LEBANON: Women's rights activists are pushing to pass a law that allows Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese men to pass on their nationality to their children

Record ID: 428266

  • Title: LEBANON: Women's rights activists are pushing to pass a law that allows Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese men to pass on their nationality to their children
  • Date: 10th March 2010
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (MARCH 8, 2010) (REUTERS) MARKET IN BEIRUT FEMALE VEGETABLE MARKET TRADERS VARIOUS OF WOMEN BUYING VEGETABLES AT THE MARKET STREET AND VENDORS BEIRUT, LEBANON (MARCH 5, 2010) (REUTERS) LEBANESE NATIONALITY ACTIVIST HIYAM ABDEL SAMAD WITH HER DAUGHTERS AT THEIR HOME ABDEL SAMAD'S DAUGHTER AMAR (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE CAMPAIGNER HIYAM ABDEL SA
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3DTGUDME7I808HJ4LTLCBF1VV
  • Story Text: Hiyam and her two daughters live in the ground floor of a huge apartment building in Beirut where she has been working as a concierge for the past 12 years.
    Like thousands of Lebanese women, Hiyam is married to a non-Lebanese man and as such is banned by a 1925 law from passing on her nationality and the benefits that come with that to her spouse and children. As is the case in most Arab countries, only a man in Lebanon can pass on citizenship to his wife and children.
    Hiyam, 53, has participated in countless demonstrations since 2002 to help rally enough support to amend the law but so far her efforts have failed, and Hiyam is beginning to wonder if it is futile to pursue her cause.
    Because they are not Lebanese, Hiyam's daughters and her Egyptian husband do not have access to social security, medical insurance and free public education. When her daughters grow up, they will be banned from work in certain fields.
    The girls have to have their residency permit renewed every three years. It is free now but once the girls turn 18, they will have to pay more than 1,000 U.S dollars a year for each to renew it.
    When Hiyam speaks, the agony and the frustration in her voice are clear.
    ''It is my right to give my children my nationality. It is my right and I repeat that a hundred times. It is my right to give my nationality to my children. Just as the man is allowed to give his nationality to his children, so is it my right. Just as the man works, the woman works. Just as the man suffers, the woman does too. We are equal. There is no special treatment here. We are all equal,'' Hiyam said.
    There are around 18,000 women who are married to non-Lebanese in the country, a U.N. study in 2006 said. The campaign to amend the law gained some momentum in 2009 as activists hoped the election of a new parliament and government would bring in a new generation of policy-makers who would the law.
    Ziad Baroud, the popular and charismatic minister of the interior who many say overhauled the ministry, has been one of the major proponents of changing the law. But so far, even he has failed.
    Hiyam said Lebanese officials only offer talk without action.
    ''Yes. It is a lost cause. No one is going to sign it. If you ask them they will say yes to your face but when it comes to actually doing the right and just thing by signing it, they reject it. So no, there is no hope,'' she said.
    Lebanon's nationality law was established in 1925 and partially reformed in 1994 in a complex decree. According to a 2008 report by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Frontiers Association, the 1994 amendment allows the child of a Lebanese mother and foreign father to gain Lebanese citizenship after the child's marriage to a Lebanese, and at least five years uninterrupted residency in the country, including one year after marriage.
    A more comprehensive reform to the nationality law has become mired in the political issue of the presence of 400,000 Palestinians refugees, tens of thousands of Syrian workers and thousands of Iraqi refugees in Lebanon.
    Some draft laws have suggested the exclusion of Palestinians from the law because giving them Lebanese nationality touches on the sensitive issue of the settlement of some 400,000 Palestinian refugees in the country.
    Most of the Palestinians are Muslim Sunni. And in Lebanon any suggested change to the delicate balance of sects is a minefield.
    Lebanon's political and governing system has been carefully divided amongst Muslims and Christians since the signing of the 1990 Taif Accord that ended a 15-year civil war.
    Hiyam says she was forced to marry off her oldest daughter Nour at 16 to
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