Assessment Report I NRC
KEY FINDINGS
NRC’s assessment identified a number of key HLP issues and identity and
civil documentation challenges, which are highlighted in this assessment
report. The civil documentation challenges highlighted relate to both IDPs
and host community members in areas outside of Government of Syria
control in Idleb and Aleppo Governorates. The HLP challenges identified
are primarily faced by IDPs, both in areas of displacement outside of
Government of Syria control in Idleb and Aleppo Governorates, and in
their areas of origin throughout the country.
AL-HASAKEH
ALEPPO
54.5%
AR-RAQQA
4.5%
IDLEB
3.5%
LATTAKIA
7.5%
HAMA
13%
DEIR-EZ-ZOR
2%
TARTOUS
HOMS
7%
DAMASCUS
1%
RURAL DAMASCUS
3.5%
QUNEITRA
DAR'A
3%
AS-SWEIDA
Number of HHS
0
1% - 5%
6% - 10%
11% - 15%
>50%
Figure 2: Respondents (n=600) by governorate of origin
Overview of the Syrian HLP legal framework
The system and practice of land administration established during the
Ottoman period heavily influenced Syria’s current land tenure systems.
Examples include the use of the tabou25 to represent ownership rights
over land and property; the use of witness testimony where documents
were lost; and the role of Shari’a Courts to effect the transfer of
property rights.
Significant law reforms were introduced after World War II,
responding to demands for more equitable access to land. These
policies established maximum amounts of land that could be held by
individual families, with the aim of giving access to land to peasants,
and ensuring that farmers obtained fairer shares of production in the
case of sharecropping.26
25 Tabou is a technical term for a title deed in Syria. However, FGDs conducted in connection
with the assessment in South Syria revealed that the same word is commonly used to refer to a
range of less binding documents that might contribute to legal proof of property ownership.
26 Maximum Limit of Individually Owned Landholdings under Agrarian Reform Laws or Decrees
of 1958, 1963, and 1980 (i.e. Law No. 161 of 27 September 1958; Legislative Decree No.
88 of 23 June 1963, With the Changes Made in Legislative Decree No. 31 of 14 May 1980 in
parentheses) and Agricultural Relations Law (Law No.134) of 1958.
NRC Assessment Report I 13