Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Syria Civil society actors within Syria have been taking steps since 2000 to reform the discriminatory nature of the Nationality Law. However, attempts to change the law have been frustrated by Parliamentarians’ assertions that it would be incompatible with Sharia Law. A bill introduced to Parliament in 2011 remains under consideration by the Government, which stated that the civil war has delayed further consideration of the bill. DEPRIVATION OF NATIONALITY The Syrian authorities have significant discretion to deprive a person of their nationality, including in situations where they deem that the deprivation would be "in the interests of security and safety of the country.” Other provisions in the Nationality Law include where a person joins the military service of another state or resides in a state that is at war with Syria. CIVIL DOCUMENTATION Registration of vital civil status events is a critical means of preventing statelessness, as it provides a legal identity to assist in the process of realising the right to a nationality. A substantial number of Syrians lack registration of vital civil status events, such as marriages and births, while others had identity documentation that has since been lost or destroyed in the conflict. There are also many who possess documents that are no longer valid or not recognised. In Syria, a birth certificate is proof of legal identity, also enabling freedom of movement, access to services, and entry into school. It is a vital document to verify a child’s connection with Syria, through their father (pursuant to the gender discriminatory Nationality Law). 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. STATELESS KURDS In 1962, in the context of pan-Arab nationalism, the Syrian authorities conducted a widely criticised census in north-eastern Syria. The Syrian authorities’ rationale for justifying the census was their assertion that Kurds had crossed into Syria illegally from Turkey in the 1920s-1930s and were now being influenced by a Kurdish uprising in Iraq. As a result of the census (which took place on one day), some 120,000 Syrian Kurds (approximately 20% of the Syrian Kurdish population) were stripped of their nationality overnight and divided into two groups: Ajanib and Maktumeen. Both statuses are inherited, so children born into these families continue to be born stateless today. This inheritance of statelessness also discriminates on the basis of gender: if a child is born to a Syrian mother and stateless father, the child is stateless; but a child born to a Syrian father and a stateless mother will be eligible for Syrian nationality. Although Decree No. 49 of 2011 introduced reforms that allowed some Ajanib Kurds to reacquire Syrian nationality, these reforms only partially addressed statelessness in the county as, due to restrictionsmany Ajanib, all Maktumeen, all stateless persons residing outside the country and all Palestinian Refugees from Syria were excluded. The human rights situation for Ajanib and Maktumeen in Syria is precarious, with limited or irregular access from the Syrian government/authorities to basic rights and services, such as education, healthcare, travel, freedom of movement within Syria, property ownership, and registration of businesses, marriages, and births.