Preventing and Reducing Statelessness inside Syria Community-based approaches help to ensure that internally-displaced, conflict-affected, and other vulnerable people have updated information on the availability and procedures of civil registration services and the specific forms of assistance available to them in obtaining, renewing and replacing documents. In 2015, UNHCR and partners provided legal assistance and counselling to 27,414 IDPs across 10 governorates. The vast majority of the counselling focused on obtaining and replacing birth and marriage certificates. Strengthening National Legal Frameworks Syrian nationality law establishes that the child of a Syrian father automatically acquires Syrian nationality at birth on the basis of paternal descent, irrespective of whether he or she is born inside Syria or abroad.26 It is important to note, therefore, that all refugee and IDP children born to Syrian fathers are Syrian nationals at birth. However, Syrian children could become stateless if it ultimately becomes impossible for them to prove their Syrian nationality, especially if displacement leaves them forcibly separated from their fathers and without any records or documentation of their legal identity and parentage. Certain gaps in national legislation have been identified as contributing to this risk. Syrian nationality law provides an exception whereby children born to Syrian women can obtain nationality through their mothers if the child’s paternity is not legally established—but this protection is only afforded to children born inside Syria.27 In contrast, for children born outside the country, including refugees, nationality is only available to children through paternal descent, without exception. Also, under Syria’s Personal Status Law, Law No. 376 of 1957, certain profiles of vulnerable children can face difficulty in obtaining birth certificates, including children born out of wedlock, those born from incidents of sexual violence, and children born to parents in certain inter-faith marriages.28 26 Legislative 27 Id. In 2012, during the periodic review by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Syria noted its preparation of a draft amendment to the nationality law that would recognize the right of women to confer citizenship to children on an equal basis as men.29 UNHCR continues to advocate for the adoption of this amendment, while also noting the importance of Syria’s 2007 amendment of its Personal Status Code to make birth registration universal and compulsory, in principle. To resolve remaining gaps in the legal framework, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted the importance of amending “the Personal Status Code to fully recognize all mixed marriages and to take all the necessary measures to protect and properly register children born out of wedlock”.30 Similarly, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has recommended comprehensive reform of the personal status law to ensure that women and men have equal rights, “with a view to facilitating the registration of all births, deaths, marriages and divorces”.31 The proposed reforms, if achieved, would improve the applicable legal framework and potentially reduce the serious risks of statelessness Syrian children are facing due to conflict, displacement, family separation and the lack of identity documentation. UNHCR offers technical support in advocating for effective implementation of existing safeguards against statelessness in national legislation, such as Article 3(d) of Syria’s nationality which, in principle, ensures the right of every child born in the country who would otherwise be stateless to acquire Syrian nationality. Decree 276 - Nationality Law, Syrian Arab Republic, 24 November 1969, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4d81e7b12.html. 28 See UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 44 of the Convention: Convention on the Rights of the Child: concluding observations: Syrian Arab Republic, 9 February 2012, CRC/C/SYR/CO/3-4, at para. 43, at: http://www.refworld. org/docid/5305e86f4.html. 29 Id. 30 Id. 31 See UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Concluding Comments, Syrian Arab Republic, 11 June 2007, CEDAW/C/SYR/CO/1, at paras. 33, 34, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/468b5bf02.html. 13