V. Rights Affected by Loss of Citizenship

The loss of nationality has not only left those affected feeling insecure, but also materially affects their exercise of basic human rights, such as the right to participate in public life, the rights to family life, education, health, work, and the right to property.

The victims of arbitrary withdrawal of their Jordanian nationality also told Human Rights Watch about other ways in which the decision has affected their lives and that of their families. Dr. Walid said, "Passport renewal fees for us [stateless Palestinians] are 50 dinars, but only 20 dinars for Jordanians."[150] Others said that their driver's licenses were now valid only for a one year instead of several years, and that they needed GID permission to obtain them.[151]

Becoming stateless affected the ability to travel, too. Fadi Abbas and other interviewees were reluctant to obtain the temporary passport Jordan offers non-Jordanian Palestinians as a travel document. Abbas said his old passport with a national number expired in June 2009, but he did not want to apply for a temporary passport without a national number, thus documenting his statelessness. In particular, he wanted to keep his loss of nationality a secret so that his pension as a Jordanian would not be challenged. As a result, he does not have a passport and cannot now travel.[152] Describing a perfect Catch-22, Fadi said, "Now that we are without nationality, we cannot get a visa from Israel to go to the West Bank to try to sort out our situation there first hand."[153]

Right to Family Life

The decisions to withdraw nationality, and thus, in theory, the right to residency in Jordan, have threatened to split-up families, separating spouses from one another, or children from one parent. In all cases Human Rights Watch reviewed, the loss of Jordanian nationality for a man of Palestinian origin entailed the loss of nationality for his children, and often their children too.

Dr. Walid complained that, even if he wanted to, "I cannot live in the West Bank because my wife cannot join me there, she has no family unification [permit]." Meanwhile, his presence in Jordan has become precarious:

In February 2007 the [Jordanians] would not give me a residency permit without [my] registering my three other children with the Israelis. They said I had two weeks. I took them to the West Bank, and it took two weeks to register them with Israel and the Palestinian Authority. They had to miss school during that time. Now, I can get a residency permit for one year with GID approval.[154]

Abbas said that his adult daughter's presence in Jordan, and thus her marriage, is now at risk after the authorities reclassified her as Palestinian after he lost his nationality: "My daughter married one year ago. Her husband is Jordanian, but when he went to get his family book, they asked him to surrender his wife's ID, and registered her as 'Palestinian.'"[155] Stateless Palestinians with spouses or fiancés working overseas have problems because Gulf states make it difficult for Palestinians to obtain visas, including those with temporary Jordanian passports. Even Jordanians of Palestinian origin may find it difficult to obtain such visas because of the difficulty of obtaining certificates of good conduct from the Jordanian GID. Umm Randa told Human Rights Watch,

My daughter is 22 years old and engaged to a Jordanian who works in Dubai, but she can't marry and go there because she has no passport. My other daughter Riham is already married to a Jordanian in Kuwait, but she cannot go and join him there because she has no [full] passport [required for a Kuwaiti residency visa].[156]

Right to Health

Jordanians can obtain certain medical treatment for free or at low cost at public health facilities. Stateless Palestinians are excluded from those benefits.

Dr. Walid, the doctor, explained to Human Rights Watch that only "citizens receive a white health insurance card. They pay a small fee at government institutions. We [non-Jordanians] don't have that." He gave the example of a Palestinian who, without the white insurance card, would pay perhaps 350 dinars for an appendectomy at a government hospital. A Jordanian with a white insurance card, however, would pay only a few dinars at a government hospital.[157]

Umm Randa, whose husband had his nationality withdrawn, was faced with choosing between the health of her children, who had also lost their nationality, and attempting to restore their nationality. Her children suffered from a rare disease and needed to see a foreign specialist. She did not want to acknowledge their statelessness through the formal documentation of a temporary passport without a national number. She described her situation to Human Rights Watch:

I have two children suffering from Mediterranean Sea Fever for over 15 years. There is one specialist for the disease we found in Damascus. My husband talked to him and he told us to come. In 2006 we did not have a passport, so we applied for one, and went to the Amman Passports Department. They told us to go to the Follow-up and Inspection, who told us that my husband's nationality had been withdrawn and we couldn't get passports for the kids. He said that out of humanitarian considerations, he could give us a temporary passport, that is, one without a national number printed in it. But we didn't want that because it can be used to acknowledge that nationality has been withdrawn.[158]

Jordan does not provide essential infant vaccinations to all children in Jordan irrespective of nationality or legal status, Darwish Qawasma said. As stateless Palestinians, they have to pay for the vaccinations themselves. He explained,

