20. Article 8 of the 1969 Nationality Act further discriminates against Syrian women by denying them the right to transfer nationality to their noncitizen spouse on an equal basis with Syrian men. In addition to contravening international human rights law prohibitions on gender-based discrimination, these gender discriminatory provisions in the 1969 Nationality Act stand in violation of the new 2012 Constitution, which stipulates under Article 33(3) that “Citizens shall be equal in rights and duties without discrimination among them on grounds of sex, origin, language, religion or creed.”31 21. Moreover, there are also important intersections between gender discrimination and religious differences given Syria’s adherence to interpretations of Sharia Law, which do not permit a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim man, and which affects a women’s ability to confer nationality upon her children under Article 3(d) of the 1969 Nationality Act .32 For example, Muslim women in Syria are not permitted to marry non-Muslim men. Therefore, if a woman has a child as a result of such a relationship, the discriminatory provisions of the 1969 Nationality Act would mean that the child would not automatically inherit their mother’s nationality. Further, Article 3(b) of the 1969 Nationality Act clearly does not apply to the children of refugees from Syria who are born in host countries, further limiting the ability of children to acquire a nationality at birth. 22. Syria is one of 25 countries globally that discriminate against women in their ability to confer their nationality on their children on an equal basis with men. Gender discrimination in nationality laws has no basis under international human rights law and results in wide-ranging human rights violations. Those without Syrian nationality due to gender discrimination in the law often face obstacles to equally accessing education, healthcare, inheritance and property rights, family unity and freedom of movement. Gender discrimination in the nationality law undermines women’s equal citizenship and their equality in the family, while inhibiting women’s right to freely choose a spouse and a place of residence. Gender discrimination in nationality laws is a root cause of statelessness and can perpetuate statelessness across generations, as male children who are rendered stateless through this provision will go on to have their own stateless children who cannot access nationality even if their mother is a citizen. The danger of inter-generational statelessness is further exacerbated by the existence of other stateless populations in Syria as well as challenges related to registration, documentation and proof of identity. 23. Gender discrimination in nationality laws is easily remedied through law reform. With three quarters of countries globally upholding gender-equal nationality laws, there has been notable momentum to end gender discrimination in nationality laws in the Middle East and North Africa region, particularly since the turn of the century. Since 2000, four Arab States have enacted reforms to uphold women’s right to confer nationality on their children on an equal basis with men,33 while many other states in the region have 31 Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic, 2012, Art. 33(3), available at: https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/91436/106031/F-931434246/constitution2.pdf. 32 Article 48 of the 1953 Syrian Personal Status Code states that Muslim women are not allowed to marry nonMuslim. A 2019 amendment of the 1953 Personal Status Code reworded this to “a marriage is void if any of the conditions of the marriage contract are violated”. 33 These states are Egypt (Law No. 154 of 2004 Amending Some Provisions of Law No. 26 of 1975 Concerning Egyptian Nationality), Morocco (Dahir 1-07-80 enacting Law 62-06 modifying Dahir 1.58.250 Moroccan 7