The Syrian Initiative to Combat Statelessness 14 T he constitutions of most Arab countries state that men and women are equal before the law, in terms of rights and duties, at the top of which is the right to citizenship, meaning acquiring the nationality of the country to which they belong. However, when it comes to the right to confer nationality, the situation is different, as the nationality law in most Arab countries gives the man the right to confer his nationality to his children and his foreign wife, while this law prohibits a woman from the right to confer her nationality to her children. This is the case if she is married to a foreigner or a citizen, with the exception of some Arab countries that gave this right to women, but according to certain conditions that must be met. The Syrian laws grant Syrian nationality to any child born to a Syrian father through blood ties, but it does not grant the same right to the child born to a Syrian mother. This comes in accordance with Legislative Decree No. 276 of 1969 regarding Syrian nationality, according to which a child born in Syria to a Syrian mother and a foreign father would be treated as a foreigner in terms of ownership, election, residency, education, marriage, health etc., noting that a foreigner is anyone who does not possess Syrian nationality. To fully comprehend the impact of the problem in Syria, it should be highlighted how it was approached socially and legally. The statelessness issue in Syria may seem to some as not essential before the Syrian revolution in 2011, given that it affects only a certain segment of the Syrian society, especially considering the number of Syrian women married to non-Syrians, whether they are Arabs or foreigners. However, the deprivation of women married to foreigners - at that time caused a lot of suffering to a large segment of youngsters, because many of them lived all their lives in Syria, while having to renew their residency papers periodically and did not benefit from health and educational services, and even employment services. Cases and issues that were dealt with increased between 2004 and 2011, when the Syrian Women’s Association launched a campaign to demand the amendment of the Syrian Nationality Law to guarantee the right of women to confer their nationality to their children. It does not only involve legal deprivation, but they are also deprived of enjoying their lives naturally, as it is not possible for any human being to live a normal life without this right.