status laws in 2017 to enable increased access to registration abroad,26 many of these challenges still remain. 23. Moreover, children may face difficulties obtaining nationality if their parents are unmarried or have an unregistered marriage. Under Syrian law, the mother and father must have a registered marriage in order to register the birth of their child, regardless of whether the birth occurs inside or outside Syria.27 Many married Syrian refugees face problems proving their marriage – “either because the marriage was contracted in Syria or in the country of exile but never registered, or the marriage documents were lost during flight.”28 This is compounded by Syria’s adherence to interpretations of Sharia Law, under which a Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man, meaning a child cannot acquire nationality if born to a Muslim (Syrian) mother and a non-Muslim father. In fact, “marriages of Syrian citizens (or Syrian Palestinians) to non-Arab foreigners requires prior approval from the Syrian Minister of Interior” and “without such approval, a marriage to a foreigner cannot be registered in the civil registry, notwithstanding a court ruling.”29 24. For those residing in areas that were for some time outside of the control of the Syrian Government, there are heightened challenges to accessing civil registration, as many civil registries have been “partially or totally destroyed”30 and documents issued by non-state actors may not be recognised, may not be genuine, or may contain different formatting and stamps. According to a 2015-2016 survey of households in Idlib and Aleppo, 34% of families lacked birth certificates for their children, and 27% of households lacked any documentation.31 As the crisis and its impact worsened from 2016 until the recent political transition, the percentage of households lacking civil documents for one or more family members is likely to be much higher today. 26 According to Act No. 4 of 2017 (amending Legislative Decree No. 26 of 2007) civil status events are able to be “…registered in the place they occurred, the place of residence, Syrian embassies or consulates, or in the embassy or consulate charged with protecting the interests of Syrians.” If a person is unable to access an embassy or consulate, pursuant to Article 17(a) of the Syrian Civil Affairs Law (No. 4 of 2017), “…the Syrian citizen should obtain a certificate of the event or a certified copy from the competent authorities in the place of the event and submit it to the directorate of civil affairs in Syria, responsible for the concerned person’s record.” 27 UNHCR and Syrian Arab Republic Ministry for Interior (Civil Affairs Directorate), “Civil Documentation and Registration,” available at: https://www.unhcr.org/sy/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/09/PersonalDocumentationEn-Jul-2018.pdf. 28 Norwegian Refugee Council, “Syrian refugees’ right to legal identity: implications for return,” January 2017 https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/briefing-notes/icla/final-syrian-refugees-civil-documentation-briefing-note21-12-2016.pdf. 29 UNHCR and Syrian Arab Republic Ministry for Interior (Civil Affairs Directorate), “Civil Documentation and Registration in the Syrian Arab Republic,” at 18, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/sy/wpcontent/uploads/sites/3/2018/09/Personal-Documentation-En-Jul-2018.pdf. 30 UNHCR, “End of Year Report – 2018,” 17 February 2019, at 6, available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNHCR%20Syria%27s%20End%20of%20Year%20report%2 02018.pdf. 31 International Rescue Committee, “Identify Me: The Documentation Crisis in Northern Syria,” July 2016, at 2 and 8, available at: https://www.rescue-uk.org/report/identify-me-documentation-crisis-northern-syria. 7