Blog Symposium

At the end of the 1980s, the Soviet Union was in turmoil. One problematic instance of the overall crisis was the conflict breaking out between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO). NKAO was an enclave populated predominantly by ethnic Armenians within the territory of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (AzSSR). Its administration, …

An Illegal Republic: the Challenges of the Formation and Proliferation of the Legal Identity of Karabakh Armenians Read More »

Layla, a young girl from Damascus, attended both the adult and children’s Russian classes that the Danish Refugee Council offered Syrian-Circassian newcomers to Abkhazia in 2014-2015. One afternoon after class, I walked with her halfway to her new home up the hill tops as she told me her struggles about living in Abkhazia for the …

On Becoming Citizens of the “Non-Existent”: Document Production and Migration in Abkhazia Read More »

Since 1976, after the end of Spanish colonial domination, Western Sahara has been considered a non-self-governing territory. The legal status of the territory remains disputed with Morocco occupying a part of the territory and the Polisario Front, a national liberation movement, exercising control over the remaining part. Sahrawis live in the occupied territory, in the territory under the …

Unrecognised Documents and the Right to Nationality: The Case of Western Sahara Read More »

As insurgencies and armed groups develop during civil wars, they often take on functions vacated by central governments. Over the course of more than a decade of civil war, power in Syria has fragmented. Various statelets claim control of their respective areas, attempting to administer and rule them and claiming the responsibilities of being a …

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s Projection of Legitimacy through Identity Documents Read More »

The consequences of displacement in Syria are becoming increasingly multi-generational, particularly in relation to legal identity, as more children are born into families with lost, damaged or destroyed documents or to families who never possessed documents in the first place. The devastating 6 February earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria has further exacerbated the humanitarian situation …

Legal Identity in Limbo: Civil Documentation and De Facto Authorities in Northwest Syria Read More »

Deaths are an unfortunate yet expected occurrence in the context of armed conflict, whether of international or non-international character. Accounting for the dead due to hostilities or in other situations such as custodial deaths raises significant challenges if information about the deceased is not recorded or their remains not identified and collected. Not only could …

Armed Groups and the Need for State Mechanisms to Account for the Dead Read More »

Citizenship grants access to the rights enjoyed by all members of the political community of a given state. To claim these rights, citizens must be able to provide evidence of membership based on birth place and/or parentage. Yet, according to recent World Bank estimates, about 850 million people lack official documents such as birth certificates, ID …

Accessing Citizenship: Patterns of Civil Registration and Insurgent Conflict in India Read More »

Above is a receipt issued by one of the largest non-state armed groups in northeast India to the owner of a twelve-wheeled truck. The driver of the truck will carry the receipt with him at all times and show it at checkposts along the road where he will encounter this non-state armed group, amongst many …

“Received with Thanks”: Understanding the role of receipts in political order in northeast India Read More »

In chapter 5 of Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland, Alice has an encounter with the Caterpillar: “Who are you?” said the Caterpillar. This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, “I—I hardly know, Sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must …

Legal identity in a looking-glass world Read More »