EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Civil war broke out in Syria in 2011. Since then, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed and significant areas of the country have fallen under the control of armed non-State actors. This has caused a humanitarian disaster of colossal proportions, both inside Syria and beyond its borders. As many as 4.8 million refugees are registered in neighbouring countries and over a million have travelled to Europe.
The overwhelming majority of these refugees hold Syrian nationality and face no immediate risk of statelessness. Moreover, children born in exile inherit Syrian nationality automatically, by operation of the law, if their father is a Syrian citizen. However, a small proportion of the refugees are already stateless (i.e. are not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law). Others, particularly children born in exile, are at risk of statelessness due to the operation of Syria’s nationality law or difficulties documenting their connection to Syria and right to nationality.
Statelessness is a driver of insecurity and injustice, including in situations of conflict and displacement. It is important for humanitarian actors to understand the challenges of protecting Syrian refugees’ right to a nationality and ensuring effective protection for stateless refugees.
This is relevant not only to the current refugee response, but also to mitigate problems that could arise in finding durable solutions for refugees from Syria, including voluntary return to Syria when circumstances in the country allow.
This research project aims to provide an assessment of the risk of new cases of statelessness arising among Syrian refugees and their children and the particular vulnerabilities of stateless refugees from Syria. The research focused on the countries neighbouring Syria which are hosting the greatest numbers of refugees: Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt. A specific goal of the project is to inform the development of a “toolkit” to help organisations engaged in the refugee response to better understand the intersections between their work and statelessness, and to share good practices, innovations and practical steps that they can take to ensure the effective protection of stateless persons and contribute to the longer-term prevention and reduction of statelessness.
With this aim in mind the research considered three profiles among the Syrian refugee population: 1) members of the general refugee population from Syria facing challenges in obtaining civil documentation; 2) individuals who are at heightened risk of becoming stateless in displacement; and 3) individuals who are both stateless and refugees.
