Naharnet - Amnesty Urges To Give Women Right To Pass On Nationality To Their Children

Amnesty Urges Lebanon to Give Women Right to Pass on Nationality to their Children
Amnesty International has urged Lebanese authorities to withdraw immediately an appeal they have filed against a landmark court ruling allowing a Lebanese woman to pass on her nationality to her children.If the Civil Chamber of the Court of Appeal overturns the decision taken in June last year, "it will shatter hopes of thousands of children born to Lebanese mothers and foreign national fathers, who are treated as foreigners in their own country," the London-based non-governmental organization said in a press release.The Chamber is scheduled to hear on Tuesday the case of Samira Soueidan, a Lebanese citizen who was granted the right to pass on her nationality to three of her Lebanon-born children by the Fifth Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Mount Lebanon's Jdeidit al-Metn on June 16, 2009.Judges John Qazzi, Rana Habaka, and Lamis Kazma argued in their June ruling that Article 7 of Lebanon's Constitution asserts the principle of equality before the law for all citizens. They, therefore, granted Soueidan the right to confer her nationality to her children.However, the decision was challenged by the public prosecution and a legal commission at the justice ministry on behalf of the Lebanese state in July and September respectively.
Beirut, Updated 14 Apr 10, 07:40


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