UNDERSTANDING STATELESSNESS IN THE SYRIA REFUGEE CONTEXT  irregular entry makes it difficult for these refugees to regularise their stay. For example, while all Syrians qualify under Turkey’s temporary protection regime, those who have entered Turkey irregularly may face difficulties in registering for the Temporary Protection ID card. This can have knock-on effects for a refugee’s ability to access civil registration procedures and to acquire documentation.82 Of the five host countries studied in this research, only Egypt and Turkey83 are States Parties to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Refugee Convention), with Turkey the only government that conducts its own Refugee Status Determination (RSD) of those who enter its national territory.84 RSD procedures or registration in the other countries is carried out by UNHCR. The non-accession to the 1951 Refugee Convention means that the legal status of those who have fled Syria is not always considered to be that of a “refugee” under domestic law, neither is the full protection framework that international law accords to this status necessarily available to all who have fled the Syrian conflict. When it comes to the assistance available to Palestinian refugees, UNRWA is operational in Lebanon and Jordan, but not in Iraq, Turkey or Egypt.85 A specific regulatory framework to deal with situations of statelessness is also largely lacking among the host countries. Mechanisms for the identification and protection of (non-refugee) stateless persons are notably absent. Only Turkey has ratified the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons (ensuring a minimum standard of treatment for stateless persons).86 Like Syria all of the host countries favour the conferral of nationality at birth via jus sanguinis, i.e. by descent from a national. Children of Syrian refugees are automatically Syrians by birth, as long as (they can prove that) their father is Syrian, thus only a small number face any immediate risk of failing to acquire Syrian nationality. Birth in the territory does not, in itself, qualify a child for nationality. None of the host States are parties to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which prescribes safeguards to prevent statelessness at birth or in later life, but all are party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which also safeguards against statelessness through Article 7 on the child’s right to a nationality. There are some safeguards against statelessness in place,87 although their implementation may be challenging.88 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 See further section 3.1.2 of this report. Note that Turkey currently maintains a geographical limitation in the application of the convention and considers Syrian refugees to be ‘guests’ rather than refugees. Egypt has made reservations to Articles 12 (1), 20, 22 (1), 23 and 24 of the 1951 Refugee Convention. In response to the current crisis, Syrians who have fled to Turkey are recognised as “guests” and not as “refugees;” and the camps where Syrians reside are officially “guest-camps,” not “refugee camps”. See further Ş. Özden, Syrian refugees in Turkey, Migration Policy Centre Research Report 2013/05, 2013, available at: http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/docs/MPC-RR-2013-05.pdf, page 5. See for further details, UNRWA, Syria Refugee Crisis. Emergency Appeal 2016, 2016, available at: http:// www.unrwa.org/sites/default/files/2016_syria_emergency_appeal.pdf. The Turkish law on Foreigners and International Protection has a specific section on “statelessness”, in particular regarding the determination of statelessness. There is no information about whether and how these provisions are being applied within the context of displacement from Syria. Foundling provisions are in place in all five host countries and the Turkish Nationality Act also grants Turkish nationality to anyone born on Turkish territory if they do not acquire the nationality of one of the parents. In Lebanon for example, Article 1 of Decree No.15 on Lebanese Nationality stipulates that every child born in the country who does not acquire another nationality at birth will be considered a Lebanese citizen. However, in practise, this is rarely implemented. See further, Frontiers Ruwad, Invisible Citizens: A legal study of statelessness in Lebanon, 2009, available at: https://frontiersruwad.wordpress. com/2010/12/02/invisible-citizens-a-legal-study-on-statelessness-in-lebanon. RESEARCH REPORT 23