When Passports Determine a Person’s Fate
When Passports Determine a Person’s Fate
How strange it is: someone born in Germany, Canada, Japan, or Switzerland can use their passport to travel to many parts of the world; while someone born in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, or one of the many countries in the Middle East and Asia may have to wait months for a visa, provide numerous documents, and repeatedly prove that they are not a criminal, that they do not intend to remain illegally in the country, and that they pose no threat to any country. What crime have these people committed? Of course, none.
They were simply born in a different geography; a geography they did not choose.
In today’s world, a passport is no longer merely an identification document; it has become a measure of human freedom. The color of a passport cover can determine whether someone can travel freely around the world or must wait for months, sometimes even years, behind embassy doors.
But the fundamental question is this: Should a person’s worth be measured by the value of their passport?
If a doctor, professor, researcher, or writer from the Middle East is more qualified in terms of knowledge, ethics, and legal awareness than someone whose only privilege is being born in a wealthy country, why should they have less freedom? Why should nationality come before character?
Today, millions of people are viewed with suspicion simply because of their nationality; as though they must first prove their innocence. As though possessing a particular passport is, in itself, grounds for suspicion. This perspective, which may have its roots in immigration policies, ultimately means that people are judged not by their individual behavior, but by where they were born.
Of course, every country has the right to protect its borders and establish specific entry requirements for foreigners. Security is the right of every government and every nation. But security should not become a justification for placing millions of decent, educated, and law-abiding people under general suspicion simply because of their nationality.
What makes this paradox even clearer is the fact that many of these Middle Eastern countries open their borders to citizens of powerful countries with far fewer restrictions. This means that freedom of movement is not always reciprocal. As a result, the political and economic power of countries determines freedom of travel more than an individual’s character does.
But is this fair? Of course not!
Because no one has any control over where they are born. If they did, every child could choose to be born in a peaceful and prosperous country rather than in a poor and war-torn one. Yet the world distributes unequal opportunities from the very moment of birth—opportunities that sometimes remain with people for the rest of their lives.
If we are going to judge people, we should judge them by their actions, honesty, knowledge, sense of responsibility, and respect for the law—not by the color of their passport, which they could never choose.
This may be one of the most subtle forms of discrimination in the twenty-first century: discrimination not based on skin color, religion, or language, but on the country where a person was born.
The world can consider itself truly civilized only when it measures a person’s worth not by the power of their passport, but by the power of their humanity. Because a passport is merely an official document; humanity, however, knows no borders.
Author: Gouya Roshan
How strange it is: someone born in Germany, Canada,
Japan, or Switzerland can use their passport to travel to many parts of the world; while someone born in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, or one of the many countries in the Middle East and Asia may have to wait months for a visa, provide numerous documents, and repeatedly prove that they are not a criminal, that they do not intend to remain illegally in the country, and that they pose no threat to any country. What crime have these people committed? Of course, none.
They were simply born in a different geography; a geography they did not choose.
In today’s world, a passport is no longer merely an identification document; it has become a measure of human freedom. The color of a passport cover can determine whether someone can travel freely around the world or must wait for months, sometimes even years, behind embassy doors.
But the fundamental question is this: Should a person’s worth be measured by the value of their passport?
If a doctor, professor, researcher, or writer from the Middle East is more qualified in terms of knowledge, ethics, and legal awareness than someone whose only privilege is being born in a wealthy country, why should they have less freedom? Why should nationality come before character?
Today, millions of people are viewed with suspicion simply because of their nationality; as though they must first prove their innocence. As though possessing a particular passport is, in itself, grounds for suspicion. This perspective, which may have its roots in immigration policies, ultimately means that people are judged not by their individual behavior, but by where they were born.
Of course, every country has the right to protect its borders and establish specific entry requirements for foreigners. Security is the right of every government and every nation. But security should not become a justification for placing millions of decent, educated, and law-abiding people under general suspicion simply because of their nationality.
What makes this paradox even clearer is the fact that many of these Middle Eastern countries open their borders to citizens of powerful countries with far fewer restrictions. This means that freedom of movement is not always reciprocal. As a result, the political and economic power of countries determines freedom of travel more than an individual’s character does.
But is this fair? Of course not!
Because no one has any control over where they are born. If they did, every child could choose to be born in a peaceful and prosperous country rather than in a poor and war-torn one. Yet the world distributes unequal opportunities from the very moment of birth—opportunities that sometimes remain with people for the rest of their lives.
If we are going to judge people, we should judge them by their actions, honesty, knowledge, sense of responsibility, and respect for the law—not by the color of their passport, which they could never choose.
This may be one of the most subtle forms of discrimination in the twenty-first century: discrimination not based on skin color, religion, or language, but on the country where a person was born.
The world can consider itself truly civilized only when it measures a person’s worth not by the power of their passport, but by the power of their humanity. Because a passport is merely an official document; humanity, however, knows no borders.
Author: Gouya Roshan
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