Women can’t train as officers, and they can’t even study to be the army’s lawyers or administrators. This is discrimination, plain and simple,
said Hiba Zayadin, senior Syria advisor at Human Rights Watch.
Syrian authorities have barred women from most academic programs at two newly established state universities dedicated to defense and security, drawing sharp criticism from human rights monitors as the October 19, 2026 application deadline approaches. Human Rights Watch reported that the restrictions prevent female students from enrolling in key fields such as law, economics, and management across the newly formed institutions.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research issued the admissions criteria on September 30, reserving major disciplines at the National University of Defense Sciences exclusively for male applicants. At the newly created Syrian University for Security Sciences, female applicants are restricted entirely to cybersecurity programs, according to human rights documentation and reports from HuMedia.
Admissions Restrictions at Defense and Security Faculties
Under the newly enacted guidelines, the National University of Defense Sciences requires a mandatory military service commitment for its students. Within this framework, the Army, Navy, and Air Force academies—which teach engineering—along with the Faculty of Humanities and Administration, admit only men. The sole division within the defense university open to female students is the Higher Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology, which carries no military service obligation.
A similar policy governs the Syrian University for Security Sciences, where both the Faculty of Security Sciences and the Technical Institute of Security Sciences accept exclusively male candidates. Graduates from these security programs face mandatory service requirements of 20 years with the Internal Security Forces or another designated body following completion of the university track, or 10 years after finishing the institute program. HuMedia noted that while women retain the option to study law, economics, and social sciences at other public and private institutions, and can enter law enforcement via the separate Women’s Police Institute that graduated its inaugural class in September 2026, the new policies effectively block their entry into the military.
This exclusion extends beyond higher education. According to Human Rights Watch, authorities in northeast Syria blocked the all-female Women’s Protection Units, belonging to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, from integrating into the army alongside male soldiers back in August.
Institutional Context and International Obligations
The newly introduced enrollment rules contrast with the transitional administration’s official framework, including the Constitutional Declaration signed by President Ahmed al-Sharaa on March 13, 2025, which guarantees equality without gender-based discrimination and women’s rights to education and work. That document formally guarantees gender equality without discrimination, alongside women’s rights to education, work, and broader social, political, and economic participation.
Observers point to a wider pattern of institutional marginalization since December 2024. In the October 2025 indirect parliamentary elections, women secured 6 of the 119 elected seats in the People’s Assembly, amounting to about 5 percent.
International monitors and Human Rights Watch point out that these mandates breach Syria’s commitments under both the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Both CEDAW and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 mandate equal access to education, public office, and full participation in post-conflict security sector reform.
Rights organizations have urged the Ministry of Higher Education to reverse the exclusionary admissions criteria and open all defense and security programs to women on equal terms before the October 19 application deadline.
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