Background
In recent years, MARCH has been recruiting volunteers among youth from vulnerable groups for
several peace building and conflict resolution projects deployed in Tripoli, particularly in Tebbeneh
and Jabal Mohsen. During this community work, the organisation has identified statelessness as
a recurrent characteristic among the recruits, depriving them, not only of their basic rights, but
also of their “right to have rights.”
As part of MARCH’s initiatives to address violence and radicalization in Tripoli and given that
citizenship is a fundamental guarantee of equal rights in Lebanon, the organisation started helping
these young people acquire legal status and nationality. While a few statelessness situations were
resolved, the process for most cases has been lengthy and complicated with unexplained delays
and unresolved deadlocks. The issue seemed to be more systemic, which requires a strategic
approach to resolving statelessness in Tripoli. MARCH consequently decided to conduct a wider
study to delineate the extent of the problem and discern its root causes, measure its impact on
individuals and their families, explore coping mechanisms, and determine who is at risk of
statelessness. This research will help MARCH in determining adequate projects and policies that
can help reduce and prevent this phenomenon, as well as protect stateless persons in Tripoli.
This report starts with an overview of the Tripoli context, then introduces statelessness as a global
concept along with the relevant international conventions and best practices to solving it around
the world. A historical and legal review of statelessness in Lebanon follows. Statelessness in
Tripoli is then assessed qualitatively and empirically through reviewing the results of a quantitative
survey as well as insights from qualitative interviews with stakeholders. Lastly, the report
concludes with a section on policy recommendations.
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