Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Syria The census has been described as “strongly flawed” and “arbitrary.”74 It has been criticised for being too short in length (one day) and for not giving sufficient notice to residents of al-Hassaka in order to prepare their documents. 75 Given the hasty and arbitrary manner in which the census was conducted, members of the same family were granted different statuses: “Brothers from the same family, born in the same Syrian village, were classified differently. Fathers became foreigners while their sons remained citizens. Kurds who had served in the Syrian army lost citizenship while families who bribed officials kept theirs.”76 Other issues with the census included requiring the residents of al-Hassaka to have a “stringent list of documents on the day,” thereby leaving many unprepared or unable to obtain the relevant material within the short timeframe.77 Despite the concerns with the census, it proceeded and ultimately created two sub-groups of Kurds who became stateless as a consequence: AJANIB KURDS “Foreigner” in Arabic [ajnabiya = female; ajanabi = male; ajanib = plural] Ajanib are stateless Kurds included in the official registries. They attended the 1962 census but failed to establish to the authorities that they had been resident in Syria prior to 1945 and were therefore recorded as Ajanib. They face restricted access to public services and have limited rights of ownership and inheritance.78 MAKTUMEEN KURDS “Concealed” in Arabic [maktuma = female; maktum = male; maktumeen = plural] Maktumeen are stateless Kurds not included in the official registries. They did not participate in the 1962 census at all or are individuals whose birth was not registered for different reasons. 79 They enjoy even fewer rights than the Ajanib. For example, Maktumeen are unable to legally travel in the rest of Syria without a special security permission.80 Zahra Albarazi, Regional Report on Citizenship The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Global Citizenship Observatory (GLOBALCIT) Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, November 2017, at 6, available at: http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/50046/RSCAS_GLOBALCIT_Comp_2017_03.pdf?sequence=1 75 Human Rights Watch, Group Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria, 26 November 2009, available at: https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/11/26/group-denial/repression-kurdish-political-and-cultural-rights-syria 76 Human Rights Watch, Syria: The Silenced Kurds, 1 October 1996, E804, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a8260.html 77 Zahra Albarazi, The Stateless Syrians: Report of the Middle East and North Africa Nationality and Statelessness Research Project, Tilburg Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Series, No. 011/2013, 24 May 2013, at 15, available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2269700. This report includes an extensive critique of the 1962 census, see from pages 14 to 17. 78 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, at 9, available at: http://www.institutesi.org/from_Syria_to_Europe.pdf 79 UNHCR, Submission by UNHCR to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Compilation Report Universal Periodic Review, May 2011, at 3, available at: https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4dcb716f2.pdf 80 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, at 9, available at: http://www.institutesi.org/from_Syria_to_Europe.pdf 74 14