Document #1192871
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
The following information was obtained in a
telephone interview with the general counsel of the World Service
Authority (WSA) on 31 October 1995.
The "world passport" is issued by the World
Service Authority, a Washington, DC-based organization. It can be
issued for three-, eight- and 15-year periods of validity. The WSA
is the administrative agency for the World Government of World
Citizens, an international organization that advocates the common
humanity of all citizens, global citizenship and respect for all
cultures. It was formed in the aftermath of the Second World War in
1954 by American Garry Davis. The organization focuses on human
rights related to travel as expressed in the United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly Article 13. To
this end the WSA issues world passports, world identity cards,
world birth and marriage certificates, and international exit visas
and residence permits.
The world passport is officially recognized
by Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Mauritania, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia.
Official recognition was obtained through the offices of the
president in each of these countries.
The world passport is regarded as having
obtained "de facto recognition" when the bearer of a world passport
is able to obtain a visa or exit or entry stamp in the document.
The WSA relies on passport holders to forward to its Washington
headquarters photocopies of such stamps, which the organization
retains and publishes as a record of validation of the world
passport.
The source stated that the developed
countries are less likely to stamp world passports than are lesser
developed countries, although the WSA does have on record stamps
from developed countries such as Canada, the United States and
Japan. Whether the world passport is used as the only travel
document or as a secondary document depends on the individual and
on the country being visited.
World passports have been issued
"honourarily" to the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. As well, the WSA makes ten passports
available to refugees for every $300 contribution to its World
Refugee Fund.
According to a fax received from the WSA,
757 individuals applied from Nigeria for a WSA passport and/or an
identity card and birth certificate between 1 January 1990 and 1
November 1995 (1 Nov. 1995). As well, 2075 individuals who were
born in Nigeria have applied for the WSA passport, although the
applications were not necessarily made from Nigeria. For additional
information on these figures, facsimiles of Nigerian stamps that
have appeared in WSA passports, and general information on the WSA
and the documents it issues, please consult the attachments.
According to Citizenship and Immigration
Canada, International Services Group, no document issued by the WSA
is acceptable for either travel or identity purposes (20 Oct.
1995). This Response was prepared after researching publicly
accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time
constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be,
conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee
status or asylum.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada,
International Services Group (ISG), Hull. 20 October 1995. Letter
dated 18 October 1995.
World Service Authority, Washington, DC.
1 November 1995. Fax received by the DIRB.
_____. 31 October 1995. Telephone
interview with general counsel.
World Service Authority, Washington, DC.
1 November 1995. Fax received by the DIRB.
_____. 1 November 1995. World passport
with Nigerian stamps. Photocopy faxed to the DIRB.
_____. Information package received by
the DIRB.