Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Syria There are 12 camps for Palestinian refugees in Syria, among which are Yarmouk and Dera’a. 114 Yarmouk is located on the outskirts of Damascus and was home to approximately 160,000 Palestinian refugees prior to the Syrian civil war.115 In mid-2018, it was reported that there were only 1,000 Palestinian refugees remaining in Yarmouk refugee camp. 116 The camp has seen intense fighting, a typhoid outbreak, and occupation by Daesh.117 Dera’a refugee camp is located in the south of Syria and was home to approximately 10,000 Palestinian refugees prior to the Syrian civil war. 118 UNRWA reported in December 2018 that approximately 400 families have slowly begun to return to Dera’a camp after the Syrian Government regained control of the camp in July 2018.119 According to the US Department of State, “both government and opposition forces reportedly besieged, shelled, and otherwise made inaccessible some Palestinian refugee camps, neighbourhoods and sites which resulted in severe malnutrition, lack of access to medical care and humanitarian assistance and civilian deaths.”120 UNRWA stated in December 2018 that in both Dera’a and Yarmouk Camps, the “vast majority of houses have been affected and all basic infrastructure has been destroyed,” and almost all UNRWA facilities have been severely damaged or destroyed, including health clinics, distribution centres and schools.121 As a result of the intense fighting in both Dera’a and Yarmouk, an overwhelming majority of Palestinians from Syria were displaced within Syria or fled the country. For example, Jordan “hosts around 17,000 Palestine refugees from Syria (PRS), 47 per cent of whom are children.”122 Many faced difficulties in displacement, such as being refused entry into neighbouring countries; being delayed in their journey in a third country (e.g. Greece); or being mistakenly registered as having “unknown” nationality or being registered by third countries as “Syrian”.123 5.3 Other People at Risk of Statelessness in Syria As mentioned above, the Syrian Nationality Law provides for several circumstances in which Syrians may be stripped of their citizenship, and which may be invoked even if they result in statelessness. As such, there may be other situations in which Syrian citizens are put at risk of statelessness (see 3.3). There are also an unknown number of individuals who are stateless in Syria because they were UNRWA, Where we work https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/syria UNRWA, The Crisis in Yarmouk, undated, available at: https://www.unrwa.org/crisis-in-yarmouk 116 See Rollins, Tom, Civilians trapped in Yarmouk face “unimaginable” end to siege, 23 April 2018, available at: IRIN: https://www.irinnews.org/news/2018/04/23/civilians-trapped-yarmouk-face-unimaginable-end-siege 117 UNRWA, The Crisis in Yarmouk, undated, available at: https://www.unrwa.org/crisis-in-yarmouk 118 UNRWA, Almost all UNRWA Installations in Yarmouk and Dera’a Camp in Syria Severely Damaged or Destroyed, 1 December 2018, available at: https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/almost-all-unrwa-installations-yarmouk-and-dera%E2%80%99-camp-syriaseverely-damaged 119 UNRWA, Almost all UNRWA Installations in Yarmouk and Dera’a Camp in Syria Severely Damaged or Destroyed, 1 December 2018, available at: https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/almost-all-unrwa-installations-yarmouk-and-dera%E2%80%99-camp-syriaseverely-damaged 120 US Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Syria, 2018, at 47, available at: https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/syria/ 121 UNRWA, Almost all UNRWA Installations in Yarmouk and Dera’a Camp in Syria Severely Damaged or Destroyed, 1 December 2018, available at: https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/almost-all-unrwa-installations-yarmouk-and-dera%E2%80%99-camp-syriaseverely-damaged 122 UNRWA, Protection in Jordan, March 2018, available at: https://www.unrwa.org/activity/protection-jordan 123 For further information, see: Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion / European Network on Statelessness, From Syria to Europe: Experiences of Stateless Kurds and Palestinian Refugees from Syria Seeking Protection in Europe, January 2019, available at: http://www.institutesi.org/from_Syria_to_Europe.pdf. 114 115 20