The Plight of the Rightless: Mapping and Understanding Statelessness in Tripoli-V1.3 exclusion. All of this urges for the implementation of a firm strategy targeting social cohesion as well as the protection of the rights of the stateless. Thirdly, Mukhtars, or neighborhood mayors, are found to be a fundamental intermediary between the stateless and state, as their written attestation is the main identification document that the majority of the stateless in Tripoli - and Lebanon - hold, in addition to the Laissez-Passer passport issued by the General Security. Mukhtars are considered a main source of information regarding stateless persons by public entities, especially General Security. However, this stateless-Mukhtar relationship is not free of abusive powers, often characterized by some Mukhtars’ overpricing of stateless documents and issuance of fraudulent documentation. While some Mukhtars have developed a specialty in statelessness affairs, others refuse to deal with any statelessness cases either due to the high responsibility associated with it or their lack of interest in helping “nonLebanese” as they’ve stated. Fourthly, this study was able to identify around 2,200 stateless individuals currently living in Tripoli and estimate that number to be equivalent to 27,000 in all of Lebanon. This number currently accounts for less than 1% of the Lebanese population, which does not seem of a significant concern. Nevertheless, at calculated population growth rates, we estimate statelessness in Tripoli to double within 15 years. This means that any postponement to resolve this issue will result in a bigger challenge. The importance of this study is multifaceted. While most other studies on statelessness in Lebanon have been confined to analysing the legal context and history of legislation that is currently behind the existence of statelessness today, this study has taken the first step towards a nationwide strategy for resolving statelessness. The combination of quantitative and qualitative assessments, informed by direct insights from the stateless themselves who have contributed to the implementation of this study, has added great value and accuracy to its findings and has set the grounds for firmer future solutions. The collected database adds more importance to that as it is considered a first pilot step towards a potential national mapping of statelessness that would be informed by lessons learned from this study. Moreover, by adopting a participative approach, the study has created a louder word of mouth around the issue of statelessness and the importance of resolving it. It raised awareness among Tripolitan neighbourhoods and encouraged families to take action towards avoiding statelessness whenever possible. Moreover, our study has detected links between statelessness and antisocial behavior. A regression analysis showed that statelessness breeds violence manifested in encouraged fraud, street violence and detention. In addition to that, the study shows that violence and discrimination has been exercised by public entities upon the stateless, in particular those in vulnerable situations such as detention. This highlights the need for further research in the areas of access to justice and conflict resolution as well as the urgent need to put limits to statelessness in general. As for the ways to proceed towards eradicating statelessness in Lebanon, the following section provides an extensive list of tailor-made recommendations that are specific for Lebanon, as well as Tripoli. 53