Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Syria 3.3 Deprivation of Nationality Article 21 of the Nationality Law lists seven grounds upon which Syrians can be deprived of their nationality, without regard to whether it would render the person stateless. For example, nationality can be deprived if a Syrian joins the military service of another State or resides in a State that is at war with Syria. 32 The Nationality Law gives considerable discretion to the Syrian authorities to deprive a Syrian of their nationality, including where it would be “in the interests of security and safety of the country”33 or where a Syrian national has been outside the country for a period of three years and does not respond to requests to return to Syria within three months.34 The President also has considerable power to deprive Syrians of their nationality. For example, political dissidents who were seen to be opposed to the Ba’ath regime in the 1960s and 1970s were arbitrarily deprived of their nationality by way of a Presidential Decree on the recommendation of the Interior Minister. An estimated 27,000 people were de-nationalised in this period and may still be stateless.35 If male, their children were also locked out of Syrian nationality due to the paternal jus sanguinis system as described above, creating intergenerational statelessness. 4. CIVIL DOCUMENTATION 4.1 Lack of Access and Barriers to Obtaining Civil Documentation A substantial number of Syrians lack registration of vital civil status events,36 such as marriages and births, while others had identity documentation that has been lost or destroyed. 37 There are also many people who possess documents that are no longer valid or recognised. According to the 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview for Syria, civil documentation problems were reported in 59% of the assessed communities.38 Even though there were attempts to digitise civil documentation in Syria prior to the outbreak of the civil war,39 all records remain in hard copy only and there have been no recent moves to digitise the system.40 This has resulted in “the only record of the existence of Syrian nationals – particularly the Legislative Decree 276 - Nationality Law [Syrian Arab Republic], Legislative Decree 276, 24 November 1969, Articles 21B and E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4d81e7b12.html 33 Legislative Decree 276 - Nationality Law [Syrian Arab Republic], Legislative Decree 276, 24 November 1969, Article 21F, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4d81e7b12.html. Note this Article only applies to persons granted nationality pursuant to Article 6, which states, “Nationality may be granted by decree, upon recommendation by the Minister, without abiding by the nationality provisions of Article 4 for the following persons: (a) An expatriate citizen who applies for nationality; (b) A person who has rendered noble services to the country or the Arab nation; (c) A person who originally belongs to an Arab country, and who applies for nationality on his own request, at the Minister’s sole discretion.” 34 Legislative Decree 276 - Nationality Law [Syrian Arab Republic], Legislative Decree 276, 24 November 1969, Article 21G, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4d81e7b12.html. Note, it is not clear whether these provisions are enforced in practice 35 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion / Norwegian Refugee Council, Syriannationality.org – Stateless Populations in Syria, 2016, available at: http://www.syrianationality.org/index.php?id=19. 36 See 6 for a list of common documentation held by Syrian nationals, stateless Kurds and Palestinian Refugees from Syria. 37 The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade assessed that it is, “…likely that an individual from Syria would not have been able to obtain accurate civil documentation, or have the ability to verify and obtain copies of lost civil documentation”, see: Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Thematic Report on Conditions in Syria, 23 October 2017, at 3.5, available at: https://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/country-information-report-syria.pdf 38 Strategic Steering Group (SSG) and humanitarian partners working under the Whole of Syria (WoS) framework, 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), March 2019, at 28, available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/2019_Syr_HNO_Full.pdf 39 A project to complete digitalisation of all Syrian records was initiated as a joint initiative between the Government and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), but was never completed. 40 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion / Norwegian Refugee Council, Understanding statelessness in the Syria refugee context, 2016, at 19, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/584021494.html 32 8