BEIRUT: The Cabinet approval of a draft law on dual nationality
for Lebanese expats drew praise from politicians Tuesday but has been slammed
by women’s rights activists.
At a time when Lebanese women cannot pass on their citizenship
to their children – meaning that if they marry a foreigner their children will
not receive Lebanese citizenship – the new draft law grants dual citizenship to
those expats with a Lebanese grandfather. Currently, only those with a Lebanese
father can choose dual nationality.
President Michel Sleiman praised the passing of the draft law,
which will now be discussed in Parliament and must be ratified by MPs to be
passed into law.
“This matter is of great importance and is vital for Lebanon,”
Sleiman’s media office quoted him as saying Tuesday. He urged Parliament to
pass the law swiftly to strengthen the bonds of expatriates with their
homeland, politically and economically.
The Cabinet Monday approved the draft law, presented by Interior
Minister Marwan Charbel, allowing Lebanese expatriates who were born abroad and
only have the citizenship of the country of their birth to apply for Lebanese
citizenship as well. Change and Reform bloc MP Neamatallah Abi Nasr proposed a
similar law in 2004 that was not approved in Parliament.
The latest draft law would help Lebanese expatriates take part
in future Lebanese parliamentary elections via Lebanese embassies abroad.
Lina Abou Habib, executive director of the Collective for
Research and Training on Development-Action, a Beirut-based regional gender
equality center, which is spearheading the nationality campaign for Lebanese
women, told The Daily Star she was appalled by the decision.
With this move, she said, politicians “have included those who
are not in Lebanon, those who have renounced their nationality, in economic and
political life, while denying the right to those who have not given up their
nationality and who literally consider Lebanon to be their home.”
Abi Nasr welcomed the Cabinet decision in a statement Tuesday.
“Receiving Lebanese nationality for descendants of Lebanese
origins is a national right, because the descendant is taking his fathers’ and
grandfathers’ nationality,” Abi Nasr said. “We should involve expatriates with
the political, social and economic life in Lebanon though facilitating their
right to recover their nationality,” he added.
The nationality campaigners handed a draft law on citizenship
for Lebanese women to Prime Minister Najib Mikati in July, but Habib said the
reaction to Monday’s draft dual citizenship law by far eclipsed reactions to
their move.
“I think this time they’ve gone too far in saying that basically
this is a country for men and in ignoring that citizenship is a right for
women,” Habib said.
“Despite evidence and testimonies, they have ignored the
economic hardships faced by many Lebanese women who live here. And now on top
of this they have proposed a new law which doesn’t recognize women,” she added.
A draft
electoral law proposed by Charbel was also discussed during Monday’s Cabinet
session, although no agreements on details were reached.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Dec-14/156829-dual-nationality-draft-law-sparks-praise-and-ire.ashx#axzz1gLYPwLIE
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