Date: May 2026
Mariana Karkoutly, legal researcher and investigator and co-founder of Huquqyat, participated in a dialogue session organized by Syrians for Truth and Justice on 21 May 2026, addressing challenges related to nationality in Syria.
The session examined the legacy of the 1962 exceptional census in al-Hasakah Governorate, which stripped tens of thousands of Kurds of their nationality, through to the challenges imposed by years of conflict and Legislative Decree No. 13 of 2026. Participants also discussed discrimination against women in Syrian nationality law, the status of children born to non-Syrian fathers, and the role of local and international actors in addressing statelessness.
In her intervention, Mariana Karkoutly emphasized that “discrimination against women in the transmission of nationality results in inherited legal vulnerability that directly affects children and hinders their access to education, healthcare, and official documentation.” She added that “nationality constitutes the gateway to legal existence and the key to all other rights,” stressing that “deprivation of nationality cannot be reduced to a mere administrative measure but rather represents a profound form of political and legal exclusion.”
The session concluded that addressing nationality in Syria requires comprehensive legal and institutional reforms and that nationality must be recognized as a fundamental right, not a privilege. Participants further stressed that genuine transitional justice cannot be achieved without building a legal system that does not reproduce exclusion or deprivation of nationality.
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