📰 Stateless victims network opens in Hasakah on census anniversary

HASAKAH, syria (North Press) – An independent rights initiative called the “Stateless Victims Network” was launched on Saturday in Hasakah city, northeast Syria. Moreover, the network aims to reaffirm the right to citizenship, coinciding with the 63rd anniversary of the exceptional 1962 census, which resulted in more than 300,000 Kurds being stripped of their syrian/" class="auto-internal-link">syrian nationality. Orhan Kamal, coordinator of the “Ta’azur Association,” informed North Press: “Launching the network is the first step toward organizing efforts and unifying voices to demand recognition and justice, and to ensure such injustice is never repeated. ” He added: “The victims themselves lead this initiative because they are most aware of the suffering endured for decades. ” In 1962, the Syrian administration, under leader Nazim al-Qudsi and Prime Minister Bashir al-Azm, carried out an exceptional census in Hasakah province, resulting in mass deprivation of nationality for Kurdish residents and others.

Kamal, who himself is a victim of statelessness, explained that the “Stateless Victims Network” is one of the initiatives of the Ta’azur Association for Victims. It offers a comprehensive framework for coordination, solidarity, and knowledge sharing among those deprived of Syrian nationality or born without civil registration due to the census and subsequent exclusionary policies. The network seeks to build a society that protects the dignity of stateless victims and their families through recognition, truth, and justice, ensuring full citizenship and guarantees against repetition as foundations for a just and inclusive peace in Syria.

Activities of the network will include legal protection, documentation, memory building, advocacy, legislative reform, integration of the issue in transitional justice mechanisms, capacity building, partnership development, and early monitoring of cases to ensure equality and non-discrimination. Kamal emphasized the network’s commitment to providing legal guidance and individual backing to victims for proving vital records such as births, deaths, marriages, and establishing legal identity, as well as recognizing documents and supporting the restoration of civil rights. The network will also document cases of statelessness, its patterns, and impacts, and build a collective memory to preserve truth and protect against erasure.

This includes local and national advocacy campaigns, policy memoranda, and legislative drafts to ensure equal transmission of nationality and children’s rights to civil registration from birth. The initiative aims to integrate the issue of statelessness into transitional justice mechanisms, encompassing truth, recognition, collective redress, institutional reform, and guarantees of non-repetition. Kamal stated the network will also focus on capacity building for victims and their…