to experiencing arbitrary detention for over a decade in Lebanon. After 28 years of constant struggle, Fadi landed in Sydney in 2019, becoming the first stateless person in history to be issued a skilled shortage Visa. Currently, he is an associate manager within Accenture’s Strategy &amp; Consulting practice. He has extensive experience designing and implementing large scale transformation projects in retail, banking, and telecommunications. He is also an Advisory Council member of the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness/engage/stateless-children-legal-clinic/stateless-children-australia-network" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Stateless Children Australia Network.</a>

Chair: Katie Robertson, Coordinator, Stateless Children Legal ClinicKatie Robertson is the Assistant Director of the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/students/jd/enrichment/mls-clinics" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Melbourne Law School Clinics</a> at the Melbourne Law School, and a Research Fellow at the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness</a>.In 2021, she founded the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness/engage/stateless-children-legal-clinic" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Stateless Children Legal Clinic</a>, with support from the Hiam Chalouhy Grant (The Cameron Foundation). She is proud to lead the Clinic’s work in assisting stateless children to obtain Australian citizenship. Katie is also co-chair of the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness/engage/stateless-children-legal-clinic/stateless-children-australia-network" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Stateless Children Australia Network</a>, a network aimed at developing knowledge regarding stateless children in Australia and increasing pathways to legal assistance.This event is co-hosted by the Stateless Children Legal Clinic, Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness and MLS Clinics.

We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which this event will take place.