Too Little Too Late? Statelessness and Transitional Justice in the Syrian Context

Statelessness is one of the most severe conditions in which humans can find themselves today, with at least ten million people around the world still lacking any formal state citizenship. Although a legal anomaly in essence, statelessness has never been only a legal issue. It is a human condition beyond legal rights; a condition that drastically impacts people’ lives and choices and access to human rights. In spite of the growing interdisciplinary research agenda on statelessness, the humanitarian dimension of post-statelessness has not, as of yet, been the subject of research where a critical review of the transition from stateless to citizen and the aspect of transitional justice is lacking. Naturalization and acquisition of citizenship are often perceived as solutions that potentially end the problems associated with statelessness. In the context of Syria, statelessness has been one of the multiple problems that have remained untackled under the authoritarian regime. With the onset of the uprising in 2011, the stateless community of Kurds in Syria, who were previously denationalized in an exceptional census in 1962 and have since remained under the category of ‘Ajanib’ (foreigners), were regranted the Syrian nationality through a presidential decree. This paper interrogates the Syrian government action in 2011 which was presented as a political reform amid the growing scale of public upheaval, and relates it to the question of transitional justice – eight years later in the war-torn country. Through a critical analysis of the so-called reform and the legal transition of Syrian Kurds from ‘foreigners’ category to ‘Syrian Arabs’, the study will engage with a discussion of human rights and the legacy of statelessness that is yet unfolding with more complex politics of identity and belonging among Syrian Kurds. Navigating their access to equal citizenship rights, Syrian Kurds, formally labelled as Syrian Arabs now, have yet a long way ahead towards achieving social cohesion and a peaceful future with the rest of Syrian populations. The paper concludes with highlighting the challenges to transitional justice in the Syrian context with some policy recommendations to address the legacy of statelessness and ethnic discrimination.