Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Syria 5.1.2 The Human Rights Situation for Stateless Kurds in Syria Following the 1962 census, the situation for Kurds in Syria deteriorated further throughout the 1970s, as President Hafiz al-Assad created a belt of Syrian Arabs living along the Syria-Turkey Border.86 The human rights situation for Ajanib and Maktumeen has long been precarious, with limited or irregular access to “education, health care, livelihoods, travel, property ownership, judicial and political systems, and registration of businesses, marriages, and children.”87 This limited access to education is likely to have resulted in substantially lower education levels. 88 There have been reports that Maktumeen are unable to attend school beyond grade nine.89 Stateless Kurds do not enjoy the same rights as Syrian citizens, such as the right to vote, run for public office, the right to own property and the right to have marriages registered.90 “Syrian-born Kurds with "foreigner" identity cards face tremendous difficulties in their everyday lives. They are not permitted to own land, housing or businesses. They cannot be employed at government agencies and state-owned enterprises and cannot practice as doctors or engineers. They are not eligible for food subsidies or admission to public hospitals. They may not legally marry Syrian citizens; if they do, the marriages are not legally recognised for either the citizen or the "foreigner", and both spouses are described as unmarried on their identity cards. Kurds with "foreigner" status do not have the right to vote in elections or referenda or run for public office. They are not issued passports or other travel documents, and thus may not legally leave or return to Syria.”91 At the time of writing, people from Al-Hassaka were governed by the Kurdish-led Self-Administration who have formed various committees and institutions including schools, courts and a police force. 92 This Administration does not distinguish between Kurds who are citizens, Ajanib or Maktumeen in their day-to-day treatment and stateless Kurds are among those employed in the Administration. However, this does not change their status under the national level framework. Maktumeen (and non-naturalised Ajanib) remain in a precarious position, without citizenship. Although they have access to these various services, they do still face serious obstacles due to their stateless status, especially those who have been displaced into Syrian Government-controlled territory or abroad.93 Despite not having citizenship, stateless Kurds (like citizens) are required to serve in the military of the Kurdish-led Self Administration, mandated in the Self-Defence Duty Law in North and East Syria Human Rights Watch (2009) Group denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria [online] available at: https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/11/26/group-denial/repression-kurdish-political-and-cultural-rights-syria 87 Refugees International, Buried Alive: Stateless Kurds in Syria, January 2006, at 2, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/47a6eba80.html 88 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion / Norwegian Refugee Council, Syriannationality.org – Stateless Populations in Syria, 2016, available at: http://www.syrianationality.org/index.php?id=19 89 Human Rights Watch, Syria: The Silenced Kurds, 1 October 1996, E804, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a8260.html 90 See Refugees International, Buried Alive: Stateless Kurds in Syria, January 2006, at 2, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/47a6eba80.html and Human Rights Watch, Syria: The Silenced Kurds, 1 October 1996, E804, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a8260.html. 91 Human Rights Watch, Syria: The Silenced Kurds, 1 October 1996, E804, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a8260.html 92 Information accurate as of August 2019. 93 Ibrahim, M and Edelman, A (2018) ‘Shadow of a human’: Syria’s stateless Kurds navigate shifting authorities decades after losing citizenship [online] available at: https://syriadirect.org/news/‘shadow-of-a-human’-syria’s-stateless-kurds-navigate-shifting-authoritiesdecades-after-losing-citizenship/ 86 16