Tens of thousands of Syrians who left their country between 1979 and 1985 suffer from total deprivation of their natural rights guaranteed by both the Syrian Constitution and international human rights treaties . Most of these people left Syria because of the troubles the country had witnessed during that period and for fear of interrogation and persecution because of their opposing opinions to the ruling regime.

To put pressure on these people the Syrian authorities deprived them from the rights they are entitled to as Syrian Nationals. So many Syrians all over the world found themselves deprived from their legal identity as stated in article 16 of the international human rights declaration issued in 1948 which says that every person is entitled wherever he/she is  to the acknowledgment of his legal identity”.

The Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) is very worried for the failure of several efforts spent over the last ten years to dissuade the Syrian Authorities   to follow a policy of depriving Syrian Families -forced into exile- from all their individual rights like issuing passports, ownership certificates, marriage and birth certificates. Syrian authorities refused appeals from national committees to facilitate families reunion,  to stop obstructing renewing passports at Syrian Embassies, to return political exiles confiscated properties, to stop imprisoning their wives  and children when visiting the country and to grant them exit visa to return  where their breadwinners live.
Because of the harshness the Syrian authorities are still showing in unproviding thousands of Syrian families  with their legal and natural rights, SHRC would like to draw the attention of Human Rights Organisations and   public opinion, to encourage Syrian authorities to take positive  measures to end the suffering of  many Syrian citizens, and to stop all blackmail  practised by employees and diplomats in Syrian Embassies who force expatriates in general to pay them bribes in order to  have their documents renewed.

SHRC believes that it is duty of  Syrian embassies to protect Syrian citizens wherever they are and to help them get their personal and legal rights, especially if they are subjected to pressure from the authorities of the countries  where they live for a reason or another. However because of the contradictory policy led by the Syrian security authorities on the national  and the continuity of random arrests, most political expatriates will not be able to return home in the near future lest of  persecution or imprisonment . The continuous policy of security grip  and the loss of any  hope for a change pushed many Syrians, especially the young generation  to hold other nationalities,  which has led to a social gap that is expected to deepen the current crisis in the country.
SHRC has recorded dozens of cases where Syrian citizens have been subjected to arbitrary imprisonment on their return to the country to get their legal rights and documents despite the fact that the official  instructions claim  that if any Syrian living abroad goes to the embassy and makes a request to go back home then   he should be able to enter Syria without obstructions or harassment.

SHRC has also been told of cases of death in custody and under torture for some who have returned from abroad. Like Yahya Mohammed Idrees from Aleppo who entered Syria in July 1994 after he made a request to return home to the Syrian embassy and was   granted permission of return, but he was arrested  on his arrival in Syria.  Two months later  his body was handed to his family  as he died under torture.

In a second case Abdulqadir Mustapha Madlej (born 1970) from Andan  in the province of Aleppo, who returned to Syria after he obtained an official permission to come home from the Syrian embassy in Amman (Jordan). He was arrested on his arrival   January 1997 . Since then nobody have known anything about him.
Zuhair Kurdu is also from Aleppo. The Syrian embassy in Amman (Jordan) gave him a temporary passport to enable him to return to Syria to obtain his legal documents. He was arrested on his arrival in Syria  in April 1994 . Since then nobody have known anything about him.

Taking into consideration what is included in article 24 of the International convention of civil and political rights that recognises  the right of protection for every child as a minor to his family, society and the state, and which says  also that every child has the right to be registered as soon he is born, and to have a name and a nationality, SHRC demands that the “Legal status” of all Syrian citizens living abroad should be restored without any discrimination based on religion, ethnic origin or political opinion.

SHRC demands that these people should be allowed to practice their rights of  legal proceedings as stated in article 19 of the International convention of civil and political rights which says that every person has the right to be recognised  before  the law”, it also demands a cessation to the arbitrary procedures of detention and torture practised on  those who decide to return to their country and to facilitate their return procedures, and it also demands that the Syrian government should disclose what has happened to many missing people who have been a subject  to such arbitrary procedures, and whom it is feared that many of them have already died in custody, however  their families have not  been notified of their fate.