From Syria to Europe: Experiences of Stateless Kurds and Palestinian Refugees from Syria Seeking Protection in Europe 1. Introduction For many Europeans today, philosopher Hannah Arendt’s description of the ‘postwar refugees who had been forced out of their countries by revolutions, and were promptly denationalized by the victorious governments at home’ may seem like little more than a footnote in history.1 Yet, statelessness continues to be a challenge in almost all states in Europe, with significant stateless populations in a number of countries as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,2 and problems reported across the region in terms of the arbitrary detention of stateless persons and failure to adequately protect the child’s right to a nationality.3 In recent years, as the number of migrants and asylum seekers entering Europe ‘Mediterranean crisis’ increased, so too has the exposure of European states to the problem of In 2015, there was a significant statelessness in the context of migration increase in the number of people from other parts of the world. The 2015 travelling across the Mediterranean ‘Mediterranean crisis’ brought many new Sea or overland to reach Europe from challenges for European reception systems Turkey and northern Africa. – including that of adequately identifying Simultaneously, smuggler routes and tailoring assistance to those who lack a became generally more affordable. nationality. Indeed, as asylum services often This resulted in a large number of struggle to cope with the number of deaths at sea, as well as placing applications to be processed, statelessness is additional pressure on reception and a significantly under-considered issue. asylum systems in Europe – leading Nonetheless, the failure to identify and to the widespread use of the term accurately register stateless asylum seekers ‘Mediterranean crisis’ or ‘migration and refugees can be costly for the receiving crisis’. states and have significantly negative impacts on the lives of affected individuals. Efforts are needed to review current policies and practices in order to ensure stateless persons have access to fundamental rights, while reducing and preventing further instances of statelessness within European borders. This study explores the situation of stateless refugees4 from Syria (hereinafter ‘stateless Syrians’) who have come to Europe since the outbreak of conflict in Syria in 2011. This research focus was selected in view of Syria’s sizeable statelessness problem and in recognition of the overall scale of displacement from Syria - now the single largest refugee population in the world and according to Country of Origin figures, the largest group of refugees reaching Europe after the 2015 ‘Mediterranean crisis’. 5 While a number of studies have highlighted the alarming risks of statelessness for Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries in the Middle 1. Hannah Arendt (2009) The Origins of Totalitarianism, p. 278. 2. The World’s Stateless (2014) Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, p. 95-6. See for the most recent compilation of statistics on statelessness in Europe, UNHCR (2018) Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2017: https://www.unhcr.org/statistics/unhcrstats/5b27be547/unhcr-global-trends-2017.html 3. European Network on Statelessness (2017) Protecting Stateless Persons From Arbitrary Detention: https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/ENS_LockeInLimbo_Detention_Agenda_online.pdf; ENS (2015) No Child Should be Stateless: https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/ENS_NoChildStateless_final.pdf 4. Throughout the report, the term ‘stateless refugee’ includes those given other statuses such as humanitarian protection. 5. Eurostat (September 2018) Asylum Quarterly Report: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/pdfscache/13562.pdf 4