82 SHAME AND STIGMA Shame is not similarly felt across the various regions of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, and is often closely related to the local community’s perception of statelessness. Statelessness is perceived differently across regions. In the predominantly Sunni neighborhoods and informal settlements, stateless persons and the local community perceived this condition more favorably than in other areas. Furthermore, Dom people across regions demonstrated a high level of comfort with statelessness (which was particularly helpful for finding stateless individuals on the field). In contrast, statelessness was almost a taboo topic in wealthier neighborhoods, or within the Shia, Christian, or Druze communities. As a consequence, stateless people living in these communities tend to avoid revealing their status, with the Shia respondents hiding it the most (57%) compared to Sunni respondents (47%). In this respect, whereas statelessness is perceived as a “legitimate cause” in Sunni areas, Christians tend to associate stateless with Syrians, denying them the right to access Lebanese citizenship. This tendency was prevailing in the Metn district, where former member of parliament and interior minister Michel el Murr’s central role in the 1994 Decree is still recalled by locals. The team faced cases where stateless people denied being stateless. This happened in places like Burj el Barajneh refugee camp with a women refusing admitting being stateless, or in Burj Hammoud where a stateless man became angry when approached by surveyors, insisting that they share the identity of the person who revealed his status to the team. “ Don’t tell anyone I told you about him, people should definitely not know that their neighbor is stateless. 24% of adult respondents declared to avoid divulging their statelessness status because of shame — Brother of a nonregistered stateless man, Dekwaneh Fig 36. Percentage of people who do not disclose their status due to shame 49% 54% 25% Greater Beirut Mount Lebanon Akkar © 2023 Siren Associates. All Rights Reserved.