Penal Code (No. 148 of 1949)

The Penal Code sets out the key crimes punishable by law in Syria, including crimes against minors, such as sexual abuse, child abduction, recruitment and trafficking, and child neglect. It also sets out the obligation of care by parents for young or disabled children and penalizes the abandonment of children.[1]

Key articles include the following:

• Articles 479 and 480 characterize certain acts—such as child abduction, concealment, substitution of children, abandoning of children, and leaving a child without care and food—as criminal offences.
• Article 488 addresses the involvement of children in “combat activities” and provides that anyone who recruits a child under 18 years old to be “involved in hostilities (taking part in direct combat), carrying and transporting weapons or equipment or ammunition, planting explosions, standing at checkpoints or carrying out surveillance or reconnaissance, acting as a distraction or human shield, or assisting, serving the perpetrators in any way or form,” can be subject to punishment ranging from 10 to 20 years imprisonment, to lifetime and capital punishment if the recruitment leads to the death of the child.
• Article 489 addresses sexual intercourse with a victim under the age of 15 without their consent, whether by violence or threat.
• Article 492(1) addresses sexual assault of minors aged between 15 and 18 by relatives or guardians. Per Article 492(2), the offence also applies to sexual abuse committed by civil servants, clerics, directors and employees who commit the offence by abusing his or her authority or by abusing the facilities at his or her disposal by virtue of his or her office.
• Article 493(2) addresses the use of force to compel a minor under the age of 15 to submit to or engage in an indecent act.
• Article 495(1) addresses the commission of an indecent act against a minor under 15 or inducing a minor to commit such an act. Per Article 496(1), penalties for this offence are increased if the person is in a position of authority.
• Article 501 addresses abduction of a minor under 15, irrespective of whether it is done by deception or violence, for the purpose of committing an indecent act. If the indecent act is committed, the penalty is substantially increased.
• Article 505 addresses inappropriately touching or fondling a minor under the age of 15 or a woman over 15 without their consent.
• Article 506 addresses encouraging minors below 15 to commit indecent acts or addressing them in an indecent way.
• Article 509 prescribes a penalty of imprisonment for a period of six months to three years for anyone who incites a male or female person under 21 years of age to prostitution or an immoral act, or who aids or abets such person to perform either. (This issue is also addressed in the Suppression of Prostitution Act No. 10 of March 8, 1961).
• Article 491 addresses engaging in intercourse with someone who is unable to resist due to physical or psychological deficiency.

Additional issues covered in this law include the following:

• Crimes for physical abuse or violence listed in the Penal Code also apply to children. These include the crimes of assault, rape, murder, and other felonies (Articles 63(c)-(d), Child Rights Law. Penalties are contained in Articles 540-543 of the Penal Code.)
• Specific offences relevant to children include kidnaping or hiding a child under the age of seven, replacing a child with another, or attributing to a woman a child who did not give birth to him or her (Article 478).
• The murder of a minor under the age of 15 is also considered an aggravating circumstance with life imprisonment with hard labor (Article 534).

In 2020, President Bashar Al-Assad referred a bill abolishing honor killings to the People’s Assembly on International Women’s Day. MPs subsequently approved the bill, which repeals Article 548 of the Penal Code and therefore revokes legal recognition of honor killings. It was ratified as Law 2/2020.

[1] For more information about the issues relevant to this law, see “Guide to Child’s Rights in Syria,” Norwegian Refugee Council and Syria Trust for Development, July 2023, https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/guidelines/legal-protection-of-children/syria-child-rights-guide_english.pdf; and “Syria: Gender, Justice, and the Law,” ESCWA, UNFPA, UN Women, and UNDP, December 2019, https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/arabstates/Syria.Summary.19.Eng.pdf.