Lebanese mothers fight for nationality rights

by Natalie Fox

Lebanese law prevents mothers from passing on their nationality to their children and husbands, affecting approximately 80,000 men and children who are denied full access to residency, education and healthcare.

Despite an ongoing campaign and promises from the Government, nationality law in the country has remained unchanged since it was formulated in 1925.

It states that Lebanese men are permitted to pass on their nationality to their foreign wives and children but Lebanese women cannot do the same.

The new Cabinet dropped the issue from their ministerial statement in October 2009 after promising that it would be up for consideration.

This was a huge disappointment for social justice organisation Collective for Research and Training on Development Action (CRTD.A), which has worked towards the amendment of the law for over a decade.

In 2002 CRTD.A launched multi-national campaign “My Nationality: A Right for Me and My Family” headed by Roula Masri, and succeeded in reforming discriminatory nationality laws in Egypt, Algeria and Morocco but not in Lebanon.

Disagreement over nationality law

The issue is a complex one Roula Masri says: “The President, Michel Suleiman, made it clear that he believes nationality is a basic right and that he supports the change, but it is highly politicized.”

Those who oppose any amendment argue that changing nationality law would create an imbalance in the country’s demographics in favour of Sunni Muslims, the religion of the vast majority of Lebanon’s 400,000 Palestinian refugees.

However, human rights activists stress that this would not be the case as statistics show that less than two per cent of Lebanese women are married to Palestinians.

Tanya Nammour, an English teacher who has two children from her first marriage to a Briton, describes the difficulty she had in ensuring her son and daughter can reside in Lebanon with her. Every year having to renew their residency, “from scratch [ was] such a drag”, she says.

“The government is discriminating against me as a Lebanese woman and is treating me as a second-class citizen”, she says.

She is also worried about her children not being able to find work in Lebanon due to the obligation and burden of acquiring a work permit.

“I have often thought about campaigning with other Lebanese women but it seemed like a lost cause”, says Nammour.

“The attitudes are so deeply entrenched and so politically dominant that I felt totally discouraged from doing anything about it. I didn’t believe in the possibility that it would change in the near future so that it would benefit me in time.”

Further campaigns

Recent disappointments have not stopped the Nationality Campaign from proceeding full-throttle with their objectives and they are currently encouraging Lebanese women to become more active in their fight for citizenship.

“They are at the forefront of the campaign,” says Masri. “We are also focusing on the notion of citizenship, which is not just a status. It affects your whole life.”

For more information or to find out how to participate in this campaign go to the Nationality Campaign website, here.

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