protection challenge. Furthermore, stateless Syrian refugees may face barriers to returning to Syria after the resolution of the conflict, indefinitely increasing the length of their displacement with significant human impact. 20. Outside of increasing the risk of statelessness, gender discrimination in Syria’s nationality law often increases the vulnerability of women and their families when fathers are not present. Even where the father is present, the conflict has resulted in an increase in customary marriages that have not been formalised by law, meaning paternity cannot be legally established.13 This may be due to administrative obstacles such as the inability of couples to access registration centres or the lack of awareness of how to register in host countries. Furthermore, as a result of the conflict there has been an increase in child marriages, which cannot be registered due to their illegality.14 It is therefore evident that the combination of gender discrimination in Syrian nationality law and the Syrian conflict is putting those girls forced into child marriages at risk of having stateless children – adding an extra layer of vulnerability to their situation. 21. On numerous occasions including in UNSCR Resolution 2122 (18 October 2013), the UN Security Council has noted the fact that discriminatory citizenship laws exacerbate the vulnerability of women in conflict and fleeing conflict.15 Following this Resolution, during the October 2014 Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, the President of the Security Council stated that, “the Security Council further recognizes that refugee and internally displaced women and girls are at increased risk of becoming stateless as a result of discriminatory nationality laws”.16 More recently, in the Report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace and Security, the SecretaryGeneral stated as follows: In my previous report, I emphasized the need to eliminate statelessness (see S/2014/693). Nationality laws that do not grant women equality in conferring nationality to their children cause statelessness, a problem that has an impact on at least 10 million people worldwide. To date, 27 countries have laws that discriminate against women in their ability to hold custody of and confer nationality to their children. The impact of the problem is severe and can result in denial of access to basic public services and employment opportunities…One of the key actions is the removal of national laws that directly or indirectly discriminate against women and girls.17 22. In the context of the Syrian conflict and resultant forced displacement, law reform which addresses gender discrimination and brings Syrian nationality law into compliance with international norms and standards, is more urgent than ever before. The continued failure to ensure equal rights to Syrian women to transfer their nationality to their children, generates statelessness and undermines human rights protection both within and beyond Syrian borders. 13Kamal Srouji, Marriage in Syria: Difficulties, Bribes and Lack of Recognition, Syria Deeply, 2015, available at: http://www.syriadeeply.org/articles/2015/08/7841/marriage-syria-difficulties-bribes-lack-recognition/ 14 Save the Children, Too Young to Wed, 2014, available at: http://www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9def2ebe-10ae-432c-9bd0df91d2eba74a%7D/TOO_YOUNG_TO_WED_REPORT_0714.PDF 15 The Security Council “Expressing concern at women’s exacerbated vulnerability in armed conflict and post-conflict situations particularly in relation to forced displacement, as a result of unequal citizenship rights, gender-biased application of asylum laws, and obstacles to registering and accessing identity documents which occur in many situations.” S/RES/2122 (2013), available at: http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/doc/2122 16 The Concept Note for the October 2014 Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security further stated, “Statelessness can arise when a women’s experience of the conflict intersects with discriminatory nationality laws. Women may be left stateless when they cannot prove nationality because necessary documents such as identity documents and birth registration are either not issued or are lost or destroyed in conflict and are not reissued in their names,” available at: http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2014_731.pdf 17 S/2015/716, 16 September 2015