Residents of ‘settlement’ areas struggle to obtain vital records

DAMASCUS — For years, Samira (a pseudonym), has been unable to obtain a family ledger—a vital document containing official records of births, deaths, marriages and other civil status information—from the Damascus government. 

The 30-year-old resident of Douma city, in the East Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, married a fighter in the opposition factions there in 2016, and her marriage was documented by one of the opposition institutions active there at the time. 

But in 2018, when the regime retook control of East Ghouta, Samira’s husband refused to agree to a settlement. He, like thousands of other residents and fighters, boarded displacement buses headed for Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, leaving Samira and the couple’s only child behind. 

With the regime back in control, Samira sought to record her marriage and her daughter with state institutions. But she has faced obstruction at every turn, as she says Damascus hinders her from registering her marriage by “refusing to give me a family ledger,” she told Syria Direct. 

In the corridors of the Palace of Justice, the main courthouse in central Damascus, a judicial source told Syria Direct “the regime government does not refuse to grant court records, family ledgers or other documents to any Syrian, provided the individual has a clean record and is not wanted in other cases.” 

But the requirement of a “clean record” means some residents of settlement areas—those the regime retook control of in 2018, such as East Ghouta, south Damascus and the northern Homs countryside—have trouble obtaining civil documents. 

“A process of checking and reviewing the files of those from the settlement areas who apply for civil documents is carried out, and in many cases the request is denied because the applicant did not receive security approval,” the judicial source said. Another obstacle is “the loss of previous documents” due to bombings or other reasons, he said. 

Many families in East Ghouta and other settlement areas find it difficult to obtain necessary identification documents because one spouse has fled or been displaced—78,000 people are displaced from East Ghouta alone—or because vital records have been lost due to bombings. The Damascus government also refuses to recognize civil status documents issued by opposition institutions while military factions were in control of the area, from late 2012 until spring 2018. 

A partial solution

In 2019, Samira filed two petitions at the Palace of Justice in Damascus: one to register her marriage, and another to establish proof of parentage for her daughter. Her cases were heard before a judge in the Sharia court, with her father-in-law and father as witnesses. After seven months, both petitions were granted. 

Based on that, she applied for a family ledger at the civil registry office in Douma city. Doing so is guaranteed by Syrian law even if one spouse is absent, as a legal guardian appointed by a Sharia judge may obtain a ledger in the event of the death or absence of a husband or wife. But Samira’s application was rejected. 

She says a civil status employee at the directorate told her “the family ledger is the husband’s right, and he might have one.”

Without a family ledger, Samira has no access to a set of rights and services. She and her daughter live with her husband’s family in Douma, and cannot access “subsidized heating fuel, rice, sugar, oil and other materials.” In Damascus-held areas, state-subsidized goods can be purchased from Syrian Trade Institution outlets via the electronic “smart card” system. Independent charities also “refuse to provide in-kind, financial and medical aid,” she said. 

In general, East Ghouta residents can file for proof of parentage and marriage registration through the judiciary, provided there are witnesses. But in many cases, like Samira’s, they struggle to access other rights, such as “the family ledger and smart card, two important documents to benefit from support,” lawyer Tahsin Hassan told Syria Direct. 

The lawyer described the government’s actions in settlement areas as “arbitrary,” and based on “the political stance of residents in Ghouta and other reconciliation areas opposed to the regime.” Because “the government cannot obstruct legal proceedings through judicial institutions, it restricts residents through administrative and security measures outside the law, in violation of the constitution,” Hassan said. 

Without a family ledger to enroll children in school, families have to obtain a family statement—a document similar to the ledger that lists the names and personal details of all members. But with these alternative documents, Samira still found that “one school in Douma refused to register my daughter without the family ledger.” 

Lost parentage

Unlike Samira’s partial solution through the courts, the Syrian judiciary refused to register the marriage of Sanaa, 36, to her husband, who was an opposition military commander in the Yarmouk camp in south Damascus before the regime retook control. 

In 2015, Sanaa left the then-besieged Yarmouk camp a few months after her marriage. Her husband stayed behind, and later died in the camp due to battles and shelling. After leaving, she was arrested, and gave birth while in prison, she told Syria Direct. 

After two years in detention, Sanaa was released and entered into a vortex of civil procedures in the corridors of the Palace of Justice. She was not able to register her marriage or confirm her son’s parentage because she is “opposed to the regime, and my husband was the commander of a military faction,” as she put it.  

All her attempts to register her son with the Civil Status Directorate failed. In the end, she registered him under her parents’ names. “He became my brother,” Sanaa said. But she was able to obtain his official documents, including a passport, and left Syria for Jordan with her son in late 2017. Once there, she corrected her son’s identity documents and ultimately reached France through the UNHCR resettlement program.

Worried about having trouble accessing civil documents, some civilians in and around settlement areas have severed ties with relatives or ended friendships. Hiba, 32, lives in the Dummar Project district of Damascus, which neighbors the settlement area of Qudsayya, and has many residents from there. She has cut ties with relatives who are “known to oppose the regime” in order to avoid security check trouble when applying for a passport. 

But for those with immediate relationships with displaced people or members of the opposition, such as Samira and Sanaa, this is not an option. In Douma, deprived of state services and far from her spouse, Samira sometimes wishes “if only I left with my husband” to face the unknown in Idlib. In East Ghouta, “we’re barely staying alive, and nobody recognizes our suffering,” she said.  

This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.