2021 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 3(1) citizenship is racialised, a legacy that can be traced back to the racialisation of communities during French colonial rule. 209 The 1962 census deprived Kurdish communities of their political, economic and civil rights, and their everyday life became extremely difficult, particularly in terms of access to education and employment. 210 They faced difficulty in registering their children at birth and sending them to school, and were banned from working in the public sector and benefit from ratio foods, which were reserved to Syrian citizens — because they were now considered ‘foreigners’. Additionally, this census prevented them from travelling because of their lack of identity documentation. In the 1990s, Syrian authorities expelled stateless Kurds from their homes and arbitrarily seized their agricultural lands. 211 Many who tried to peacefully protest against this decision were arrested and detained, and some were sentenced to up to four years imprisonment. 212 Therefore, the 1962 census appears to be a political decision motivated by ethnic-based discrimination, rather than immigration concerns. The census left long-lasting marks that still have consequences to this day. In the early years of the Syrian conflict, many Kurdish Syrians were put in detention because of their inability to present identity documents at checkpoints. 213 When fleeing Syria, they have also found themselves excluded from some resettlement programs available to other vulnerable refugees in neighbouring countries, because they could not prove their Syrian nationality. 214 In 2011, the Syrian regime started to make concessions in an attempt to pacify the political tensions in the country, after the outbreak of popular uprisings across the country and shortly before the civil war officially began. 215 A first decree allowed the Ajnabi to access social services 216 and a second one stated that they should be treated on an equal basis with Syrian nationals in terms of employment. 217 Finally, on 7 March 2011, President Bashar Al-Assad issued a decree that granted the Syrian nationality to all the Ajnabi living in the province of Al-Hasaka at that point — but not to all the Syrian Ajnabi that may have moved to other parts of the country since the census took place. 218 Before the census, the Syrian regime had dismissed all demands calling for the naturalisation of stateless Kurds, arguing that naturalisation could only be made on an individual basis. 219 Nonetheless, this decree was granted as a ‘favour’, rather than as the rectification of a legal breach committed through the defective census process. No compensation or reparation was offered. 220 Many Kurds had fled Syria before 209 David Fitzgerald, ‘The History of Racialized Citizenship’ in Ayelet Shachar, Rainer Bauböck, 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 Irene Bloemraad, and Maarten Vink (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Citizenship (Oxford University Press 2017) 129. Albarazi (n 10) 4. Manaa (n 62). ibid. Thomas McGee and Zahra Albarazi, ‘Eight Years of Displacement: Syria’s Statelessness Still Unidentified’ (2019) 8(2) Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration 39, 40. ibid. Albarazi (n 10) 18. Decree No 153/11 (2011) (Syrian Arab Republic). ibid. ibid art 1, which stipulates: ‘Individuals who are registered as Ajnabi in the Al-Hasaka province should be granted the Syrian nationality’ (emphasis added) (author tr). ibid. Albarazi (n 10) 12. 28