pregnancy,9 which can result in stigmatization, legal prosecution,10 as well as threats of violence from non-state actors, including “honour crimes”.11 On the basis of the court ruling, the child can be formally registered with the responsible civil registry department and the child will be given a father's name and a grandfather’s name, and the latter will be used as the child's surname.12 Children who, due to the above described obstacles, have not obtained a birth certificate, may not be able to prove their Syrian nationality and consequently would be at risk of statelessness.13 9 10 11 12 13 “A mother who wants to register her child born of rape or incest or out of wedlock is required to request a police report to initiate an investigation into the circumstances of the conception of the child”; UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 44 of the Convention : Convention on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations: Syrian Arab Republic, 9 February 2012, CRC/C/SYR/CO/3-4, https://www.refworld.org/docid/5305e86f4.html, para. 43 (c). Men and women who have sexual relationships outside of marriage or commit adultery can be prosecuted and face imprisonment under provisions of the Penal Code (articles 473 and 474); Syrian Arab Republic, ‫القانون الجنائي‬ )1949/148 ‫(الصادر بالمرسوم التشريعي رقم‬, 1949, https://bit.ly/2XGlWHf. “The Penal Code criminalizes adultery. Although both men and women are tried for adultery, more women than men are likely to be prosecuted and are thus affected by its rules. Women may be prosecuted for committing an act of adultery that occurs anywhere, whereas men are prosecuted only if adultery is committed in the marital home or if the man takes a mistress openly. If convicted, a man faces a prison sentence ranging from one month to one year, while women face prison terms of three months to two years.” And further: “The Penal Code criminalizes adultery and extra-marital sex”; UNDP/UNFPA/ESCWA, Syria Gender Justice & The Law, 2018, https://bit.ly/2kRhGCy, pp. 14, 18. “One such piece of legislation is Article 473 which states that an unmarried woman who has sex can receive a two-year prison sentence. Her male companion, on the other hand, faces a maximum prison term of one year, unless he is married in which case he faces a two-year term”; Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD), Können unverheiratete Paare in Syrien Kinder haben und in einem gemeinsamen Haushalt leben? [a10120], 12 April 2017, https://bit.ly/2JHQs9U. “(…) provisions of this nature are difficult to utilize in practice due to the significant stigma and protection risks women may face for coming forward to report births out of wedlock, which includes threats of violence from nonState actors”; 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, p. 5. “A mother who faces imprisonment or possible death for registering her child’s birth is unlikely to register the child (…)”; Harvard Human Rights Journal Online, Why NonMarital Children in the MENA Region Face a Risk of Statelessness, January 2015, http://bit.ly/2mRFs1R, p. 7. See also below “3. Women at Risk of “Honour Crimes” on Account of Pre- or Extra-Marital Sexual Relations”. Syrian Arab Republic/Ministry of Interior / UNHCR, Syria – Booklet on Civil Documentation and Registration in the Syrian Arab Republic, 25 April 2019, https://bit.ly/2mYkwGg, p. 22. 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 Children in Syria, 16 January 2019, https://bit.ly/2sHkFNX. “Under current legislation, children born outside wedlock may be registered in civil records under the name and surname of the mother”; Government of Syria / UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Fifth Periodic Report Submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic under Article 44 of the Convention, Due in 2015, 1 November 2017, CRC/C/SYR/5, https://bit.ly/2ScJAVQ, paras 42, 107. See also, Legislative Decree No. 26 of 2007, ‫ قانون األحوال المدنية‬2007 ‫ لعام‬26 ‫المرسوم التشريعي‬, 12 April 2007, https://bit.ly/2JKoQ5b, Chapter 5, Article 28 b. Syrian Arab Republic / Ministry of Interior / UNHCR, Syria – Booklet on Civil Documentation and Registration in the Syrian Arab Republic, 25 April 2019, hhttps://bit.ly/2mYkwGg, p. 20. “In the present context of mass-scale forced displacement, the gender discriminatory nature of Syria’s nationality law is of serious concern, as it may leave children stateless where they have a Syrian mother and, for instance, an unknown or stateless father, or parents who were unable to legalise their marriage, violating their right to a nationality as setout by the Convention.it may leave children stateless where they have a Syrian mother and, for instance, an unknown or stateless father, or parents who were unable to legalise their marriage”(emphasis added); 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. 7. “Children without documentation such as birth certificates or proof of birth within wedlock are particularly vulnerable to long-term negative effects, including the denial of education or inheritance”; International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC), ILAC Rule of Law Assessment Report – Syria 2017, https://bit.ly/2ux8hyV, p. 151. “Stateless children are usually unable to obtain a passport, own property, attend 3