The Plight of the Rightless: Mapping and Understanding Statelessness in Tripoli-V1.3 The Ottoman nationality law continued to be legally binding until 1924 when the legal status of Ottoman citizens in Lebanon was regulated through Resolution 2825 putting into effect the Treaty of Lausanne. The latter stipulated that “any person who was a Turkish [i.e. Ottoman] subject and resided in the territories of Lebanon on 30 August 1924 is confirmed as a Lebanese subject and is from now on considered as having lost the Turkish [i.e. Ottoman] citizenship.” The year 1925 marked the creation of the current Lebanese Nationality Law (Decision 15 of the French High Commissioner), which was subject to amendments in 1934, 1939 and 1960. Despite Resolution 2825, some individuals, especially emigrants of Lebanese origins but also others for political and practical reasons, could not register in the first census (1921) and thus remained stateless. That was the first wave of statelessness in Lebanon. Subsequently, another census was announced in 1932 (Decree 8837), resulting in the naturalisation of more than 200,000 individuals, most of whom were Christians.19 Article 13 of that decree mentions the following: “Refugees from Turkish territories such as Armenians, Syriacs, Chaldeans and members of the Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches, or other persons who are of Turkish origin, shall be counted as Lebanese provided they were found on Lebanese territories on 30 August 1924 according to Regulation 2825.” As for the Bedouins, Article 12 stipulates that only those who had resided in Lebanon for more than six months were eligible for the Lebanese nationality. The remaining individuals who could not be registered as Lebanese, neither prove their residence in Lebanon on 30 August 1924 were thus registered in the 1932 census as foreigners of “indeterminate nationality” or in other words stateless.20 They had the opportunity to register for the Lebanese nationality until 1958, but many refrained from doing so for several reasons: 1234- Fear of being enrolled in military service; Living outside towns and villages (shepherds and non-sedentary people); Illegal entry and residency in Lebanon; and Lack of proper information on rights and obligations. The year 1943 marked the declaration of independence of Lebanon. Subsequently, in 1951, the Law of Documenting Personal Status came to regulate civil registration procedures. This is particularly important as the lack of registration of marriage and birth is one of the major causes of statelessness in Lebanon as will be shown later in this study. Until the year 1962, those who had not registered in previous censuses remained stateless. During that year, the “under-study” category was created by the General Security to identify and conjoin persons in Lebanon who had no nationality whatsoever. Hence individuals holding “indeterminate nationality” cards had their documents replaced by “under-study” cards, granting them residency rights. Nevertheless, this replacement process ceased in 1970. Since then, “under-study” cards have solely been 19 Rania Maktabi, The Lebanese Census of 1932 Revisited. Who Are the Lebanese? (Taylor & Francis, 1999). 20 Youmna Makhlouf, ‘Nationality Under Study’: The Permanence of Being Stateless (Beirut: Legal Agenda, 2016). 21