Assessment Report I NRC
One in five respondents stated that a wife receives no property in a
divorce settlement. With regards to inheritance, the majority of men and
women stated that this is governed by Shari’a law, and stated that women
inherit less than men. The application of Shari’a is generally seen as giving
a woman the option of receiving a share of inheritance that is half of the
amount of what her male counterparts would each receive. However,
women are often pressured to give away their inheritance rights in favour
of their brothers or sons.24 Women in this survey identified discriminatory
inheritance norms more frequently than men, but all respondents stated
that women inherit less than men.
Unequal access to legal identity and civil documentation prior to conflict
is compounded during conflict and increases vulnerability. A woman’s
registered legal identity in the Syrian civil registration system both prior
to the conflict and today is linked to that of her husband or father. As a
result, an absence of marriage certificates and other civil documentation
will disproportionately affect a woman’s ability to exercise various rights.
Female respondents possessed fewer types of identity documents,
including documents that permitted movement both within Syria and
outside of the country.25 For example, women were more likely to be
without their marriage certificate in displacement: only 28 per cent of
women had theirs compared to 39 per cent of men. Similarly, only around
one in fifty women reported possession of a passport, compared to more
than one in five men.
24 Gihane Thabet, 2005, Women in Personal Status Laws: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon Palestine,
Syria, UNESCO. Nadia Forni, 2001, Land Tenure Systems Structural Features and Polices, FAO,
p.33.
25 Article 64 of the Syrian Civil Affairs Law (February 2017) states that family booklets can be
issued to women or men. No preferential treatment is foreseen in the law. However, this law was
not in place when information referenced in this report was collected.
NRC Assessment Report I 19