Syria COI Note on the Treatment of Women with Children Born Out of Wedlock in Syria 30 September 2019 1. Acquisition of Nationality by a Child Born to a Syrian Mother According to Article 3 of the 1969 Syrian Nationality law (Legislative Decree 276): The following shall be considered as Syrian Arabs ipso facto: a- Anyone born inside or outside the country to a Syrian Arab father b- Anyone born in the country to a Syrian Arab mother and whose legal family relationship to his father has not been established (…).1 Under Syria’s nationality law, the acquisition of nationality from a Syrian father is automatic at birth (ex lege) via paternal jus sanguinis, irrespective if the child was born inside or outside of Syria.2 As for Syrian women, they can confer nationality to their children only if their child was born inside Syria and in situations where a legal link to the father is not established. The law does not address the situation if the child is born outside Syria in the same circumstances and hence, an individual born abroad will only acquire Syrian nationality if the father is a Syrian national.3 2. Practical Obstacles to Registering a Child by the Mother in Syria Contrary to legal provisions and statements made by the Syrian Government,4 certain profiles of children are reported to face difficulties in obtaining birth certificates, including children born 1 Syrian Arab Republic, Legislative Decree 276 ̶ Nationality Law [Syrian Arab Republic], 24 November 1969, www.refworld.org/docid/4d81e7b12.html. 2 “Syria’s nationality law is predominantly based on paternal descent, whereby a person is Syrian, wherever they are born, if they have a Syrian father”; Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI), Civil Society Submission on the Right of Every Child to Acquire a Nationality under Article 7 CRC, 1 March 2018, https://bit.ly/2mSoWyA, para. 5. “(…) Syrian children who are born outside the country, including those born as refugees, have no ability under Syrian law to acquire Syrian nationality from their mothers. This creates a significant risk of statelessness, especially for new-born refugee children who are forcibly separated from their fathers; as such children may lack evidence proving their Syrian paternity and their right to nationality on this basis.(…) Syrian children born inside Syria are, in principle, permitted to acquire nationality from their mothers under certain limited circumstances ̶ namely, when the child’s paternity has not been established”; UNHCR, Submission by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees For the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Compilation Report Universal Periodic Review: Syrian Arab Republic, March 2016, www.refworld.org/docid/57f504b24.html, pp. 4-5. “(…) Syrian nationality law provides an exception whereby children born to Syrian women can obtain nationality through their mothers if the child’s paternity is not legally established—but this protection is only afforded to children born inside Syria. In contrast, for children born outside the country, including refugees, nationality is only available to children through paternal descent, without exception”; UNHCR, In Search of Solutions: Addressing Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa, September 2016, www.refworld.org/docid/57dbdaba4.html, p. 13. In response to the report by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Syrian delegation outlined: “According to the Personal Status Act, the birth registration of all children was mandatory, and this applied also to children born out of wedlock and children born as a result of illegitimate relations. If the father of the out-of-wedlock child requested the birth registration, the child would receive his name, otherwise, the child would carry the mother’s name”; UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Committee on the Rights of the Child Reviews the Situation of 3 4 1