Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Qabawat stressed, during a high-level panel on legal identity in Syria at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday, that the consequences of the war have imposed heavy burdens on women and widows who face daily challenges in protecting their children. She noted that the absence of fathers or loss of civil documents makes it difficult to obtain national IDs and access social, health, and educational protection, with the risk of statelessness and marginalization.
Minister Qabawat clarified that a child's legal identity is not merely a document or administrative procedure, but the fundamental gateway to school, healthcare, justice, and social protection. She affirmed that the government is implementing wide-ranging reforms at the legislative, legal, and administrative levels. She pointed out that a committee chaired by the Ministry of Interior and including representatives from the Ministries of Endowments and Social Affairs and Labor, as well as the Council of State, has been formed to study the proposal to grant Syrian citizenship to the children of Syrian women married to non-Syrians.
In the same context, Minister Qabawat revealed the implementation of restorative justice models for children and the restructuring of court fees in civil matters to ensure that financial barriers do not prevent the registration of a child's legal identity. She also highlighted cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to train juvenile court judges on handling cases of children separated from their parents in a way that serves their best interests.
She added that specialized judicial committees have been formed in Raqqa and eastern Aleppo to re-establish courts and civil records and provide services to communities cut off from state institutions. She noted the possibility of filing lawsuits to correct entries and records anywhere in the country to facilitate procedures for citizens and reduce bureaucracy. Minister Qabawat also touched upon the humanitarian dimensions of dealing with children affected by the war, citing the ministry's experience in receiving and caring for 35 children following the closure of the Al-Hol camp in February 2026.
The minister called for granting a grace period and facilitations to families forced to resort to temporary solutions to register their children in order to access basic services. She affirmed the ministry's commitment to efforts for inclusive integration in various regions and providing technical support and capacity building for civil registry workers. Qabawat concluded her speech by emphasizing that the success of the system is measured by how well it protects vulnerable groups and builds a safe environment that ensures every child has a stable legal identity, and by empowering Syrian mothers to pass their citizenship to their children.
It is worth noting that the high-level panel on legal identity in Syria is being held at the UN headquarters in Geneva to discuss ways to protect children and families affected by the war, and to review national and international efforts to address issues of statelessness and loss of official documents.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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