UNDERSTANDING STATELESSNESS IN THE SYRIA REFUGEE CONTEXT  anecdotal evidence of individual refugees experiencing difficulties at the point of re-issuance of Syrian documents, it is unclear to what extent these provisions for loss or deprivation of nationality are being invoked in practice. • Political dissidents who were seen to be opposed to the Baath regime in the 60s and 70s and arbitrarily deprived of their nationality. An estimated 27,000 persons were denationalised and may be stateless.265 The fieldwork undertaken within this project did not focus on these profiles or the specific challenges they face, and this is an area in which further research is needed. 5.2 CHALLENGES FACED BY STATELESS REFUGEES This research confirmed that statelessness can affect a refugee’s ability to enjoy protection, including with regard to the exercise of certain rights. Statelessness may also have an impact on the availability of durable solutions for refugees,266 although it is evidently difficult to establish the extent of this problem at present in the Syria displacement context. The following sections highlight the particular challenges stateless refugees may face, both now and potentially in the future. 5.2.1 IDENTIFICATION OF STATELESS REFUGEES To provide effective protection, it is important to understand fully the status of the individual or family concerned. If they do not hold a nationality, this may lead to specific vulnerabilities, such as particular obstacles to accessing documentation. However, there is a substantial knowledge gap when it comes to statelessness issues among stakeholders that work with refugees. Lack of awareness and/or understanding of the stateless profiles that may be found among the displaced appeared to be a significant obstacle to identification.267 Even if the problem is identified, there are few mechanisms through which this information may be recorded and eventually addressed. For example, none of the intake forms among the INGOs interviewed provide for the possibility of recording a refugee as a stateless person.268 UNHCR policy in KRI has been to register stateless refugees as Syrian nationals, and if they are Ajanib or Maktoum this will be recorded in the case notes.269 When statelessness is not identified, the problems and challenges stateless refugees face may be misunderstood – which limits pathways to providing effective protection and obstructs timely interventions that may help with the resolution of statelessness in the long term. 5.2.2 PROTECTION ISSUES Given the precarious situation of all persons displaced by the Syrian crisis, many of the challenges that stateless refugees experience are similar to those which confront the larger refugee population, especially undocumented refugees and those who are not registered. Nevertheless, there are additional concerns facing stateless refugees which are specific and linked to their statelessness. The most prominent of these challenges identified through this research were the following. 265 Arab Commission for Human Rights, ‘Stateless in Syria’, 2004, available at http://hem.bredband.net/dccls2/r1.htm. 266 For more discussion on some problems facing stateless refugees see Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, The World’s Stateless, supra n38. 267 Interview with Personal Status Department, Erbil KRI, July 2016. 268 Interview with NRC, Amman Jordan, July 2016. 269 Interview with UNHCR, Erbil KRI, July 2016. RESEARCH REPORT 49