Published : 31-12-2022
Syria received the first wave of Palestinian refugees after the Palestinian Nakba in 1948. This first wave of refugees was followed by others at different times: from Lebanon and the demilitarized border areas in the 1950s, from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the wake of the Israeli aggression of June 1967, from Jordan after clashes between the Jordanian army and other political factions, and from Lebanon following the Israeli invasion in the summer of 1982.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), about 528,000 Palestinian refugees lived in Syria when violence broke out in early spring of 2011. However, the actual number may have been as high as 600,000––UNRWA's registry does not include most Palestinians who came to Syria from Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip after the initial wave in 1948.
Many of these remain stateless, unregistered in their host countries’ civil records, and, therefore, denied access to the most vital and basic services. A number of Palestinian refugees who moved from Gaza to Jordan or Egypt before they headed for Syria have not received identity documents from Jordanian or Egyptian authorities; Many of those who managed to get ones have been unable to renew them and were only being provided “identity certificates” by the Palestine Embassy in Damascus.
Therefore, many of Palestinian refugees in/from Syria are deprived of the right to the continuous, permanent and universal recording within the civil registry of the occurrence and characteristics of birth, in accordance with the national legal requirements which establish the existence of a person under law, and lays the foundation for safeguarding civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
Non-registered PRS are deprived of their human rights and treated as foreigners by the Syrian government which stipulates that their visas be renewed every year and that fines be paid by those who overstay their visas.
There is no exact data on the number of Palestinian refugees in Syria. AGPS estimates that there are 500 families, 300 of them live in Deraa city, south of Syria, and its refugee camp. UN data indicates that before the eruption of the conflict in 2011, Yarmouk Camp alone was a bustling home to approximately 160,000 Palestine refugees, making it the largest Palestine refugee community in Syria.
Thousands of PRS fled to Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey through illegal and life-threatening routes, seeking safe shelters from the deadly strikes launched by the different warring parties in Syria.
Over 80% of PRS live in extreme poverty and rely on humanitarian assistance as their main source of income. 86% of PRS households are reported to be in debt.
Scores of Palestinian refugees have been deprived of vital items distributed via smart cards used by the Syrian government to ration bread and a wider range of subsidized goods, namely fuel, rice, tea, and sugar.
UN data indicates that over half of the Palestine refugees in the country have been displaced at least once because of the brutal conflict that ensued, including 120,000 who have sought safety in neighbouring countries, mainly Lebanon and Jordan, and beyond.
Palestinian refugees without identity documents are also subjected to daily movement crackdowns at military checkpoints across Syria. Even the identity certificate issued by the Palestine Embassy is valid for no more than three months in Syria.
Such a category of people also faces a mountainous journey trying to get their children enrolled at schools and universities. The Syrian Ministry of Higher Education requires exorbitant education fees that far outlive the families’ capacity to shell them out.
A Palestinian refugee called “Fatema” and who was displaced from Yarmouk Camp in 2013 failed to get her four-year-old grandson registered at civil records as the child’s father disappeared from the camp before he had been able to register his marriage contract at the Religious Court, depriving the child of the right to birth registration and the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Birth registration is a fundamental right, recognized by article 24, paragraph 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The fulfilment of the right to be registered at birth is closely linked to the realization of many other rights; Socioeconomic rights, such as the right to health and the right to education, are at particular risk where birth registration is not systematically carried out, and the protection of children is jeopardized.
The situation of Palestinians from Syria in Jordan is no better. More than half of the 6.3 million population of Jordan is of Palestinian origin-that is, from areas west of the River Jordan, including the West Bank, today's Israel, and Gaza. With the exception of persons from Gaza, the vast majority of those persons of Palestinian origin have Jordanian citizenship. However, since 1988, and especially over the past few years, the Jordanian government has been arbitrarily and without notice withdrawing Jordanian nationality from its citizens of Palestinian origin, making them stateless. For many of them this means they are again stateless Palestinians as they were before 1950.
AGPS warns that the ambivalent legal status of PRS has had and will continue to have dangerous psychological and humanitarian consequences for such an already vulnerable community.
All concerned bodies, namely the General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees, UNRWA, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the Palestine Embassy, should do all they can to work out the abject situation endured by PRS, follow up on host countries’ efforts to enhance their living conditions, and provide them with the legal and humanitarian protection they are in urgent need of.
PRS should be granted their rights to free movement, recognition and registration at birth, without any discrimination, and protection by the State, as per international law and relevant UN resolutions. Governments should take serious measures to that end and recognize that Palestinian refugees should enjoy their universally-acknowledged rights pending their return to their motherland—Palestine.
