Human Rights Impact 23. The families of Syrian women, whose children are denied Syrian citizenship, continue to face significant hardships and human rights violations both inside and outside of the country. Inside Syria, families lacking nationality due to discrimination in the law are deprived of most forms of social security, with the exception of education and medical care.18 For instance, non-citizen children are not eligible to receive food subsidies.19 This and many other restrictions to the enjoyment of rights for non-citizen children, are contrary to the principle of the best interests of the child and many protections enshrined in the CRC. Furthermore, they can have severe consequences on the welfare and livelihoods of these children and their families. 24. Adult stateless offspring of Syrian women are also subject to various challenges on their ability to access basic rights inside the country. They are for example, subject to unduly stringent labour regulations that are applied to non-citizens and face several restrictions in joining trade unions20. They are not entitled to own property, except in accordance with the Property Law,21 which obliges the family to register their property in the Syrian mother’s name. There are also restrictions on inheritance: when the mother dies, non-citizen children have one year to dispose of their inheritance shares that exceed the limit allowed for in the aforementioned law. All of these restrictions undermine rights enshrined in the ICCPR and ICESCR, among other international treaties. 25. Gender discrimination in nationality laws also has links with gender-based violence, with stateless individuals at an increased risk of being trafficked.22 As stated above, stateless girls may also be at an increased risk of child marriage, with some families reporting to view early marriage as a route to securing legal status of their daughters.23 26. Finally, due to the conflict, various emerging challenges are being witnessed by those who are born outside of the country. Gender discriminatory nationality laws often places obstacles on the children of these families being able to obtain any documentation or legal status in the host countries. There are also anecdotal reports on the impediments these children face in returning to Syria – with problems at the border in entering as they are not legally recognised as being Syrian. In a conflict context, securing a durable solution for children who are displaced or born in exile can be particularly difficult when they are left with no legal status or nationality.24 18 Social Welfare Law of 2014. See also Legal Agenda, Syrian Women’s Right to Pass Citizenship To Children: An Appraisal, 2016, available at: http://english.legal-agenda.com/article.php?id=742&folder=articles&lang=en 19 Lisa Davis, Why are so many Syrian children being left stateless?, Open Democracy, 2015, available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/lisa-davis/why-are-so-many-syrian-children-being-left-stateless 20 Trade Union Law Decree 31, 1964 21 Property Acquisition Law for Arabs and foreigners Decree No11, 2008 22 “Statelessness increases risk of exploitation and trafficking,” Tilburg University, available at: https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/current/press-releases/press-release-statelessness-and-human-trafficking/ 23 “Gender Aspects of Statelessness,” Women’s Refugee Commission, access at https://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/gbv/childmarriage/62-protection/advocacy/918-ada-williams-prince-remarks-gender-aspects-of-statelessness; “Lebanon: Give women equal citizenship rights to men under the nationality law,” Equality Now, available at: http://www.equalitynow.org/take_action/discrimination_in_law_action361 24For more information on the consequences of statelessness on durable solutions please see Norwegian Refugee Council, Statelessness and Displacement, 2015, available at: http://www.nrc.no/arch/_img/9197390.pdf