Daily Star - Experts Divided Over How To Reform Nationality Law

By Robert Cusack Special to The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Disagreement over how to address women’s inequality in marriage-related citizenship rights was the conclusion that emerged from a talk attended by experts on the issue. “A lack of equality not only between men and women … [but also], more importantly, … inherent throughout the entirety of Lebanon’s sectarian politics is a key issue,” said Dr. Fahmia Sharaf al-Din, vice-president of the administrative board for The National Committee for the Follow up on Women’s Issues (CFUWI). She was chairing a round table discussion held at the Issam Fares Center in Sin al-Fil on Thursday, which saw several disputes erupt among experts, based on fears of a change in demographics and concerns about secular law taking precedence over religious statutes. Last month, the judiciary turned down an appeal by Samira Soueidan, a Lebanese widow of an Egyptian national who is unable to pass on her citizenship to her two children. Some of the experts were unconvinced that the citizenship issue is of high importance, in view of problems stemming from sectarian divisions. Others stressed the threat of demographic change in Lebanon, much to the anger of Sharaf al-Din, who repeatedly raised her voice in exasperated despair. Many women were annoyed when experts discussed possible clashes of interest between Islamic law and secular law, with one expert quoting Suras from the Koran, such as “Men are in charge of women, because Allah made men to be better than women,” and “Women are worth one-half of a man.” Sharaf al-Din returned the issue to that of constitutional law and the due inalienable human rights of equality. “All Lebanese people are equal before the law and as such are entitled to equal rights regarding marriage laws,” she told the participants, who were gathered for a session on “Lebanese society; from masculinity to equality.” Sharaf al-Din referenced the 1926 Constitution, and in particular Clause C of its Preamble, which confirms the “Equality of rights and duties among all citizens without discrimination.” “Equality is a constitutional right,” said Sharaf al-Din “Many women are being denied of their rights to equality in marriage, and that is unlawful.” The Nationality Law of 1925 is widely disputed as it allows Lebanese fathers to pass on their citizenship but doesn’t delegate the right to mothers. Mothers are allowed to confer their nationality to their children only if they are born from an out-of-wedlock relationship, and the father is unknown. While the experts generally agreed that the law was unconstitutional, they were divided on how to reform the legislation. The issue was raised in the 2009 elections, with parliamentarians from nearly every party promising reform, but with no concrete results as yet. Sharaf al-Din was criticized by for not addressing the whole issue, as some said modifying the law was insufficient, in light of other cases of inequality. “Her [Sharaf al-Din] group is concentrating only on citizenship, however I feel that [this is part] of a bigger issue,” said former Ambassador Abdullah Bouhabib, of the Issam Fares Center. “Unless we opt for full equality [in society]: that is, any woman is equal to another woman and any man is equal to another man, we will not accept the change,” Bouhabib told The Daily Star. “For example, why can one man marry four women and [another] man only marry one?” Proponents of reform argue that the legislation appears to be directed primarily at inhibiting Palestinians from obtaining Lebanese nationality, which could unbalance the country’s sectarian demographics. This argument was countered by Sharaf al-Din, who quoted statistics taken from a study published by the CFUWI with support from the United Nations Development Program in Lebanon. “There are 83,000 women affected by this issue, of whom 87.5 percent are Muslim,” said Sharaf al-Din “However, there are more women marrying Syrians (comprising 22 percent of foreign marriages) than are marrying Palestinians, of which the figure is only 21.7 percent.” In a sectarian break-down of the figures however, the figures appear much different. She cited figures showing that among Sunni Muslims, 38.8 percent of women are married to Palestinians, followed by Syrians (19.2 percent) and Egyptians (8 percent), while 30.5 percent of Christian women are married to Syrians, followed by Americans (10.9 percent), French (9.9 percent) and Palestinians (6.9 percent). “Looking at national figures, only 2 percent of Lebanese women are married to Palestinians,” she noted. Sharaf al-Din said the figures showed “no justifiable link between a change in demographic equilibrium and the naturalization of children born in a marriage between a Lebanese person and a foreigner,” stating that Lebanese women married to Palestinian men ranked 11th in number – below Iraqi, Egyptian and Western marriages. The CFUWI’s report discusses several discrepancies that arise between the wording of the current law and the Constitution, as well its disagreement with the findings of several conventions, especially the Convention on the Political Rights of Women in 1952, whose Preamble stresses the need “to achieve full equality of men and women.”