The Syrian Future Movement is following with great interest the announcement by the U.S. Embassy in Syria regarding the launch of two U.S.-funded projects: the first aimed at digitizing real estate records, and the second at streamlining the registration process for local and foreign companies.
The Syrian Future Movement notes that the first project—announced on November 2, 2026, with funding of approximately $2 million—is being implemented in collaboration between the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment and the firm “Creative Associates International.” It entails the establishment of five archiving centers in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Raqqa, and Deir ez-Zor, along with a central data center in Damascus, to archive approximately 3.5 million real estate contracts and 23,000 records across the targeted governorates.
The second project, announced on November 1, 2026, is backed by $1 million in funding and is being carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection. It aims to digitize over 5 million commercial documents, connect 14 provincial directorates to a centralized system, and launch an online platform that allows Syrian and foreign investors to register their companies and manage their transactions remotely—a development expected to benefit approximately 500,000 investors and businesses.
The Syrian Future Movement welcomes this shift toward digital transformation in the vital sectors of real estate and corporate affairs. Given that these areas are fundamental to property rights and the business environment, the movement views this initiative as an opportunity to rectify long-standing, chronic imbalances that have afflicted the country for decades. However, the Syrian Future Movement points out that digitization is not an end in itself. Its success should not be measured by the number of centers established or documents scanned, but rather by its capacity to protect citizens’ rights and prevent the reproduction of injustice through modern tools.
The Syrian Future Movement notes that these two projects come at a time when the infrastructure of Syrian institutions has suffered massive destruction. According to reports from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), more than 50% of infrastructure and service or administrative facilities—including civil registry offices, real estate registries, and courthouses in many provinces—have been destroyed or rendered inoperable.
This means that millions of Syrians, both inside and outside the country, lack documentation to prove their ownership, leaving them vulnerable to property disputes and the seizure of their assets.
In this context, the Syrian Future Movement considers the digitization of records a national necessity—essential for protecting rights, preventing demographic erasure, and ensuring the safe return of displaced persons and refugees.
The Syrian Future Movement further recalls that it has previously emphasized the importance of this issue in earlier statements. In a statement titled “Launch of the Electronic Real Estate Registration Service via the ‘Anjez’ Platform and ‘Mu’amalati’ Application,” dated March 25, 2026, the movement welcomed the initiative but warned against “reducing digital transformation to a purely technical aspect, while failing to address the legal and political root causes that have crippled the real estate sector for decades.” It outlined several prerequisites for genuine digitalization, including “complete data transparency, the protection of property rights for all Syrians—regardless of their current location or the date of their displacement—and clear mechanisms for accountability and compensation for past violations.”
In another statement, issued on June 9, 2026, to mark “International Archives Day,” the movement emphasized that “safeguarding real estate and civil registry records” is essential to preventing “property disputes or demographic erasure,” and to ensuring that displaced persons, refugees, and those living abroad can return safely and reclaim their rights. The Syrian Future Movement maintains that, while these two new projects are significant, they still require clear guarantees to achieve these objectives.
The Syrian Future Movement argues that these projects, despite their importance, present a number of fundamental challenges that cannot be overlooked:
First: The absence of guarantees for the rights of displaced persons and refugees—the Syrian Future Movement notes that, based on what has been announced, the projects lack a clear mechanism to protect the rights of millions of Syrians—both internally displaced and those abroad—who were forced by the war to abandon their homes and property. Without providing secure channels for displaced persons to appoint legal representatives to defend their rights or to register their property remotely, these electronic services could become a tool to solidify the status quo at the expense of the rights of the displaced—a concern highlighted by the movement in its statement regarding the “electronic real estate registry.”
Second: Failure to address past seizures—The Syrian Future Movement points out that digitization, if not accompanied by a comprehensive national framework for resolving real estate disputes and restoring rights to their rightful owners, may entrench injustice rather than rectify it.
Properties seized under decrees and laws enacted during the war—such as Law 10, Decree 66, and Decree 42—still require a fair legal resolution; the mere digitization of records cannot erase the consequences of these measures.
Third: Lack of transparency in the funding and management of the projects—The Syrian Future Movement notes that the announcements regarding these two projects failed to provide sufficient details on how funding is managed, the criteria used to select the implementing firm, or the extent to which the projects are subject to independent oversight. The movement maintains that transparency in the management of internationally funded projects is a fundamental requirement to ensure that benefits reach those entitled to them and to prevent waste or corruption.
Fourth: Risks related to digital sovereignty and data protection—The Syrian Future Movement cautions that the digitization of millions of real estate and commercial documents, and their integration into a centralized system, raises legitimate questions regarding the ownership of this data, who has access to it, and how it will be protected against hacking or illicit use. The Syrian Future Movement calls for clear guarantees that safeguard Syrian digital sovereignty and prevent the exploitation of information for political or commercial purposes.
Fifth: The need to link digitalization to a comprehensive national plan—the Syrian Future Movement points out that the two projects, despite their importance, remain limited in scope (5 archiving centers, 14 directorates) relative to the scale of national needs. The Syrian Future Movement maintains that their success depends on integrating them into a comprehensive national strategy for digital transformation—one that ensures sustained funding, expands the scope to cover all governorates, and links real estate registries with civil registries. …taxation, and other areas, drawing on successful international precedents.
Guided by its national responsibility, the Syrian Future Movement makes the following recommendations:
First: Include displaced persons and those forced to flee in the digitization process by providing secure online platforms that allow them to register their property and appoint representatives to defend their rights remotely, ensuring they are not deprived of their property rights due to their forced absence.
Second: Link digitization to the transitional justice process by establishing a national mechanism to resolve property disputes, address past instances of seizure, compensate those affected, and restore rights to their rightful owners—ensuring that digitization serves as a tool for redress rather than a means to entrench injustice.
Third: Ensure transparency and independent oversight of these projects by publishing periodic progress reports, details on funding, and the criteria used to select implementing firms. Information should be made accessible to oversight bodies and civil society, with guaranteed access to data for citizens and relevant stakeholders.
Fourth: Strengthen digital sovereignty and data protection by establishing a national legal framework for the protection of personal and property-related data. This includes ensuring that the Syrian state retains ownership of the databases, defining clear access protocols, and preventing any illicit use of the data.
Fifth: Expand the scope of these projects within a comprehensive national strategy by developing a national plan for digital transformation in the real estate and corporate sectors. This plan should encompass all governorates, integrate property registries with civil and tax records, and establish a clear implementation timeline along with measurable performance indicators. Sixth: Building national capacity and transferring knowledge by training Syrian personnel in the management, maintenance, and development of digital systems. This is essential to ensure the sustainability of both projects once external funding concludes, and to reduce reliance on foreign firms for the management of national data.
The Syrian Future Movement welcomes the launch of these two projects, viewing them as a significant step toward modernizing public administration, protecting property rights, and improving the business environment.
However, the Syrian Future Movement cautions that digitalization is not a panacea. Its success depends on addressing the underlying legal and political root causes that have hindered the real estate sector for decades, as well as ensuring transparency, sovereignty, and the rights of all Syrians—including those who have been displaced or forced to flee their homes.
The Syrian Future Movement emphasizes that building a new Syria requires investment in people and institutions, not merely in buildings and systems. Any digital project that fails to place the rights of the citizen at its core is inherently incomplete, regardless of its cost or the entity funding it.
For its part, the Syrian Future Movement will continue to support initiatives that promote transparency, property rights, and digital transformation. It will also remain a critical voice, monitoring developments on the ground to ensure progress toward a new Syria—one in which the rights of all its citizens are upheld and protected.
