The Plight of the Rightless: Mapping and Understanding Statelessness in Tripoli-V1.3 To sum up, most stateless individuals are not only of Lebanese descent as shown in the previous section, but they also have a solid Lebanese identity, believe in the Lebanese State, and are ready to defend their country. The Relation with Mukhtars Although the Mukhtar is perceived as the main point of contact of stateless persons, 44% of respondents declare not trusting (26%) or only somewhat trusting (18%) their neighbourhood’s mukhtar. The numbers reflect the paradoxical relation between stateless people and Mukhtars and the ambiguous role played by Mukhtars on stateless matters. Tripoli’s 63 Mukhtars play an important role as they are the local authority that delivers birth certificates, allowing stateless people to prove that they were born in Lebanon, as well as identification documents (Ta’arif) that are often the only form of official documentation they use in their daily life. The Mukhtar is also the point of contact for the General Security during investigation and arrests. He is tasked with identifying stateless persons especially when arrested without a Ta’arif card. “We are the focal point. They call us at night when a stateless is involved in a problem, an accident, etc.” says a Mukhtar from Nouri. In addition to their administrative role, Mukhtars are the principal source of information as they provide advice on the nationality procedure. “The stateless ask us what to do, we are their main reference,” admits a Mukhtar from Remmeneh. Some of them go further and advertise themselves as the key resource point for those who want to acquire the nationality. “I am an important actor to avoid new cases of statelessness in Tripoli. I am your solution!” says a Mukhtar that has extensively worked with stateless individuals. A closer look, however, reveals the occurrence of fraud in the process. “I should be getting an award from the State. By making children younger on paper, I am avoiding four to five new stateless cases every month!” boasts one of the Qobbeh Mukhtars. “Mukhtars are not supposed to deliver Ta’arif cards anymore but I do it for the people. At the end my role is to help people, and I will help them regardless of the State’s instructions,” says another Mukhtar from Mina. The relationship between these Mukhtars and Tripoli’s stateless appears to be mostly transactional. Mukhtars help the stateless when and if there is a gain to be made. This goes to the extent that one Mukhtar admits: “A Ta’arif card should usually be given for free, but some colleagues charge up to 150 USD.” These fees can increase significantly when a stateless person initiates the process to acquire the nationality. While some Mukhtars develop a specialty in statelessness affairs, others refuse to deal with the topic altogether and consider it a waste of time. “Statelessness is a headache for us Mukhtars,” according to one of them. One of the topic experts, who have long researched the issue of statelessness, explains why some of the Mukhtars avoid the issue of statelessness: “Mukhtars do not have any incentive to keep records of the stateless because stateless people just need a Ta’arif card and never come back for other official documents; so Mukhtars don’t really benefit from the stateless.” Additionally, given that stateless people do not vote, they are not an important “target population” to please, which makes them less likely to receive attention from Mukhtars and other officials. 35