BEIRUT: The
campaign for equal citizenship rights for women is being neglected by
politicians, according to the coordinator of the campaign.
Lina Abou-Habib
says a member of the ministerial committee tasked with debating the issue has
openly admitted the establishment of the panel was merely a placatory move.
As the law stands,
if a woman marries a non-Lebanese citizen, they cannot pass on their Lebanese
nationality, making it difficult for their children to gain state benefits
such as education and health care.
The campaigners
handed a draft law on citizenship to Parliament last July, and earlier this
year received “a positive reaction from Prime Minister Najib Mikati.”
Then in March, and
for the first time in the history of the campaign, the issue was discussed in
Cabinet, but according to Abou-Habib, executive director of CRTD-A, a
regional gender-research non-governmental organization based in Beirut, and
chair of the campaign, the loudest voices were those of the critics.
Abou-Habib says
that according to sourcesthe strongest objections to equal citizenship came
from Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement bloc in Cabinet. “This is where
the FPM intersects with their arch enemies the Lebanese Forces in sexism and
racism and xenophobia.”
Following the
Cabinet meeting, Mikati tasked a ministerial committee with continuing to
debate the issue. Headed by deputy premier Samir Mouqbel, the committee also
includes Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour, Interior Minister Marwan
Charbel and Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi. Abou-Habib questions the
latter’s inclusion.
“He had already
made public statements against this and against other reforms related to the
rights of women: [he was] very critical, or sarcastic on the issue of
equality,” Abou-Habib says.
The justice
minister in January stated that full citizenship rights for women would be
“dangerous” and “might hurt the balance among the Lebanese sects and might
negatively affect coexistence in the country.”
The issue of
naturalization of Palestinian men married to Lebanese women has long been
used by critics of equal citizenship rights as a key objection.
While the step of
creating a ministerial committee was important in that the issue of equal
citizenship rights was “put down on paper somewhere,” campaigners were
disappointed in the lack of accountability.
“There was no
timeline on what the committee was expected to do, there were no details on
what the process would look like, and on which principles [committee members]
would be making proposals. And there was no room for consultation with civil
society,” Abou-Habib says.
A sit-in had been
organized by nationality campaigners to demand answers to these questions,
but no answers were provided.
After
unsuccessfully trying to meet with ministerial members of the committee, a
chance meeting with one of the members on an airplane provided Abou-Habib
with the depressing reality of the situation. He told her explicitly that
“the committee will not meet and has no intention to meet.”
“It’s hilarious, on
the one hand they pretend to be taking things seriously, and on the other
hand you meet one face to face and they tell you this is just bullshit and
nothing is going to happen.”
The minister also
said that, regardless of which coalition was in power, the issue would not be
settled easily.
“In any case, no
matter who is the political force in power, whether March 14 or March 8, they
are going to give due consideration to the concerns of their Christian allies
and it so happens that their Christian allies are against equal citizenship,”
Abou-Habib recalls she was told, due to concerns over “demographics.”
Abou-Habib has also
since discovered the National Commission for Lebanese Women, presided over by
first lady Wafaa Sleiman and a semigovernmental body, had also simultaneously
presented a draft law on equal citizenship to Parliament.
“Even if we may not
agree with some of their suggestions ... this is the first time they have
been really consistent in pursuing this issue,” she says.
The National
Commission’s proposal focuses solely on passing citizenship onto the children
of Lebanese mothers, and does not make reference to spouses, and in the cases
of Palestinian fathers, “they make special provisions, so Palestinians of
Lebanese mothers will have residency permits until the age of 18, and at that
age they will apply for citizenship and the case will be heard in court.”
However it
transpires that the proposal which is actually on the agenda, whether or not
it will be discussed any time soon, is one written by former Interior
Minister Ziyad Baroud and which excludes both spouses and all Palestinian
children of Lebanese mothers from citizenship.
In terms of the
continued failure of the government to address such issues of social welfare,
Abou-Habib believes the current security climate in Lebanon, increasingly
uneasy due to events in Syria, is providing the perfect excuse for ministers
to ignore these pressing issues.
In the midst of the
Arab Spring engulfing the region, what’s even more worrying, she adds, is
that “they don’t see the links between social upheaval and insecurity and
people’s rights and entitlements and dignity.”
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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/May-29/174947-cabinet-ignores-women-citizenship-rights.ashx#axzz1wFjVYzRg
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