especially complicated for some marginalised people, lack of awareness of the procedures, patriarchal mentalities reflected in legislation, and lack of awareness among mothers of their right to sign birth certificates and declare the birth. 43. In addition, the birth registration process is not automatic and relies entirely on the parents’ initiative. The process requires several steps between different civil servant offices, which requires time and money that many parents cannot afford.57 44. Paragraphs 2 & 3 of Article 1 of Decision 15/1925 grants the Lebanese nationality by operation of the law on jus soli grounds if the person is born in Lebanon and would be otherwise stateless. In such instances the concerned person must prove they did not acquire a foreign nationality by filiation at birth or that they are born to unknown parents or parents of unidentified nationality. Those born to a Lebanese father, who were not registered during the first year of birth must file a non-contentious late birth registration lawsuit to be registered. The same goes for foreign parents who failed to register a birth in Lebanon within one year, in order to complete birth registration procedures in their own countries. Naturalisation 45. Naturalisation is possible but in very limited circumstances.58 It is granted by presidential decree which is at the sole discretion of the executive. This is limited to foreigners and requires the applicant to be at least 18 years old and have lived in Lebanon for five consecutive years. After naturalisation, it takes ten years before equal rights are granted to the applicant. Laws passed in 1937 and 1960 enacted provisions that limit the electoral rights of naturalised persons.59 Another law passed in 1960 concerning the elections of the Parliament provided that naturalised persons may be elected for the legislature only after 10 years since naturalisation.60 Human Rights Violations flowing from the deprivation of Nationality Rights 46. Stateless persons and children of Lebanese women denied Lebanese nationality face wideranging human rights violations and hardships throughout their lives. Affected persons may be unable to travel because they do not have an ID; children are unable to sit public exams to access certain professions; formal employment is often denied and informal sector jobs come with increased risk of exploitation; some children are denied education and healthcare, resulting in 'lifelong discrimination.'61 Further, being stateless results in a greater risk of abuse, trafficking, arrest and detention.62 47. Stateless persons are not protected by any of the laws that regulate access to rights – except the law on hospitalisation in public hospitals that is not enforced. Children are able to enrol in public schools and sit public exams by virtue of circulars by the Ministry of Education and not by the law. They have no access to public hospitals, other than in exceptional circumstances, if one parent is 57UNHCR, Lebanon, Stateless Persons, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/lb/stateless-persons Articles 3 and 4 of the Nationality Law. 59 Eudo Citizenship Observatory Country Report: Lebanon Melkar el-Khoury, Thibaut Jaulin September 2012. 60 Art. 6, law dated 26/4/1960, available in Arabic at http://legallaw.ul.edu.lb/Law.aspx?lawId=248713 61UNHCR, Gender Discrimination And Childhood Statelessness, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/gender-discrimination-andstateless-children/. 62 UNHCR, UNICEF, and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights joint press release, Urgent action needed to reform gender discriminatory nationality laws causing childhood statelessness, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/press/2019/8/5d5e63d9456/urgent-action-needed-reform-gender-discriminatory-nationality-lawscausing.html. 58 10