Shadows in the Dark

Most of us think of basic human rights as what’s needed to live – a right to access food and water; a right to freely move within a country, and sometimes between them; a right to not be killed or injured; a right to basic health services. We know that much of the world struggles to even have these rights honored. In modern society, most of these rights are protected by social services – but access to these services is contingent on the ability to prove who you are: to present your ID. Without access to identification, people in many cases are denied the rights that we believe are basic to humanity. For most of the world, this access to identification is necessary for all of these other rights to be protected – and yet, nearly 1 billion people cannot prove who they are. They lack the basic right that underpins the network of human rights we take for granted.

Without the basic ability to prove who they are, a significant portion of the world’s population is consigned to the shadows – invisible to society, and vulnerable to a vast array of exploitation and horrific abuses. Not only are they doomed to lives of poverty, often with nowhere to go or call home, but they become easy prey for human traffickers, slavers, and criminal organizations.

In Shadows in the Dark, Dr. Mariana Dahan explores the dark places where these invisible souls reside, shedding light on a dire yet underacknowledged threat to people across the globe. While governments and NGOs are aware of the statistics, this movie shows the faces. It reveals the real, human stories of those forced to live as shadows, so that we can understand exactly how the ability to prove who you are is a right that must be protected.

From devastating wars in Syria and Ukraine, to impoverished communities in Northern Africa, to refugees trying to eke out a life in France, Dr. Dahan follows human journeys fraught with tragedy and strife so that we can better understand the rampant abuses happening invisibly all around us. Through this film, we see not just a story of human suffering, but also one of hope – there is a clear opportunity to change the lives of people all around the world. By emphasising the need to provide everyone with a way to prove who they are, we can see a road to a better future where hundreds of millions of people may obtain a critical tool in protecting their most basic rights and humanity.

"Shadows in the Dark" stands as a testament to the power of collaborative spirit and shared humanity. It is a film made possible by the collective efforts of dedicated individuals and entities from across the globe, united in the cause of shedding light on the unseen and unheard.