Syrian Citizenship Disappeared lies did not even send their children to school. One of our relatives, a young man, was a superior student and was ranked number two among Syria at the high school stage. But he received no diploma. Now, I wonder how such persons could be compensated, who would provide reparation for them, some of whom dreams were broken and hopes shattered.” Siyamand Wahhab Wahhab was born in Ras alEin/Sari Kani in 1992. He explained to STJ that he and his family, around 30 individuals, were ajanib until they managed to acquire the citizenship following the Decree No. 49 in 2011. Siyamand still wishes he had completed his studies and went to university: “I dropped out from school when I was in eighth grade. My siblings had left school earlier in the primary school. My father enrolled us in the primary school under a residence permit from the mukhtar. Generally, ajanib were not willing to learn, since they were not entitled to receive any university degrees. It was normal for ajanib or maktumeen to drop out of school as soon as they learned how to read and write. Only a few of them were completing their academic education. The ajanib were deprived of all their social rights.”75 Venus al-Mohammed was born in Qamishli city in 1983. The majority of her family are stateless. Her father, her six brothers and her uncles are maktumeen. This deprived her from all her rights and especially her right to an education: “The ajanib were entitled to complete their education until the university stage, unlike the maktumeen who were denied education beyond the secondary school. For this reason, I left school at the intermediate stage 75 The field researcher of STJ conducted direct interview with him in July 2018. 26 and so did my siblings. We were absolutely aware that it was worthless. The only dream for one of my brothers was to go to university and he endlessly awaited for our legal status to be resolved, until he died. We were deprived of everything. One of the cruelest experience I’ve had to go through was when my friends could pursue their education, whilst I was not able to achieve my dream and study English Literature.”76 Nubar Ismael was born in Qamishli in 1986. He is married with two children and works in the field of media. He still hopes to own an official document recognising his existence and enabling him to exercise his most basic rights. He recounted77 to STJ the despair he endured being maktum, particularly with regards to his education: “The worst barrier I have encountered over the years was my inability to get diplomas certifying the completion of all my educational stages. After all, I succeeded to obtain my high school Baccalaureate certificate, but was not allowed to apply for the ordinary university admission so I applied for a “direct admission”.78 I studied Translation at Tishreen University in Latakia province. We were not entitled to obtain diploma 76 The STJ’s field researcher conducted the interview via the Internet in late July 2018. 77 STJ’s field researcher conducted direct interview with him in Qamishli in March 2018. 78 In Syria, students usually apply for admissions after the Baccalaureate results are issued. In the first admission, the minimum marks determined in the university branches are included and the students who has passed the secondary stage apply to it. Then the universities sort the files and select the appropriate number based on the number of applicants. In the second admission, the degree of acceptance in the universities is higher than the first one. The direct admission in this context consists in applying to university directly after the issuance of the second admission. The university options for the stateless were limited as it was not allowed to apply for institutes or departments which the government pledged to employ immediately after graduation. Practically, the maktumeen were entitled to enroll at universities only after 2000. Besides maktumeen and ajanib were required to sign a paper to disclaim their right for obtaining a diploma.