I have a 30-year-old daughter who had a child and went to the Ministry of Health clinic to get the vaccinations, but they refused to give them to the child because she did not have a national number. They had to go to the private hospital and pay out of their pocket.[159]

Right to Education

Jordan does not allow non-citizen children to attend its state elementary and secondary schools.  Children whose fathers had their Jordanian nationality arbitrarily withdrawn are thus denied access to these schools, even if they previously attended as citizens. Non-Jordanian children also face higher university fees, putting the dream of a degree beyond their reach. These now-stateless Palestinians do not have home countries whose education system they easily can turn to. Due to the difficulty of obtaining foreign visas, they may not be able to choose affordable universities in other countries to pursue their education.

Primary education

Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the ICESCR, primary education must be compulsory and free of charge to all. Under the Convention Against Discrimination in Education, foreign nationals resident in the territory must have the same access to education as nationals.[160] Yet Jordan bars foreign children from its state schools. (In an exception to this rule, Jordan allowed Iraqi children free primary education in public schools in 2007, following an international outcry over their situation.[161]) While there are many private schools, their fees are steep. Some persons Human Rights Watch interviewed said their children continued to attend public school, because they had a national number at the time of enrollment and the school did not find out about their change in status. These parents seemed to worry constantly about being found out as a stateless Palestinian, another reason they preferred to keep expired passports containing a national number.

Fadi explained that his passport "expired in April 2007 ... I want to have the children finish high school before I renew my passport now without a national number. If I do that, it is proof. Better to have an expired passport with the number."[162] Another person in that situation was Umm Randa, who said her children were "in sixth, eighth, and twelfth grade. So far, the school has not caught on that we've lost our nationality and are not allowed to attend public school any longer."[163]

Others we spoke with told us that their children had been actually excluded from public schools. Darwish Qawasma, the truck driver, said,

My children were in the [name withheld] public schools. In this school year, I have four children and grandchildren in school; the youngest is six years old. Now, they have no family book, no national number, and they are no longer accepted in school. I pay 150 dinars per month for all four now in the [name withheld] private school.[164]

By comparison, a teacher's monthly salary in Jordan is not much more than 150 dinars.

Ali said he would soon face the prospect of significant expenses for his children's education. "I have young children, still in the [private] kindergarten," he said, "but I will have to pay double the fees of Jordanians soon, when they enter private school, because I am now a foreigner."[165]

Dr. Walid explained just how high these expenses can be for typical families with many children. He said four of his children "were canceled from their mother's passport. All kids are in private school because I have no national number, and they don't either. Right now, I pay 3,000 dinars in school fees for my children each year."[166]

The children of two persons whom Human Rights Watch interviewed were in private schools out of choice. Following the withdrawal of their father's nationality, these children now required a security clearance from the General Intelligence Department. Fadi said that he sent his children to private school "because they are better. Now, however, they require GID permission to go to private school. To take their high school exams [tawjihi], my children need their ID card, but the younger ones don't have one."[167]

University education

University attendance is another difficult question for aspiring students whose fathers' nationality has been withdrawn. Foreigners pay double the fees Jordanians pay per credit hour of courses they take, and some wonder whether they can afford to study.

Human Rights Watch met Rania in the middle of her high school exams, and she was due to finish school in February 2009. But her mother said that "she cannot go to university because the fees for foreigners are so high."[168] Basman Basil was equally worried, saying he could afford private school, but was unsure about university: "I have three children, all of whom are going to private school, out of choice. The oldest wants to go to university now, but it will cost 70 dinars per semester hour."[169]

High fees were not the only problem. Like some private schools, universities apparently also require GID clearance for stateless Palestinians. Dr. Walid said, "My son will go to university, I hope, and it is a problem for him because he also needs GID approval and will need to get a [Jordanian] residency of his own."[170]

Rafiq, whose children enrolled at university when they were still Jordanians, worried if they would be able to graduate, or if they would retroactively charge him fees as stateless Palestinians. He had eight other children and did not know whether he could afford for them to go to university or whether they would be admitted.[171]

Right to Work and Social Security

As stateless Palestinians, those stripped of their Jordanian nationality automatically lose the ability to work as public employees for the government. What is more, loss of nationality entails a host of additional obstacles to work in the private sector. Human Rights Watch did not find cases in which Palestinians were required to obtain work permits, like other foreigners, although some said in theory they would be obliged to do so.

