Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 40th Session of the Universal Periodic Review. SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC Introduction 1. The MENA Statelessness Network (Hawiati),1 the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights (GCENR)2 and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI)3 make this joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), on the right to a nationality and human rights challenges pertaining to statelessness in the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria). 2. Syria has a sizeable stateless population, due to several historic root causes: gender discrimination in the nationality law; difficulties registering marriages and births; historic mass denationalisation of the Kurdish community; and intergenerational statelessness of Palestinians in Syria. The vulnerability of people who are stateless (or at risk of statelessness) due to these root causes has been greatly exacerbated following the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. Stateless individuals face many obstacles in the enjoyment of basic rights, such as education, property rights and the right to travel, among others. There are a wide range of protection risks associated with being stateless from Syria both inside and outside the country.4 3. The current UNHCR figure for the number of stateless people in Syria is 160,000.5 However, this figure is believed to refer only to stateless Kurds and may be unreliable, 1 The MENA Statelessness Network (Hawiati) is a network bringing together actors working on, and interested in, statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It aims to build solidarity between such actors and individuals affected by statelessness across the region. For more information, see: https://www.hawiatimena.org. 2 GCENR mobilizes international action to end gender discrimination in nationality laws, through its coalition of national and international organizations and activists. Steering Committee members include Equality Now, Equal Rights Trust, ISI, Women’s Learning Partnership and Women’s Refugee Commission. For more information, see: https://www.equalnationalityrights.org/. 3 ISI is the first and only human rights NGO dedicated to working on statelessness at the global level. ISI’s mission is to promote inclusive societies by realising and protecting everyone’s right to a nationality. The Institute has made over 80 country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons. ISI has also compiled summaries of the key human rights challenges related to statelessness in all countries under review under the 23rd to the 38th UPR Sessions. For more information, see: https://www.institutesi.org/. 4 European Network on Statelessness and Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, “Statelessness in Syria,” August 2019, available at: https://statelessjourneys.org/wp-content/uploads/StatelessJourneys-Syria-August2019.pdf. 5 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “In Search of Solutions: Addressing Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa,” September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dbdaba4.html. 1