HRW: Syria Bars Women from New Defense and Security Universities

Admissions Deadlines Close on October 19 for State Defense Programs Barring Women

Syrian authorities have instituted admissions policies that bar women from most programs at two newly established state universities focused on defense and security, with application windows closing on October 19, 2026, Human Rights Watch reported.

The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research announced on September 30 that enrollment in law, economics and management, and social sciences at the National University of Defense Sciences is restricted entirely to men. Similar restrictions apply at the Syrian University for Security Sciences, where women are permitted to apply solely to cybersecurity programs. Public universities continue to reserve specific fields such as kindergarten teaching, certain midwifery programs, and nursing schools in Damascus and Aleppo exclusively for women.

Hiba Zayadin, senior Syria advisor at Human Rights Watch, stated that the transitional authorities are rebuilding military and security forces without female participation. “Women can’t train as officers, and they can’t even study to be the army’s lawyers or administrators,” Zayadin said. “This is discrimination, plain and simple.”

Military Colleges and Security Institutes Exclude Female Cadets

At the National University of Defense Sciences, which requires a mandatory military service commitment, land, naval, and air force military colleges teaching engineering and the College of Humanities and Administrative Sciences are open exclusively to men. The sole division of the university accessible to women is the Higher Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology, which carries no military service obligation.

Graduates of the Syrian University for Security Sciences must serve 20 years with the Internal Security Forces or another competent body following college completion, or 10 years after finishing an institute program. Both the college and its technical institute admit solely male students. While women retain the option to study law, economics, and social sciences at alternative public and private institutions, and may enter policing via the Women’s Police Institute that graduated its first class in September 2026, the new policies effectively eliminate pathways into the army.

This exclusion extends regionally. In August, authorities in northeast Syria refused to allow the Women’s Protection Units—the all-female component of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces—to integrate into the army alongside male fighters. Comparable men-only admission criteria govern state technical institutes for oil, gas, and railways, as well as the radio and television directing department within Idlib University’s media institute.

Constitutional Commitments Contrast With Transitional Decrees

The restrictions contrast with legal protections established under the Constitutional Declaration signed into force by President Ahmed al-Sharaa on March 13, 2025. That document guarantees gender equality without discrimination, protects the right to education and work, and secures social, political, and economic rights. Al-Sharaa has publicly pledged adherence to women’s rights.

Syria maintains state obligations as a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, known as CEDAW, alongside the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. CEDAW mandates equal access to education under article 10, the right to hold public office and perform all public functions under article 7, and equal employment opportunities under article 11, with Syria registering no formal reservations to these provisions. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and CEDAW Committee General Recommendation No. 30 call for full female participation in post-conflict reconstruction and security sector reform.

Representation across broader public institutions has remained limited since December 2024. In indirect parliamentary elections held in October 2025, women secured 6 of the 119 seats in the People’s Assembly, representing roughly 5 percent of the legislature. Public remarks by government officials have previously questioned the suitability of women for specific political roles or judicial appointments, while regional administrators, including the governor of Latakia in January 2026, have enacted workplace directives targeting the physical appearance of female public employees under threat of legal accountability.

Human Rights Watch urged the Ministry of Higher Education to open security and defense university programs to women on equal terms before the October 19 application deadline while rescinding all gender-based admissions barriers.