Thousands of Syrian refugee children left in legal limbo

AWERGOSK, Iraq — Aria is stateless. Like thousands of other children born to Syrian refugees living in Iraq, the 10-month-old girl is beginning her life in legal limbo.

Some 240,000 refugees who fled the fighting in Syria now live in Iraq, where among many other hardships, they are often unable to get their children citizenship in either country.

"It's required to have a nationality," said Azad Khalil, the girl's father. "She doesn't exist in any records (in Syria) because she was born here."

Syrian refugees who have children in Iraq's Kurdistan region are entitled to apply for official birth certificates from local authorities, but many families don't. Refugee camps are often far away from government buildings in major cities, so many children are left without the most basic documentation.

Khalil said he can only apply for citizenship for his daughter if the family returns to Syria. But with the country in the fifth year of a civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people, the odds of returning home are slim. He fears that even a temporary visit to apply for citizenship would be a waste of time.

"The document that we have from here is very simple, it doesn't show anything, only that she was born here. If we take it back to Syria they might not recognize it," he said.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/thousands-of-syrian-refugee-children-left-in-legal-limbo/ar-AAfMWHR?li=BBnb7Kz