30. Moreover, children may face difficulties obtaining nationality if their parents are unmarried or have an unregistered marriage. 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.45 Many married Syrian refugees face problems proving their marriage – “either because the marriage was contracted in Syria or in the country of exile but never registered, or the marriage documents were lost during flight.”46 This is compounded by the inability of a Muslim woman to marry a nonMuslim man, meaning a child cannot acquire nationality if born to a Muslim (Syrian) mother and a non-Muslim father. In fact, “marriages of Syrian citizens (or Syrian Palestinians) to non-Arab foreigners requires prior approval from the Syrian Minister of Interior” and “without such approval, a marriage to a foreigner cannot be registered in the civil registry, notwithstanding a court ruling.”47 31. For those residing in areas that are, or were for some time, outside of the control of the Syrian Government, there are heightened challenges to accessing civil registration, as many civil registries have been “partially or totally destroyed”48 and documents issued by non-state actors may not be recognised, may not be genuine, or may contain different formatting and stamps. According to a 2015-2016 survey of households in Idlib and Aleppo, 34% of families lacked birth certificates for their children, and 27% of households lacked any documentation.49 32. Many children born in territories outside the control of the Syrian government have therefore often not acquired birth certificates and other forms of documentation recognized by the Syrian government and are at heightened risk of statelessness.50 This is due to a multitude of reasons, including a lack of civil registry offices, logistical difficulties accessing civil registry offices, and security concerns. Mothers also sometimes face difficulties registering their children in Damascus when the parents’ marriage took place in areas outside government control, compounding the risk of statelessness for these children. 33. In 2016, investigative journalists in Syria reported on the situation of children of undetermined paternity living in poverty with their Syrian mothers, and sleeping in should obtain a certificate of the event or a certified copy from the competent authorities in the place of the event and submit it to the directorate of civil affairs in Syria, responsible for the concerned person’s record.” 45 UNHCR and Syrian Arab Republic Ministry for Interior (Civil Affairs Directorate), “Civil Documentation and Registration,” available at: https://www.unhcr.org/sy/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/09/PersonalDocumentationEn-Jul-2018.pdf. 46 Norwegian Refugee Council, “Syrian refugees’ right to legal identity: implications for return,” January 2017 https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/briefing-notes/icla/final-syrian-refugees-civil-documentation-briefingnote-21-12-2016.pdf. 47 UNHCR and Syrian Arab Republic Ministry for Interior (Civil Affairs Directorate), “Civil Documentation and Registration in the Syrian Arab Republic,” at 18, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/sy/wpcontent/uploads/sites/3/2018/09/Personal-Documentation-En-Jul-2018.pdf. 48 UNHCR, “End of Year Report – 2018,” 17 February 2019, at 6, available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNHCR%20Syria%27s%20End%20of%20Year%20report% 202018.pdf. 49 International Rescue Committee, “Identify Me: The Documentation Crisis in Northern Syria,” July 2016, at 2 and 8, available at: https://www.rescue-uk.org/report/identify-me-documentation-crisis-northern-syria. 50 International Rescue Committee, “Identify Me: The Documentation Crisis in Northern Syria,” July 2016, available at: https://www.rescue-uk.org/report/identify-me-documentation-crisis-northern-syria. 10