Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2016/05 Unless their nationality is resolved until their return, these two factors may result in a lost generation of Syrians rendering the restabilization of the post-war country extremely difficult.21 Thus, addressing the avoidance of statelessness with the concerned countries would be crucial in light of the ongoing massive displacement and the avoidance of future ones driven by the despair of statelessness. Beyond Syrian stateless Kurds, the refugee crisis has put children born in exile into Syrian femaleheaded family units at high risk of statelessness as well. The continuing war has left so far roughly one quarter of Syrian refugee households fatherless22 in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt which makes it very problematic for Syrian mothers to prove the fatherhood of their children.23 The problem is that even if a birth is properly recorded, Syrian nationality cannot be transmitted through maternal descent24 according to the Syrian Nationality Code putting these children born in exile directly at stake of statelessness. In the neighbouring countries hosting Syrian refugees very similar genderdiscriminatory nationality laws,25 poor birth registration practices26 and the principle of jus sanguinis27 prevail leaving newborns without a nationality and substantial proof of their parental lineage, effective territorial link and legal bond to Syria. Even though both Syria28 and Lebanon29 have incorporated comprehensive safeguards against statelesness, prescribed by international law,30 in practice they are hardly implemented.31 In Jordan, Article 3(3) of Law No. 6 of the 1954 on Nationality (last amended in 1987) grants nationality to all persons born of a Jordanian father (regardless of the place of birth according to Article 9) and to all persons born of a Jordanian mother and a stateless father in light of Article 3(4). Furthermore, the law gives nationality to all Palestinians resident in Jordan between December 20, 1949, and the issuance of the law in 1954, 32 yet leaving a great number of Palestinian refugees stateless. Nevertheless, to showcase a positive shift, in 2015 Jordanian authorities began granting certain privileges to children of Jordanian women married to non-Jordanian men, including free education and access to health services in government institutions, as well as provision of Jordanian ID cards and drivers’ licenses, without granting them any political rights. 33 In addition, in order to tackle birth registration of Syrian newborns in Jordan, Jordan established civil registry departments and courts in refugee camps which proactive approach yet has to reach refugees outside the camps. Decree No. 15 on Lebanese nationality dating back to 1925 also dooms the children of Lebanese women marrying non-Lebanese men to live as foreigners in the country where they were born. From 21 Addressing the human rights policy impact of statelessness in the EU’s external action, DG External Policies, 2014, p 42. UNHCR, Woman Alone. The Fight for Survival by Syria’s Refugee Women, 2014, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/ar/53bb8d006.pdf, p. 8. 23 Due to the following possible scenarios entailed by the gender-discriminative provision of Syrian Nationality Law: the unknown whereabouts of the father, the child being born out of wedlock, the marriage not having been properly registered, no proof of the father being the national of the given country (therefore, unable to transmit his nationality to the child) or the father is stateless himself. 24 Despite the fact that certain nationality laws in the region do allow women to transmit their nationality in case the child’s father is stateless, unknown, or of unknown nationality, these safeguards are simply not implemented and thus remain theoretic. 25 Yet it must be pointed out that Turkish nationality law is not gender-discriminatory, as children who are born either to a Turkish mother or a Turkish father (in or out of wedlock) acquire Turkish citizens at birth. 26 The Jordanian, Lebanese, and Syrian nationality law acquis requires marriage certificates as well prior to registering a baby, along with a birth notification from a hospital, doctor/midwife. 27 Based on this nationality law principle, nationality is transmitted by descent. 28 Article 3 (d) of Decree No. 276. on Syrian Nationality. 29 Article 1 of Decree No. 15 on Lebanese Nationality. 30 Article 1 of the 1961 Convention requires that states incorporate safeguards in their nationality laws to prevent statelessness at birth and later in life. 31 Stateless Kurds in Syria, Illegal Invaders or victims of a nationalistic policy?, KurdWatch, 2010, pp. 16 32 Article 3 (2). 33 Jordan Events of 2015, Human Rights Watch, available at: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2016/countrychapters/jordan#49dda6. 22 3