The Arab Organization for Human Rights submitted a draft resolution on Tuesday, to be adopted by the Arab summit to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh on March 28-29. According to the resolution, Arab governments will accept passports of Syrian refugees in Arab countries, regardless of their expiry date.
The organization provided an explanatory memorandum with the draft resolution, which included the national, Arab and international legal grounds that allow Arab governments to adopt the travel documents as legitimate identities, without consideration for expiration dates as an ‘exceptional temporary measure’.
The draft resolution, submitted to the Arab League, calls on Arab governments to:
1: Adopt passports officially released by the Syrian government for Syrian Arab Republic citizens, regardless of their expiry date.
2: Each member state of the Arab League to adopt adequate procedures to activate this resolution.
3: Member States of the League would inform the Secretary General of the Arab League on the procedures in order to activate this resolution in cooperation with governments of member states, according to their own considerations.
4: Adopt the resolution as a temporary measure to meet the exceptional circumstances experienced by Syrian refugees.
The expiry date of the Syrian passport forms a growing crisis, as the situation in Syria enters its fifth year following the people's uprising in March 2011.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
