Syrian Citizenship Disappeared Our study reveals that stateless suffer hardship pursuing the career they ambition in two ways. First, the discrimination they suffer as students, preventing them to obtain certificates to practice high-level professions, impacts them when they try to seek a job, employers often refusing to hire them because of them not having a nationality. Second, they are prevented from pursuing a career in public services. When hired, they often face discrimination and harassment as a consequence of their status. Hence, hundreds of thousands have been forced to work strenuous jobs in order to provide for themselves and their family. “To be maktum or ajnabi is to be an internal migrant residing in the squatter settlements, relegated to work in farms or laborious artisanal handicraft for derisory salaries, and lacking basic rights. Stateless were denied work mainly because the government granted no educational documents,” Ashraf Sino, lawyer, stated. Mohammed Salih Ismael was born in Qamishli in 1985 and is married with one kid. As maktum, he had limited work opportunities and had to work in a bakery: “All my life I have been maktum, like my father. My mother is a citizen. I made many attempts to acquire the Syrian nationality following the Decree granting citizenship to stateless, but that did not work. I face tremendous difficulties finding job opportunities because the public sector, as well as some private firms, refuse to employ us. Working in a bakery was my only choice.”97 Abu Diar, a pseudonym, was born in al-Hasakah in 1983 and is married with two children. He works in a directorate affiliated with the Autonomous Administration. As an ajnabi not entitled to work in the public sector, he encountered colossal obstacles until 2011: “We were denied of our basic rights as human beings and were incredibly marginalised. Notwithstanding the red card the Syrian government delivered to us, no one recognised us. I once tried to work as a security guard in the garage of the Directorate of Education, but they refused due to my legal status.”98 Resheed Hasan Hussein added that his legal status pushed him to work as a wall painter to provide for his family: “I started a career as a wall painter. It was the only way to provide for my family: my wife and our two daughters, as well as my mother and my two sisters. I was not entitled to work in the public sector nor in the private one. Lacking documents has always subjected us to accountability. As a result, I live as a destitute.” Mohammed Amin Ramadan al-Mohammed was born in Hasoud, in Qamishli, in 1962 and is married with 7 children. He was stateless until 2011, when he finally obtained the citizenship. But for him, it came too late: “It’s like building someone a house after their death.” Dlo Mohammed confirmed stateless were banned from working in public sector until 2014 and the declaration of the Autonomous Administration in northeastern Syria. She found herself a job within the Administration’s institutions. “I had great ambitions. They shattered due to my previous legal status. I dropped out from school and wanted to be a porter in the silos. At first, they refused to employ me. They later agreed to it through mediation, but I never received any health or social insurance. I also worked in a restaurant in Damascus, and was exposed to harassment by the employer, who favoured employees who were citizens. I have now been working for 97 STJ’s field researcher conducted direct interview with him in June 2018. 98 STJ’s field researcher conducted direct interview with him in June 2018. 32