The Plight of the Rightless: Mapping and Understanding Statelessness in Tripoli-V1.3 violent acts followed this period, whereby in 2008, two bombings targeting buses of civilians and soldiers took place. Later in 2011, the migration of Syrian refugees to Tripoli exacerbated the sectarian tensions between Alawites and Sunnis following Hezbollah’s fighting alongside the Assad regime in Syria. Security threats remained until March 2014, when 2,000 Lebanese Armed Forces troops were released in the area of Tebbeneh - Jabal Mohsen as part of a governmental security plan to contain conflicts. The plan consisted of negotiations between militia groups and resulted in significantly reduced armed clashes and the establishment of truce between all parties. Nevertheless, two suicide attacks took place in two Sunni mosques in 2014 and in a café in Jabal Mohsen in 2015. Deep damages were caused in these neighbourhoods, many buildings were demolished and a significant number of affected families were forcefully displaced. 8 Downtown markets or souks were harmed too, causing Tripoli’s overall economic activity to stagnate. Despite the cease of clashes, sectarian and political disputes have remained. This is particularly dangerous as it encourages the formation of radical groups and could significantly hinder the implementation of any development initiatives in Tripoli.9 In fact, a study by Lebanon Support shows a positive correlation between unemployment and young men’s participation in battles. It explains that men in Jabal Mohsen and Tebbeneh perceive the battles period as a good economic period since it created jobs. They were given weapons and money to shoot, whereas now, most of them wander around these two neighbourhoods, unemployed. Similarly, the concept of revenge is another critical factor for the reignition of battles, often related to historical feuds and the death of friends or relatives in past fights. Adversely, young men’s participation in revenge battles is more likely to occur if they are unemployed and have very little to lose.10 On Statelessness Around the World How Statelessness Came to Be Today, there are an estimated 10 million stateless individuals around the world.11 The phenomenon of statelessness started seeing the light around the beginning of the twentieth century, when the world’s territorial shuffling and political crisis took place following both World Wars.12 The very first wave of global statelessness was witnessed by 800,000 people deprived of the Russian citizenship, as well as Jews exiled in Germany and deprived of citizenship. As a result of the displacement of many individuals, some of which became stateless due to war, the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948 and recognised nationality as a human right to everyone. This was the earliest international consideration towards ceasing statelessness. In 1954, the United Nations’ Convention Related to the Status of Stateless Persons defined the term “stateless” for the first time. 8 Ismail et al., Syrian refugees in Tripoli, Lebanon (2017). Nehmeh, Daleel Al Herman Al Hadri (2010). 10 Younes, The conflict context in Tripoli (2016), p.18. 11 B. Sokol, Ending Statelessness Within 10 Years: A Special Report (UNHCR, 2016). 12 UN, A study of Statelessness (Lake Success, New York: United Nations, 1949), p.3. 9 16