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\u201cA child born in the war did not choose the war, did not choose the enforced disappearance of their father, did not choose their mother\u2019s unregistered marriage<\/strong>…Yet they alone pay the price \u2013 in education, in health, in nationality and in dignity,\u201d said Monia Ammar, one of the commissioners on the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria.<\/p>\n Ms. Ammar was speaking at a high-level panel in Geneva, co-hosted with the Syrian Government, as the Commission released a new policy paper on the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n She called the lack of documents \u201camong the most serious consequences of the legacy of the conflict<\/strong>\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Syria\u2019s social affairs minister told the same meeting that a reform letting mothers pass on nationality is nearing approval<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The problem is especially acute because an estimated 12 out of every 13 people killed in the war were men.<\/p>\n Under Syria\u2019s 1969 nationality law, when the father is absent \u201cthe child finds themselves in a legal vacuum\u201d, Ms. Ammar said.\u00a0<\/p>\n She described the law as gender-based discrimination that is \u201cdoubled for girls\u201d. It is also at odds with Syria\u2019s obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.<\/p>\n The Commission has no precise figures on how many children are affected, she said. But it has heard from widows and mothers \u201cwho carry their children in their arms and do not have a single piece of paper proving that these children legally exist\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n They face \u201ca wall of procedures\u201d and social stigma, and many end up giving up.<\/p>\n Ms. Ammar welcomed the steps the authorities have taken since the fall of the former regime. But she warned that \u201clegal reforms, however important, are not enough on their own\u201d without changes in practice and culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n The paper calls for every child to be registered whatever the circumstances of their birth, alternative documents to be accepted and nationality granted to children of Syrian mothers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\u2018A wall of procedures\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n