Syrian Citizenship Disappeared “One day, some members of the security apparatus arrested me in a garage suspecting I was a foreigner, and released me only after I explained my status. My father kept saying there must be a solution for our status in the future and it was not reasonable to remain maktumeen. But I don’t want to tell my children myself, and I don’t want their fate to be like mine. Now I am thinking about migrating to Europe through smuggling ways for the sake of my children who are also maktumeen.” Mahmoud al-Mohammed Bin Ismael described to STJ that he was ashamed of his red card that indicates he is ajnabi. He told STJ how he was travelling by bus to Palmyra when some police officers stopped him and asked him to show his identity card: “They asked where I had gotten that card from and I replied I was ajnabi. One of them said: “Are you trying to trick us? How come you’re a foreigner and speak Arabic?” I replied that he had to ask an officer higher than him if he ignored the meaning of ajnabi. Fortunately everything went well after I mocked them too.” Venus Mohammed, a maktumah using a pseudonym, described how she travelled and accompanied her mother to Damascus for her cancer treatment: “Almost a year ago, none of my family members managed to travel with my mother by plane because of their legal status as maktumeen, so I decided to go with her despite the troubles I knew I would face. When one of the employee at the airport asked about my documents, I showed him my i dentification certificate. He was surprised and asked how come my mother was a Syrian national and I only had a worthless identification certificate. After that he took the identification certificate and showed 44 it to an official in the airport and my mother waited long until we were allowed to travel.” Midia Hasan, a maktumah using an alias, explained how the conflict worsened her experience of travelling among Syrian provinces: “It got worse with the spread of the military checkpoints throughout the country. Whenever I wanted to travel among the Syrian provinces, the checkpoint officers stopped me more than the other passengers because of my identification certificate. I was ashamed of it.” With regard to the impact of deprivation of nationality on the emigration abroad, Redwan Sido testified that the cases of emigration between 1962 and 2004 was relatively low, but the rate increased significantly between 2004 and 2011 attributing the reason to the loss of hope to resolve their legal status in Syria. 7.15. The Right to Vote and to Run for Elections 1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. 2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. 3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. Article 21 Universal Declaration of Human Rights Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions: (a) To take part in the conduct of public