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Summary: General overview of Syria's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights Status of the CRC in national law Constitution: Part 4 of Chapter I of the Syrian Constitution contains limited rights provisions that apply to children as to other citizens, but only one provision that makes explicit reference to the rights of children: Legislation: Syria does not have a comprehensive or consolidated Children's Act, rather legislation relevant to the rights of children is found throughout a wide range of Codes, Acts and Legislative Decrees. Relevant legislation includes, but is by no means limited to: Legal Research: Case Law Case Law Research Compliance with the CRC In depth analysis With respect to the principle of non-discrimination, the Committee has persistently expressed its concern that legislation remains in force that discriminates against children, particularly girls, and children born out of wedlock. Syrian legislation allows for girls to marry at 17, while boys can marry at 18, but with judicial permission, girls can marry as young as 13, and boys as young as 15. The Committee recommended that this legislation be amended to set a minimum age for marriage at 18 for boys and girls. The Committee also highlighted several provisions of the Personal Status Code that discriminate in relation to inheritance as well as in relation to the rights of parents in custody disputes. With regard to juvenile justice, the Committee raised a number of concerns. While the Committee noted that the minimum age of criminal responsibility had been raised from 7 to 10 years, it expressed concern that this was still too low. In addition, the Juvenile Offenders Act classifies children as persons under the age of 15 and the Committee recommended that the State legislate to ensure that all children receive appropriate legal protections. The Committee also expressed its utmost concern at reports of ill-treatment and rape in rehabilitation institutes and that detained children adults are not guaranteed to be separated from adults. Current legal reforms
Ratified international treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, have the force of law in Syria, and take precedence over national laws. This means that the Convention, with the exception of the provisions subject to reservations, should be applicable in national courts, but it is not clear whether the Convention has ever been cited in a domestic court.
The website of the Syrian People's Assembly publishes legal information in several languages (http://parliament.sy/index.php?pageLang=en#). The Constitution of Syria is available in English through the website of the International Constitutional Law Project (http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/sy__indx.html) and links to some Syrian laws are available through the International Labour Organisation's NATLEX database (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=SYR). The GlobaLex project at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Syria (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Syria.htm), and both the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/syria.php) and the World Legal Information Institute (www.worldlii.org/catalog/2765.html) have compiled a number of links to relevant legal and governmental resources.
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Syrian case law does not appear to be readily available online. Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any online legal resources that publish Syrian case law.
In its 2011 Observations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted that a number of areas of Syrian law ran contrary to the rights and provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular with regard to discriminatory laws applied to girls and children born out of wedlock. The Committee also noted that the application of law from various sources, namely codified legislation, customary law and personal status laws, may undermine the State's efforts to harmonise its legislation with the Convention. The Committee noted as positive the State's indication that it intended to pass the Child Rights Bill to fully integrate the provisions of the Convention, but expressed concern that the Bill had been pending adoption since 2006.
Among the most pressing areas of concern that have arisen from the 2011 Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child are those that related to violence. The Committee expressed its deepest concern about "credible, corroborated and consistent information that over a hundred children have been killed and many more injured in connection with the protests that started in March 2011." The Committee recommended that the State repeal legislation which granted security and intelligence forces impunity and ensure that these reports are investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. The legality of corporal punishment as well as the lack of clear criminal prohibitions on domestic violence were also matters of concern for the Committee, which recommended that the State legislate to remedy these deficits in national law. The Committee has also expressed its concern that there is no explicit prohibition on forced marriage.
The Child Rights Bill has been pending since 2006.