Explained: How Denying Children their Syrian Mother’s Nationality Impacts HLP Rights

Depriving the Syrian mother of granting nationality to her children directly affects their rights to housing, land, and property ownership, including their ability to legally manage real estate, their rights to inheritance, and the transfer and registration of property in their names in the Land Record.

According to Decree No. 276 of 1969 concerning Syrian nationality, there are only two ways to acquire nationality: either through the principle of territory for those born on Syrian soil, even if of unknown parents, or through paternal lineage for those born to a Syrian father, regardless of the place of birth.

The decree does not grant nationality to those born to a Syrian mother and a foreign father. This means a Syrian mother cannot pass her nationality to her child through maternal lineage, except under strict conditions.

Notably, the law grants Syrian mothers the right to pass on their nationality to their children in only one case: if the birth occurs on Syrian soil and the father is unknown. This exception thus equates the birth on Syrian soil of a child with an unknown father to that of a child with unknown parents. A child born to a Syrian mother and a known but stateless father will also be stateless. This situation includes a significant segment of Syrian Kurds known as the unregistered and the foreigners of Hassakeh.

While children of a Syrian mother and a foreign father can, in principle, inherit the mother’s movable and financial assets, they are treated as foreigners in matters of real estate. According to Law No. 11 of 2011, which regulates the ownership of real rights to property by non-Syrians in Syria, a foreigner can own only one legally licensed built property, not exceeding 140 square meters, for residential purposes only.

Children of a Syrian mother and a foreign father are not permitted to own property inherited from their mother, except in one case: the principle of reciprocity. This means that if the foreign country where they hold citizenship allows the transfer of property ownership to Syrians through inheritance, then the children of a Syrian mother and a foreign father can inherit property from their mother. If their country does not allow this, the children are not permitted to inherit property from their mother, whether the property is inside or outside a zoning plan.

Law No. 11 of 2011 grants them a two-year period from the date of inheritance, meaning from the death of their mother, to transfer the ownership of the property to a Syrian citizen through sale or transfer. If this two-year period expires without action, the property ownership is transferred to the General Commission for the Management and Protection of State Properties, which will compensate the heirs according to the provisions of Expropriation Law No. 20 of 1983.

Law No. 11 of 2011 allows for an exception to the above rules through a decision by the Council of Ministers, based on a proposal by the Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs, who can permit the transfer of property ownership in Syria through inheritance if the heirs are non-Syrian.