Legal Assistance - Update on Birth Registration for Refugees from Syria

Through its Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) programme, NRC provides
information, counselling and legal assistance to refugees from Syria about access to essential
services and on legal issues in Lebanon (including legal status, birth registration and housing, land and property matters). The NRC ICLA team has been providing information and legal assistance on birth registration to refugees from Syria since May 2012. The ICLA team reaches out to refugees at NRC Community Centres and at a number of locations in the Bekaa, North and South of Lebanon, including UNHCR registration sites, tented settlements, medical centres, community centres run by other organisations and schools. In addition, NRC runs mobile legal clinics and mobile information sessions throughout Lebanon. The ICLA team is currently in the process of expanding its activities to Beirut and Mount Lebanon.

Having identified the importance of providing information and assistance on legal documentation for refugees from Syria, NRC ICLA has focused on assisting refugee parents to register the births of their babies while in Lebanon. Birth registration is an important way of preventing statelessness and ensuring that, as set out in a number of international human rights conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child has the right to be registered and have their identity respected. Birth registration provides legal identity which then allows a child to have evidence of their relationship with their parents and details of their name, date and place of birth. In addition, once families can voluntarily and safely return to Syria, the birth certificate will allow a family to register their child in Syria. Refugees from Syria who are now in Lebanon are often not aware of legal procedures and the consequences of not following the necessary procedures to register births. In addition, the number of newborns of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is rising due to the extended time of their displacement.