Integrating Issues of Statelessness in the Syrian Refugee Response Integrating Issues of Statelessness in the Syrian Refugee Response Certain individuals within the Syrian refugee population may also be stateless persons. These are individuals who both have a well-founded fear of persecution in their country of origin, and are also not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law. Refugees who are also stateless are protected under the refugee framework, which offers a higher standard of treatment under international law than that applicable solely on the basis of stateless status.32 As registration with UNHCR is often considered the “doorway to protection” in a country of asylum, UNHCR has established specialized regional registration protocols to ensure the identification and registration of stateless refugees from Syria, with particular attention to their demographic profiles, protection issues, and access to specific forms of documentation in the country of origin. In Iraq, for instance, UNHCR has identified 1,144 Kurdish refugees from Syria who are stateless. Advocacy and programming on protection issues linked to statelessness are coordinated at the national level through each of the 3RP country’s inter-agency Protection Working Group, which have launched concerted efforts to increase birth registration and appropriately respond to situations where refugee children are unaccompanied or separated from their parents. Some Syrian refugee children, particularly those born in Syria and immediately displaced to a country in the region, may be without birth certificates or the means to obtain them. Where refugee children lack birth certificates, UNHCR also considers other documentation, such as medical documents or witness affidavits to help establish their identity and family links. In cases where a child is completely undocumented, UNHCR conducts family verification interviews with multiple family members to ensure the authenticity of the parent-child relationship in order to prevent illegal adoption, child trafficking or other situations which may endanger children. Identifying and Protecting Syrian Refugees who are Also Stateless Within the framework of refugee protection, UNHCR seeks to ensure that all Syrian refugees have the best possible access to international protection. This includes clarifying at the outset that stateless persons are entitled to the international protection afforded by the 1951 Refugee Convention, provided they meet the definition of a refugee set out in Article 1A (2).33 To support decision-makers in adjudicating claims for refugee status more effectively and reliably, UNHCR has incorporated detailed attention to issues related to statelessness, risks of statelessness and access to documentation in its guidelines on the international protection needs of individuals from Syria and Iraq.34 UNHCR also provides individualised, technical support upon request to governments and UNHCR operations on the assessment of specific asylum claims that involve issues related to statelessness, nationality status or access to documentation. Registration with UNHCR provides undocumented refugee children a vital layer of protection in documenting their identity, family composition, and nationality (or their country of origin, in the case of those who are stateless). The use of biometric registration undertaken by UNHCR in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt enhances protection by providing reliable records of declared parentage and family composition. This is critical for resettlement and other forms of admission where the careful verification of identity and family structure are core requirements for receiving countries. Stateless refugees with vulnerabilities may require resettlement. During the resettlement interview processes, UNHCR reconfirms the identity and legal status of refugees through documentation assessments, which includes confirming if they are stateless in cases where their nationality status is uncertain. 32 This includes, inter alia, an express prohibition against non-refoulement under Article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention, as well as the principle of non-penalization for unlawful entry and stay in the course of seeking international protection, under Article 31. See UN General Assembly, Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, p. 137, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3be01b964.html. 33 Article 1A (2) of the 1951 Convention relating to the States of Refugees specifically provides for persons “not having a nationality”. See id. 34 See, UNHCR, International Protection Considerations with regard to people fleeing the Syrian Arab Republic, Update IV, November 2015, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/5641ef894.html; UNHCR, UNHCR Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of AsylumSeekers from Iraq, 31 May 2012, HCR/EG/IRQ/12/03, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4fc77d522.html; UNHCR, UNHCR Position on Returns to Iraq, 27 October 2014, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/544e4b3c4.html. 14