232 Stateless Syrians in Turkey and Lebanon
the father fulfills his own responsibility by declaring it to the competent authorities. The competent
authorities make it possible to use the baby’s basic rights by registering the newborn baby in the
“family registry booklet”, but a special identification certificate for the baby (up to 14 years of age)
is not provided. This situation allows the Syrians to give birth notification in particular but prevents
them from getting the birth certificate for the infant. The operation of the process in Syria in this
way causes people who are away from their own country and newborn babies to be de facto stateless,
unregistered, but most importantly, unaware of this issue (ILAC, 2017, p. 2).
The absence of a birth certificate causes families to hesitate in their return. They try various
ways to protect the integrity of the family and to eliminate such dangers, which may cause the child
to face much more serious problems in the future, through palliative solutions. For example, this
causes people to borrow the identities of their close relatives to do their own official works, or take
the risk of taking the documents they left behind by going to Syria. Because, if the child does not
have its own identity certificate until the age of 14 in Syria and does not complete the required
operations through the family registration system, it makes families think that these will prevent
their children from benefiting from basic human rights such as education, health, heritage, and
citizenship. Therefore, 91% of people interviewed did not have a family registration system (NRC,
2017, p. 3), which causes them to think that their children will face such problems in their return to
Syria. In addition, according to UNCHR (2016, p. 10; 2014) estimates, there were 709.000 children
under the age of four from the beginning of the civil war until 2016, however, 300,000 of them were
born as refugees away from the land they belong to. An important part of these children born outside
of Syria confronts de facto statelessness as a common problem. According to the Syrian
Constitution, persons can only obtain Syrian citizenship through his own father. However, the war
in Syria left 25% of the children without father, which carries the question of how the registrations
will be and how they will be a citizen. Considering the records (AFAD, 2013, p. 32), 34% of Syrians
remaining in the camps in Turkey, and 29% of remaining outside the camps lost at least one of their
family members during the war. The women who cannot legally transfer their citizenship to their
own children are excluded from the process, and men cannot pass on this right to the next generation
in cases of war, loss or death, both realities cause the problems to reproduce.
According to the Syrian state constitution, marriage requires two processes, although it is the
first stage of establishing a family. First, the marriage of a man and woman is approved by the courts
of their own religion, then the State records are processed, and each party is given a copy. This
procedure is clearly based on the rights and identity of the next generation (UNCHR, 2018, P. 16).
Syrian citizens must be reported to the official authorities within 30 days after the birth of a child
under normal circumstances. It is necessary to show that the individual is a Syrian citizen and, in a
sense, is not a stateless person, to be able to obtain an ID card when he/she is 14 years old. The birth
certificate contains information indicating that “the birth is from a marriage”, as well as, name,
place, date of birth and national identity, which shows an individual’s identity and responsibility
until the age of 14 when the individual receives his/her official identity card. According to Syrian
law, an individual without a birth certificate cannot benefit from the basic rights of the country such
as education, travel, and health. Moreover, unregistered individuals cannot prove that they are
Syrian citizen, nor will be able to obtain an ID card when in 14 years old. According to the
Constitution of the Republic of Syria, when every individual is 14 years old, an ID card application
is made by the persons responsible for him/her. However, this should be done within a year (ILAC,
2017, p. 1; UNCHR, 2018, p. 4). Otherwise, taking a new identity card by an individual will bring
a long procedure and criminal responsibility.
BORDER CROSSING