Aşkın 239
It is also important that Syrians have a family registry booklets. According to the registration
procedures in Syria, the children can benefit from the State services by registered to the family
registry until the age of 14. However, according to a study in Lebanon, 80% of children whose age
is 5 or below is not registered in the family registry booklet. The main reason is that the Syrians do
not know how to get it, secondly, they think that they must receive the birth certificate from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon, and then the Syrian Consulate must be notified to record
(NRC, 2017, p. 3). However, even if Syrians living away from their own State perform these
processes, the non-functioning of civilian registrations in Syria due to unhealthy conditions
(UNCHR, 2016, p. 10) will cause new problems. Indeed, in an interview with a father, when asked
whether he completed the registration process of the newborn baby, he showed the birth certificate
received from the hospital (UNCHR, 2013.56), indicating that Syrians are not sufficiently informed
of the registration process. The research conducted by NRC (2017, p. 1-2) reveals statistical data in
Lebanon. Research results indicate that only 23% of Syrians in Lebanon over the age of 14 have
identity cards. In addition, 24% have no family registry booklet that shows family members and
confirms the union of parents having the legal responsibility for the children and is changed by the
addition of each newborn individual. As mentioned above, the fact that the registration process is
different from the system of Syria causes the registration process of newborn babies not to be
completed. As a result of studies in Lebanon, it was determined that infants who did not have birth
notification were less than 5%, while 92% were not able to complete all operations for the birth
certificate. In this respect, it is concluded that families do not have information and think that the
system runs only with the notification as in Syria (UNCHR, 2013, p. 56). Another study indicating
that the registration procedures in Lebanon are insufficient is also based on the study of UNCHR
(2013, p.55). According to the study, 77% of 781 newborn babies do not have an official birth
certificate.
Lebanon has the advantage for Syrians because its alphabet is Arabic, and the language of Arab
is used, so partially removing the problem of languages and communication. In this respect, the
problem of Latinization in cases where the name of the child, father, and mother are recorded in the
competent offices in Turkey and the problems that may cause later can be minimised. In addition,
the social structure, daily life and relations in Lebanon are open to officially integrate the immigrant
Syrians. As an extension of this, the Lebanese government decided to accept the Syrians’ family
registry booklets as a valid document for those without identification cards in 2013 (UNCHR, 2013,
p. 56). However, as mentioned above, the main reason for insufficient registration is that the Syrians
are not familiar with the system in Lebanon due to the different procedures in Syria. But, the
problems experienced during the registration process in Turkey include many parameters such as
language, culture, alphabet, and institutional functioning.
Conclusion and discussion
The registration of the newborn baby is the basic and starting point of the children’s citizenship
claim. This indicates that citizenship is the most important inherited heritage. After the second world
war, hundreds of thousands of people, especially Jews, have remained stateless, or a problem has
emerged at the global level because they were excluded from their country’s citizenship. The
establishment of new states and the fact that these states did not want to take this responsibility
caused the international organisations to take action. Accordingly, the refugee agreement in 1951,
subsequently the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons in 1954 for the resolution
of the problem of statelessness resulting from the war, followed by the Convention on the Reduction
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