Syria received the first wave of Palestinian refugees after the Palestinian Nakba in 1948. This first wave of refugees was followed by others at different times: from Lebanon and the demilitarized border areas in the 1950s, from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the wake of the Israeli aggression of June 1967, from Jordan after clashes between the Jordanian army and other political factions, and from Lebanon following the Israeli invasion in the summer of 1982.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), about 528,000 Palestinian refugees lived in Syria when violence broke out in early spring of 2011. However, the actual number may have been as high as 600,000––UNRWA's registry does not include most Palestinians who came to Syria from Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip after the initial wave in 1948.
Many of these remain stateless, unregistered in their host countries’ civil records, and, therefore, denied access to the most vital and basic services. A number of Palestinian refugees who moved from Gaza to Jordan or Egypt before they headed for Syria have not received identity documents from Jordanian or Egyptian authorities; Many of those who managed to get ones have been unable to renew them and were only being provided “identity certificates” by the Palestine Embassy in Damascus.
Therefore, many of Palestinian refugees in/from Syria are deprived of the right to the continuous, permanent and universal recording within the civil registry of the occurrence and characteristics of birth, in accordance with the national legal requirements which establish the existence of a person under law, and lays the foundation for safeguarding civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
Non-registered PRS are deprived of their human rights and treated as foreigners by the Syrian government which stipulates that their visas be renewed every year and that fines be paid by those who overstay their visas.
There is no exact data on the number of Palestinian refugees in Syria. AGPS estimates that there are 500 families, 300 of them live in Deraa city, south of Syria, and its refugee camp. UN data indicates that before the eruption of the conflict in 2011, Yarmouk Camp alone was a bustling home to approximately 160,000 Palestine refugees, making it the largest Palestine refugee community in Syria.
Thousands of PRS fled to Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey through illegal and life-threatening routes, seeking safe shelters from the deadly strikes launched by the different warring parties in Syria.
Over 80% of PRS live in extreme poverty and rely on humanitarian assistance as their main source of income. 86% of PRS households are reported to be in debt.
Scores of Palestinian refugees have been deprived of vital items distributed via smart cards used by the Syrian government to ration bread and a wider range of subsidized goods, namely fuel, rice, tea, and sugar.
UN data indicates that over half of the Palestine refugees in the country have been displaced at least once because of the brutal conflict that ensued, including 120,000 who have sought safety in neighbouring countries, mainly Lebanon and Jordan, and beyond.
Palestinian refugees without identity documents are also subjected to daily movement crackdowns at military checkpoints across Syria. Even the identity certificate issued by the Palestine Embassy is valid for no more than three months in Syria.
Such a category of people also faces a mountainous journey trying to get their children enrolled at schools and universities. The Syrian Ministry of Higher Education requires exorbitant education fees that far outlive the families’ capacity to shell them out.
A Palestinian refugee called “Fatema” and who was displaced from Yarmouk Camp in 2013 failed to get her four-year-old grandson registered at civil records as the child’s father disappeared from the camp before he had been able to register his marriage contract at the Religious Court, depriving the child of the right to birth registration and the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Birth registration is a fundamental right, recognized by article 24, paragraph 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The fulfilment of the right to be registered at birth is closely linked to the realization of many other rights; Socioeconomic rights, such as the right to health and the right to education, are at particular risk where birth registration is not systematically carried out, and the protection of children is jeopardized.
The situation of Palestinians from Syria in Jordan is no better. More than half of the 6.3 million population of Jordan is of Palestinian origin-that is, from areas west of the River Jordan, including the West Bank, today's Israel, and Gaza. With the exception of persons from Gaza, the vast majority of those persons of Palestinian origin have Jordanian citizenship. However, since 1988, and especially over the past few years, the Jordanian government has been arbitrarily and without notice withdrawing Jordanian nationality from its citizens of Palestinian origin, making them stateless. For many of them this means they are again stateless Palestinians as they were before 1950.
AGPS warns that the ambivalent legal status of PRS has had and will continue to have dangerous psychological and humanitarian consequences for such an already vulnerable community.
All concerned bodies, namely the General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees, UNRWA, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the Palestine Embassy, should do all they can to work out the abject situation endured by PRS, follow up on host countries’ efforts to enhance their living conditions, and provide them with the legal and humanitarian protection they are in urgent need of.
PRS should be granted their rights to free movement, recognition and registration at birth, without any discrimination, and protection by the State, as per international law and relevant UN resolutions. Governments should take serious measures to that end and recognize that Palestinian refugees should enjoy their universally-acknowledged rights pending their return to their motherland—Palestine.
