63 RELYING ON MUKHTARS Fieldwork additionally revealed mukhtars’ lack of awareness about stateless cases around them. Cooperation of mukhtars is essential, yet stateless individuals denounced the limited cooperation supporting them in their ordeal. Mukhtars seem to be unfamiliar with the true numbers of stateless persons in their own region, often underestimating by half the number of cases in their vicinity. Many of the mukhtars met on field claimed that their neighborhood was “clean”, a clear indication of discrimination towards stateless people. Moreover, cases encountered in Burj Hammoud were double the estimations of mukhtars in the neighborhood, whereas in the Chouf, the differentiation amounted to around 500 cases, as mukhtars considered that a big proportion got naturalized in the 1994 decree. Despite the shortcomings, stateless persons express a great deal of trust in mukhtars, particularly in rural areas where closer-knit community favor stronger personal connections. On the other hand, more than half of interviewed mukhtars were not willing to work and cooperate with stateless individuals. This prevents stateless persons from obtaining crucial identification documents, further perpetuating their deprivation of rights and hampering their access to services. “ There are no cases here, everyone is “clean”, legal, and registered. - Mukhtar, Aley Fig 24. How much do you trust your mukhtar? (Stateless respondents) 18% 22% 27% 26% 48% 45% Stateless Lebanese Greater Beirut Trust a lot 11% 23% 28% 59% 54% Stateteless Lebanese Mount Lebanon Somehow trusts 56% of mukhtars are not willing to work with stateless individuals 11% Do not trust Do not know 24% of mukhtars have a negative perception over statelessness © 2023 Siren Associates. All Rights Reserved.