When Mrs. Nabeela gave birth to her only daughter, she didn't know she would need so many documents and formal papers to get her into school, she also didn't know that , even though her daughter was very good at school, and very skilled in today's life requirements , getting her a job would be next to impossible.
"My daughter didn't set foot in any other country than Syria, and she'll get her degree from here, but she won't be able to be employed here, because she isn't Syrian", Says Mrs. Nabeela.
Even with formal statistics' absence, we could tell a lot of women have the same problem Mrs. Nabeela and her daughter have, which is that the daughter (and\or son) doesn't have the Syrian nationality because her father is foreign, and the Syrian nationality law (clause 3, segment a) says:
"The right to obtain Syrian nationality is legally given to those who were born in, or outside the Syrian country for an Arabic Syrian father". Without an equal right to Syrian mothers!!
The suffering of those mothers and their children didn't stop the chairman of the Syrian parliament from re-affirming the government's reservations on CEDAW, according to the Syrian news agency SANA. This was unexpected by Mrs. Sawsan Zakzak from Syrian Women League:"we were surprised by the parliament's vote to keep the government's reservations on CEDAW in the time we were expecting to lift most of them".
The Syrian Women League in a non-governmental association, which released a petition in 2003 demanding the change of Syrian nationality law to include those of a Syrian father OR MOTHER.
The League conducted studies for many cases, and heard live testimonies of Syrian women talking about their sufferings from denying their children's right of a Syrian nationality.
"We discovered that most of the problems begin when the children's studies end, and when they have to have a green card to find a job, and they have to have jobs to ensure the renewal of the green card, and their begins the vicious cycle", says Mrs. Sawsan.
This campaign launched by the League is considered a part of a regional campaign, which includes many Arab countries, some of which have made the necessary law adjustments, such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. And some are still campaigning including Bahrain, Lebanon, and Syria.
The League have already gathered thousands of signatures on a patent clarifying the demanded adjustments, and sent it to the President in 2006. The campaign was recently revived by Syrian congressman, Dr. Mohammad Habash.
CEDAO reservations, Religious or political?
A lot of women-rights-activists in Syria see that the Syrian constitution assures the equality between men and women in clause 25, segment 2 which says: "All citizens are equal in girths and duties before the law". They see that the nationality law differs with that constitutional principal! and denies women their rights as a fully qualified citizen in her own country.
The government confirms its adoption of this sex-based-distinction by reserving segment 2 of clause 9 in CEDAW which says that all nations which are part of this agreement should grant women equal rights to men's in the subject of children's nationality.
The Syrian reservation was, according to the validation decree, due to Islamic Sharia (Law), however, Islamic voices clarified that the segment doesn't contradict with Sharia, including the Syrian Mufti (Sheikh Ahmad Badr Hassoun) who, in an interview with "Economy and Transport" Syrian magazine, confirmed his approval to giving women this right because it is a political, national right, and is very different than ancestry, which is a Sharii (religious) right to the man only.
Dr. Mohammad Habash (who is also an Islamic thinker) also made a public seminar, organized by Syrian Women League in the National Dialogue Forum, and he gave his views on how Sharia deals with Syria's CEDAW reservations, and confirming that (9-2) is irrelevant to Sharia, for nationality is a civic right only between citizens and state.
Syrian government also makes excuses such as the Palestinian refugees' right-of-return, and the case of Kurdish individuals denied of the Syrian nationality. And in this context, Mr. Bassam Al-Qadi, supervisor of Syrian Women Observatory SWO, says:
"The Syrian woman's right to give her nationality to her children, her being a Syrian citizen, has priority over any other concern, and when it contradicts with some case, it becomes intolerable to solve such contradictions at the expense of the Syrian woman, the right thing to do is to solve other cases by the best interest of Syrian citizens, because citizens are the foundation of modern countries, and all what contradicts with their interest must be refused once and for all".
It is noticeable that governmental bodies, such as the Syrian Organization for Family Affairs, and the Women's General Union, have participated in making a study that recommends lifting reservation on clause 9 of CEDAW.
Yet the Syrian reservations on CEDAW remains, and Mrs. Nabeela, along other Syrian women, continues to suffer with their children, all caused by the deficient recognition of Syrian women's citizenship despite all the voices demanding equity to women.
By: Thana Al-Sabaa, 18/12/2009, (Syrian nationality laws deny Syrian women's from their share of their children's creation)
Translated by: Nawar El-Sabaa
available in Arabic