United States of America: Information on documents issued by the World Service Authority
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 May 1992 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | USA10884 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, United States of America: Information on documents issued by the World Service Authority, 1 May 1992, USA10884, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ac9a6c.html [accessed 23 October 2022] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
The following information was provided by staff members of the World Service Authority (WSA), Washington, D.C., in a telephone interview (19 May 1992).
The WSA issues travel and identity documents to any person who requests them, regardless of the person's nationality or possession of other documents (Ibid.). The documents were described by one of the Information Staff members as "Human Rights Documents" which entitle the bearer to full recognition of their human rights in accordance to the mandate of the United Nations and the Declaration of Human Rights (Ibid.). The WSA has existed for 39 years, has a branch office in Japan and has issued more than 500,000 identity documents which may be in use around the world (Ibid.). The documents issued by the WSA are stamped and marked by the organization (Ibid.). One of the Staff Members indicated that currently five countries officially acknowledge WSA documents as travel documents (Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Mauritania, Togo and Zambia), while more than one hundred countries have occasionally acknowledged the WSA documents on a case-by-case basis (Ibid.).
The staff members interviewed offered to provide the IRBDC with information on the WSA by mail. This information will be forwarded to you immediately upon arrival to the IRBDC.
Officers at the Query Response Centre and the CIC Headquarters in Ottawa, as well as the Passport Office of External Affairs, were not familiar with the above-mentioned organization and were unable to provide a conclusive answer to your question.
Additional and/or corroborating information on the WSA and its activities could not be found among the sources currently available to the IRBDC.
References
World Service Authority (WSA), Washington, D.C. 19 May 1992. Telephone Interview with Information Staff Members.
