1948.76 The camp was destroyed and became an uninhabitable area. Once Yarmouk became a non-war zone and controlled by the Syrian government, Palestinian refugees started submitting applications to obtain government permission to return. According to UNRWA, only 604 Palestinian refugee families had been given permission by the Syrian government to return as of January 2021. Half of them have moved back and started to live in the camp under miserable conditions.77 47. The Syrian government has been limiting permissions and asked applicants to provide original documents proving ownership that many might have lost in the war, in what seems to be an attempt to systematically change the camp identity, including by expropriating homes, shops, and entire streets in the name of redevelopment. Like Yarmouk camp’s inhabitants, Palestinian refugees in other camps, such as Al-Husayniyah and Khan Al-Shih, were also prevented from returning to their homes and informed that all their properties are at the disposal of officials at checkpoints. 48. Based on UNRWA’s report, there are neither functioning schools nor hospitals; even basic needs such as water and electricity are inaccessible.78 The decision of the Trump administration to withdraw US funding for UNRWA has also put the agency under extreme financial pressure. According to UNRWA’s spokeswoman, although UNRWA has been trying to rehabilitate one building to provide services that cover the needs of those who have returned, Western sanctions against rebuilding Syria have meant that donor countries are unwilling to step in, even for humanitarian purposes.79 This leaves Palestinian refugees even more vulnerable. Recommendations 54. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to make the following recommendations to Syria: I. Amend the Syrian Nationality Law in accordance with Article 33(3) of the 2012 Constitution and Syria’s international obligations, to remove all genderdiscriminatory provisions and ensure that women and men have equal rights to confer nationality on their children, regardless of place of birth, and their 76 Tom Rollins, “Syria’s Palestinians: A new Nakba,” March 2021, pp. 32-33, available at: https://mcusercontent.com/fbd4f0a24885246c0518468cc/files/81c1153a-7b33-4e9a-9f7179676ff00f19/Syria_s_Palestinians_1.pdf. 77 Anchal Vohra, “‘Afraid of return’: Palestinians fearful of life in Yarmouk camp,” 30 March 2021, available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/30/palestinian-syrians-bear-the-brunt-of-syrias-war. 78 Anchal Vohra, “‘Afraid of return’: Palestinians fearful of life in Yarmouk camp,” 30 March 2021, available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/30/palestinian-syrians-bear-the-brunt-of-syrias-war; UNRWA, “Syria: UNRWA - Humanitarian Snapshot, March & April 2021,” 15 June 2021, available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/syria-unrwa-humanitarian-snapshot-march-april-2021. 79 Anchal Vohra, “‘Afraid of return’: Palestinians fearful of life in Yarmouk camp,” 30 March 2021, available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/30/palestinian-syrians-bear-the-brunt-of-syrias-war; United Nations, “Almost All UNRWA Installations in Yarmouk and Dera’a Camp in Syria Severely Damaged or Destroyed – Press Release,” 1 December 2018, available at: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/almost-all-unrwa-installationsin-yarmouk-and-deraa-camp-in-syria-severely-damaged-or-destroyed-press-release/. 15