The Syrian Initiative to Combat Statelessness
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Conclusion
A
t the end of the research, we can confirm that we were able to prove
the hypothesis: “The unjust and discriminatory Syrian laws against Syrian women, and the neglect of civil society, have resulted in the deprivation of Syrian children of nationality and lineage.” The research allowed
us to identify the circumstances that prevented women from using their
right to grant citizenship and to identify statelessness cases, and the negative effects on the future of a whole generation of children, namely, the
denial of their most basic rights such as health care, education and social
services. We were able to show what their future will be in case they did
not obtain citizenship, in addition to growing up in unhealthy psychological and social conditions, most of them will not be able to pursue higher
education, own property or move freely. Finally yet importantly, they will
not have the right to inherit, which will lead to the creation of generations
of stateless Syrians.
The research also showed that civil and local society bears part of the responsibility for the prevalence of statelessness, especially after the Syrian
Revolution. On the one hand, the local community has remained steadfast
in its views towards those who are unregistered and stateless, especially
the children of fighters of radical Islamic armed groups and the children of
women who have been raped, some communities continue to treat them
with contempt and refuse to recognize them. In some areas, it has reached
the point of getting rid of newborns against the wishes of mothers.
On the other hand, civil society organizations have not paid full attention to
the issue of statelessness, forgetting the effects that this problem may have
on children and society. Especially, with the “Future ISIS fighters” charge
attached to a large group of children, as we find that very few organizations
have worked to collect data on stateless children or have tried to integrate
them in its programs, without full consideration to their needs. Also, many
other organizations refrained from providing any aid(health, education or
relief) on the pretext of lack of official documents, therefore these children
cannot be listed among beneficiaries. This was proved during the study of
the experiences of Raqqa and al-Bab, and what is remarkable in these two
is the clear contradiction between the views of society and authorities of
statelessness, while the people of Raqqa city have overcome the problem
of the inferiority of this group of children and their mothers. We found that
the authorities have made no effort to deal with them or find solutions,
while the local council in al-Bab has adopted an administrative system that
allows these children to enjoy all their full rights through IDs that they can
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