Syrian Citizenship Disappeared Syria is a state party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all of the providing for a right to education. Additionally, certain aspects of the right to education, including the right to free and compulsory primary education, and the right not to be discriminated against in the enjoyment of educational rights, are now considered as customary international law.70 Our research demonstrates, however, that stateless people from Syria are deprived of their right to an education from an early age. The ajanib and maktumeen of al-Hasakah encountered barriers at all stages of their education. As early as primary school, stateless pupils were requested, to enrol, the approval delivered by Political Security after long waits delaying the beginning of the academic year. The obstacles were more grievous each year and, according to testimonies gathered by STJ, seemed to culminate at university, that they initially had no right to join. A 2004 decision allowed them to enrol in universities, but still prevents them from receiving any certificate. Additionally, the psychological pressure exerted by the surrounding community, the relatives and sometimes the family, had a major impact on the youth. Frequently being told that their future was doomed and of the worthlessness to complete their education for a diploma they would never obtain, thousands of ajanib and maktumeen of al-Hasakah dropped out from school and moved to laborious work and freelance jobs with no labour rights, health insurance or social insurance. 70 Klaus Dieter Beiter, The Protection of the Right to Education by International Law (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2006) 24 2.2.15. Live Testimonies of the Stripped of Nationality/the Stateless on the Right to Education Aziz Pirro was born in Qamishli city in 1973. Married with two children, he is still maktum despite his numerous attempts to gain the Syrian nationality. Among all the hardship he experienced as a result of his statelessness, not being able to complete his education is the most painful for him: “My father had no documents to show the census committee so he became maktum, while my uncles became Syrian nationals. We faced many problems regarding our legal status. We were also impeded in our academic education. That had a great impact upon us. I was even not allowed to enrol in the seventh grade since I was maktum, so I quit school for two months until I finally managed to convince the head teacher to complete my education. Once, when they refused to enrol me at university in 1993, I decided to take high-school exams “Baccalaureate” once again, but I remember the words of an employee: “you should be thankful that we have allowed you to take the Baccalaureate exams one time, how dare you come to register for the second time.” 71 Aziz is still lamenting his and his family’s situation, none of them having been able to complete their education: “Bahzad, my brother, was a superior high school student who had top marks among al-Hasakah province, and we tried so hard to make him complete his education, but in vain. I finished law school at the university but did not get my diploma. I still remember when my colleagues and I went to al-Furat University: we were about 12 students, all of them were 71 STJ’s field researcher conducted direct interview with him in late July 2018 in Qamishli city.