Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Syria STATELESSNESS IN SYRIA OVERVIEW Syria has a population of 18.5 million people, with the latest UN estimates suggesting it is home to 160,000 stateless persons. However, this estimate has not been updated since 2013 and explicitly excludes one of the two main stateless populations, the estimated 438,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria. The other main stateless population are the Kurds from northern Syria. Prior to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, it was estimated that there were approximately 120,000-150,000 stateless Kurds in Syria, who were stripped of citizenship in 1962 following a deeply flawed and arbitrary census. This number has since risen to approximately 300,000 due to the inherited statelessness of those born to individuals who were stripped in 1962. Although the Syrian Government introduced a decree in 2011 aiming to resolve statelessness within the Kurdish community, many Kurds, and their children, remain stateless and unable to apply for nationality. In addition, there are individual cases of statelessness that may not be reflected in this figure. There are approximately 6.2 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Syria, many of whom reside in areas outside of central government control. There are also approximately 6.3 million Syrian refugees abroad, and those who are affected by statelessness face additional barriers to return. Some of these IDPs and refugees are stateless or at risk of statelessness because of the gender discrimination in Syria’s Nationality Law, whereby mothers cannot pass on their nationality to their children on an equal basis with fathers. In addition to the gaps in Syria’s Nationality Law, the lack of access to civil registration and barriers to registering vital civil status events have increased the risk of statelessness for Syrians both within and outside Syria. Explore the main issues below or download the detailed Country Position Paper (with bibliography). SYRIAN NATIONALITY LAW AND STATELESSNESS The Nationality Law of 1969 regulated acquisition and withdrawal of nationality in Syria. The Nationality Law contains various gaps and flaws that lead to individual and intergenerational statelessness, including a discriminatory provision that prohibits Syrian women from conferring nationality on their children on an equal basis with fathers. In Syria, conferral of nationality discriminates by gender, as the law follows paternal jus sanguinis: nationality is transferred from father to child. Syria does not have birthright citizenship or jus soli. This means that a child of a stateless father will also be stateless, even if the child is born in Syria and has a Syrian mother. This increases the risk of intergenerational statelessness in Syria and for Syrians outside Syria. Similarly, a child of a Syrian mother and an unknown father, including in situations of sexual and gender-based violence, may also be stateless. While there are some safeguards in the Nationality Law that ought to recognise a child, who would otherwise be stateless, as a Syrian citizen, these are not implemented in practice.