Rapper Mos Def, also known as Yasiin Bey, has to report to police every two days in South Africa after trying to travel on a “World Passport”. Picture: AP/Matt Sayles.
IT’S a simple idea that could solve a lot of problems — so should you really invest in a World Passport?
The obscure document came under the spotlight this week when US rapper Mos Def, also known as Yasiin Bey, was arrested in South Africa and charged with trying to travel on a false document.
The 42-year old claimed he was told the World Passport was valid but authorities say it’s not legal. He has been released on $435 bail and ordered to report to police every two days until his court date on March 8.
On Wednesday, Kanye West released a statement on Mos Def’s behalf in which he rhymes:
“I committed no crime any place, why these police up in my face, why they raiding my place, why I don’t feel safe?”
“My intentions are pure in coming here, and as for everything I love and hold dear, homies in the building so is my wife and my children, I commited no crime, why they wasting my time?”
Mos Def has been living in South Africa for nearly three years and used a US passport to enter the country. Here’s what you need to know about the unusual document.
WHAT ON EARTH IS IT?
The World Passport is a machine readable travel document that resembles traditional passports issued by most nations of the world. The passports are now administered by a Washington-based non-profit called the World Service Authority. Ten-year passports can be bought from the website for around $100.
Visitors wait to be photographed at US customs in San Francisco.Source:AP
WHAT IS THE WORLD SERVICE AUTHORITY?
The authority promotes the concept world citizenship, the idea that a person should find community in all people of the planet as opposed to within a nation state. It also offers marriage certificates, birth cards and other documents typically issued by governments.
WHERE DID IT COME FROM?
In 1948, Garry Davis, a former Broadway actor and a former World War II bomber pilot, renounced his US citizenship and declared himself a “citizen of the world.” In 1953 in Ellworth, Maine, Davis declared the founding of the World Government of World Citizens. He later established the authority to be its administration arm. Davis, of South Burlington, died two years ago at 91.
WHY WOULD YOU GET ONE?
World passports were created in the 1950s by Davis as a way of giving stateless people and refugees access to identification that could be used to cross international boundaries. The authority says the world passport represents the “inalienable human right of freedom of travel on planet Earth.”
WHO RECOGNISES THEM?
It’s unclear. The World Service Authority website lists 183 countries that the organization claims have recognized the passports by stamping a visa or exit or entry stamp in them. It also claims a handful of countries have officially recognized the passport. Davis himself was arrested repeatedly for attempting to enter countries without official papers.
The World Service Authority website purports to show images of World Passports stamped by Australian immigrations. Immigration officials have been contacted for comment.
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