The General Intelligence Department in Jordan reportedly has to give its consent for individuals to work in certain private companies, especially banks and other strategic firms.[172] Yusif Dawudiya said his son "will finish his master's degree in 2009, but he cannot find work with private companies because they all require him to have a national number. The GID does not give work approval to those who don't have the number."[173]

A GID certificate of good conduct is required for obtaining a visa to several Gulf countries, and the GID only provides them for Jordanian nationals. The children of those who worked in Persian Gulf countries and who are now stripped of their nationality face becoming stateless, too, and hence losing the legal basis for their own employment in the Gulf. Abbas said, "My son Muhammad is working in Dubai. He has never been to the West Bank and has no yellow card. His passport expires this year and he will lose his national number."[174]

An inability to travel as freely as he did on a full Jordanian passport has also changed the work Fadi is able to do.  He said his boss is sympathetic and keeps him on, despite the fact that he "cannot work like before, because I cannot travel. After returning to Jordan [in 1991], I got a job with a private company and traveled much in Europe and the Arab world."[175]

Darwish Qawasma was more unfortunate, and lost his job when he lost his nationality:

I am a lorry driver on the Amman-Aqaba-Saudi Arabia route. Three months ago my driver's license was withdrawn when I renewed it. I was told to go to the General Intelligence Department for approval. There they refused, saying rudely to me, "You are a Palestinian mercenary and a spy." I was given only a license without national number. Then my identity card was withdrawn.[176]

In Jordan, professional associations regulated by law support their members and provide retirement benefits. Membership is mandatory to practice a profession in Jordan, but open only to Jordanians. Zahra told Human Rights Watch, "I am a lawyer, and without [Jordanian nationality] I couldn't practice. To practice, you need to be a member of the lawyers' professional association, and for that you need to be Jordanian."[177] Fadi had similar concerns. He said, "My daughter is about to graduate from the College of Engineering this year, but she will not be able to work or even get a driving license because she lost her nationality."[178]

Abbas said he quit his job at a bank just before his passport with his national number expired, explaining that he "can access a better severance package and other benefits," by resigning as a Jordanian.  "I do not want them to find out I lost my national number when my passport expires," he told us.[179] Ali provided more details about the differences between Jordanians, foreigners, and stateless persons regarding retirement benefits: If you are Jordanian, and have worked 18 years and are over 45 years of age, you can claim social security benefits. If you are a foreigner, you can take the amount you paid in with you when you leave Jordan. But as a stateless person without a foreign passport and without a Jordanian national number, I can do neither.

Ali said he worked as an engineer in a private company, and was trying to prevent them from finding out his nationality had been withdrawn. He said he had been paying about 50 dinars in social security contributions each month, while his employer was contributing 100 dinars.[180]

Right to Property

Jordanians who lost their nationality are finding that they cannot acquire property, register a car or business, or liquidate their investments. Human Rights Watch has not conducted a review of all applicable laws, but at least in the cases presented here, the rights of these persons to own property appeared to be restricted arbitrarily based on their statelessness.

Yusif Dawudiya, the former UNRWA employee summed up his situation, saying, "In 1999, I received a lump pension sum. In 2002 I bought a house, in my daughter's name, because I could not do so any longer. I have land in Jerrash, also in her name, as is my car. If I get in an accident, she will be responsible."[181] Basman Basil echoed him, saying, "Right now, I cannot register a car in my name. My house is in my wife's name, too."[182]

Dr. Walid thought that "[f]oreigners can only own real estate with the prime minister's approval, but Palestinians cannot own anything."[183] According to Ali, there are ways for foreigners to own real estate, but only if they are wealthy, and being stateless eliminated even that possibility. He told Human Rights Watch,

Last year, I wanted to buy a flat. Because I am not Jordanian any longer, I can only do that as an "investor," that is, I have to show I have a lot of money. But when I went to the bank to do that, they asked me for my foreign passport. I do not have one, so I could not even become an investor.[184]

Being stateless and unable to produce a foreign passport also caused two persons Human Rights Watch interviewed significant financial losses in Jordan's stock market in 2008. Fadi said,

Eight months ago, I called my stockbroker with instructions to buy and sell shares in my portfolio. He told me I couldn't, because I am not a Jordanian any longer. You need a national number to trade. I don't know what to do with my shares. My stocks have been "frozen" since I lost my nationality, because I am stateless. If I had Palestinian nationality, I could access my account again.[185]

Abbas first learned of his impending loss of nationality from his stockbroker, who called him to tell him he needed to renew his Israeli residency permit in order to keep his nationality and access his stocks. He said his account was frozen, and that he could not sell or buy stock.[186]