Lack of civil registration can have long lasting negative consequences on the life of refugees, including jeopardising the ability of children born in exile to prove their right to Syrian nationality. Civil status documentation is also an important preparatory step for future repatriation and reintegration in Syria. Recognizing the right of every child to be registered at birth, the Lebanese Government initiated a series of policy developments to facilitate and simplify both birth and marriage registration for refugee children and parents. In September 2017 the Directorate General for Personal Status (DGPS) removed the requirement for Syrian and Palestine Refugees from Syria (PRS) parents to have legal stay to register the birth of their children and required that only one spouse (instead of two) needs to have legal stay to register a marriage. In March 2018, the DGPS waived late birth registration requirements for Syrian refugees and PRS children born in Lebanon between 1 January 2011 and 8 February 2018. This decision was expanded in August 2019, to cover all children born until 8 February 2019. In March 2019, the DGPS issued a new memo allowing Syrian parents married in Lebanon to register the birth of their children by presenting a marriage certificate executed in Lebanon and registered at the Syrian embassy instead of the family booklet that was required. In September 2020, the Directorate General of the Personal Status Department issued a circular informing all PSD offices of the suspension of the one-year deadline for birth registration between the period of 18/10/2019 and 31/12/2020 in application of Laws 160 and 185. While the vast majority of refugees are able to obtain some sort of documentation attesting to vital events that have occurred in Lebanon. Few, however, manage to complete civil registration procedures due to a complex civil registration system with onerous documentary requirements and relatively high costs. Limitations in the freedom of movement, due to lack of legal residency or other reasons, also impact the capacity of refugees to access civil registry offices. Legal residency is also a requirement for registering a marriage, which in turn is a requirement to register the birth of a child born in Lebanon. In this context, according to the 2020 VaSyr, while almost every child has a birth notification, only 28% had their birth registered with the Lebanese civil registry, up to the Foreign Registry level (a 2% decrease from 2019). The decrease can be seen as a result of the movement restrictions and closure of PSD offices for several months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, only 27% of couples who married in Lebanon registered their marriage in 2020.
In addition to the constraints related to lack of legal stay, lack of documentation remains a challenge for refugees wishing to register birth, marriage, divorce and death civil records. Refugee children born after 8 February 2019, and who are not registered at the Noufous (local civil registry) within the one-year deadline need to go through a lengthy and costly court procedure to obtain birth registration. However, refugees do benefit from Laws 160 and 185 suspending all deadlines during the period from 18 October 2019 to 31 December 2020. Accordingly, the deadline of one year related to birth registration stopped running during that period and only resumed after it from the point it reached on 18 October 2019.
In this context , UNHCR will support Syrian refugees to register their vital events, i.e. birth, marriages, divorce and death, occurred in Lebanon; while continuing to advocate with the relevant authorities for more accessible and efficient civil registration procedures. These include, but are not limited to, ensuring that the birth of Syrian refugee children is registered, if parents can obtain the necessary supporting documents; that Syrian refugees have documents to legally prove their new marital status in case of marriage or divorce and that the death of family members is registered. To achieve this, a variety of actors will be involved in raising awareness, counselling, as well as identifying and referring to legal aid partners vulnerable families who need legal assistance to complete civil registration. This includes specialised legal aid organisations, outreach volunteers, community and religious leaders as well as members of community committees. Authorities involved in civil registration, such as hospitals and Mukhtars will be made aware of civil registration procedures concerning refugees and will be guided through the process. Families who approach UNHCR Reception Centres will be advised on relevant civil registration procedures and supported to register their vital events. UNHCR will also continue to provide institutional support to the PSD to increase the capacity of civil registry offices in the field to register vital events.