a. short-term residency permits are not a permanent solution and the status of Rohingya continues to be at the discretion and goodwill of the state; b. this initiative has not included the full population of Rohingya in the country, there are significant numbers who remain with no legal status; c. this status does not ensure them full access to rights; and d. perhaps most importantly, Rohingya children born in Saudi Arabia – who should be entitled to Saudi nationality in accordance with Article 7 CRC, are denied this right. 20. Palestinians in Saudi Arabia, who are estimated to number about 287,000, and have often lived there for decades – many since the 1950s - mostly have only residence status and are excluded from naturalisation procedures.12 This means that their stay and status in the country relies on ensuring they have sponsorship. They constantly have no security, their status is very volatile, and they are ineligible to benefit from public services. With the current volatile nature of the cost of sponsorship in the country, they are always at risk of being deported.13 In addition, UNRWA is has no presence in Saudi Arabia and so does not formally recognise or assist them. Therefore in practise they are not entitled to the basic protections that citizens or refugees are granted. Impacts of statelessness 21. Being stateless in Saudi Arabia can result in significant violations of rights, which has included lack of access to public education, healthcare and other services; inability to access employment, impeded family reunification; social alienation and psychological challenges. What is often the most difficult consequence for these communities is that, alongside other non-nationals they are at the mercy of their sponsors to remain in the country. But unlike other non-nationals they would have nowhere to return to if deported. Bidoons in Saudi Arabia are particularly marginalised and remain the poorest segment of the Saudi population. Due to recent economic changes – i.e. imposition of value added tax and the doubling of the price of some services such as electricity – their situation is likely to further deteriorate. Finally, given the significance of the size of the stateless population (Bidoon, Rohingya and Palestinian), a certain part of society inevitably feels alienated and indefinitely marginalised from mainstream society, undermining social cohesion.14 12 A.Shiblak, Stateless Palestinians, FMR 26 access at http://www.fmreview.org/sites/fmr/files/FMRdownloads/en/palestine/shiblak.pdf MiddleEastEye, A Palestinian refugee in Saudi Arabia: 50 Years of lost dreams, 2016, access at http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/palestinian-refugee-saudi-arabia-civic-immobility-and-lost-dreams-344102002 14 See ESOHR, The Suffering of a Quarter of a Million Stateless and Calls for Radical and Urgent Solutions, 2016, access at http://www.esohr.org/en/?p=723 and Alarabiya, The Bidoon of Saudi Arabia, Generations of Discrimination, 2014 access at http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2014/08/30/The-Bidoon-of-Saudi-Arabia-Generations-of-discrimination.html 13