THE CONTROVERSIAL 1994 DECREE Another significant cause of statelessness is the weight of inherited situations still haunting respondents. This increasingly reflects the failure of the state to address this cause, despite the precedent of the 1994 mechanism. • The surveyed stateless were asked about the 1994 Decree and the reasons why they were left out of the procedure a situation affecting 74% of the adult respondents who were born before 1994. • Among those respondents, 25% had filed a claim that was either lost (15%) or rejected (10%) by the relevant authorities. • For the others, 16% had no clue why they missed out on the 1994 procedures, while 11% did not know about it in the first place, demonstrating the authorities’ failure to set up an efficient mechanism to map and identify those needing citizenship papers. • In addition to the lack of state follow-up, parents’ carelessness is also at fault for the 26% of respondents who were minors in 1994 and whose requests were never filed. • Financial factors were also stated, with 14% of respondents saying they were unable to afford to apply for the 1994 mechanism. • Eighteen percent of respondents stated “other” reasons, varying from personal negligence to receiving no feedback over their claim. CONTEXT In 1994, the Lebanese authorities sought to address the issue of statelessness by granting citizenship directly by decree. In theory, it was based on fair eligibility criteria: application forms had to include proof of applicants’ connection to Lebanon, such as filiation, or residency or property. But the process lacked transparency and its conditions were unclear. Instead of settling this issue for good, the results were incomplete and the entire process was engulfed by political and sectarian considerations. Fig 14. Why did you not benefit from the 1994 naturalization process? (429 respondents) Escaping military service No trust Rejected Did not know about it Family processed but not me Financial reasons The file was lost Do not know Others 0.2% 6% 10% 11% 11% 14% 15% 16% 18% © 2021 Siren Associates. All Rights Reserved.