Back to Contents In Lebanon in general 4.2. What are the ways in which nationality is acquired and lost in Lebanon? It should be noted that under the current Constitution, Palestinians are unable to naturalise in Lebanon,33 however the following information may be relevant to the children of Lebanese women and Palestinian men. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion reported in June 2020 about Lebanon’s citizenship laws: “Lebanon is one of the twenty five34 countries worldwide that do not allow women to confer nationality upon their children on an equal basis as men, and one of the approximately fifty countries that deny women the right to pass their nationality onto a foreign spouse [Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights]. This means that children and foreign spouses are at risk of statelessness, and are not afforded the same rights as Lebanese nationals, often having to rely on visas to remain in the country.” (Source: Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion: “Stateless in a Global Pandemic”, June 2020, pp. 22-23) A collective of NGOs working in Lebanon made a joint submission to the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review in 2020 in which they stated: “The Lebanese constitution is silent on issues of nationality and statelessness, save for stating that ‘Lebanese nationality and the manner in which it is acquired, retained, and lost is to be determined in accordance with the law.” (Source: The Collective for Research & Training on Development- Action, The Nationality Campaign, Ruwad alHoukouk Frontiers Rights et al, “Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review”, July 2020, p. 7) The same source further reported that: “Gender discrimination in acquisition of nationality 25. The acquisition of Lebanese nationality follows the jus sanguinis and jus soli principles. The main source of nationality law is the 1925 Nationality Law [Decree No 15]. Article 1 provides that every child born to a Lebanese father is Lebanese. This applies to children born within marriage, and in limited circumstances, to children born outside of legal marriage. According to the law, a Lebanese woman can only pass her nationality to a child born outside of legal marriage [EUDO CITIZENSHIP OBSERVATORY COUNTRY REPORT: LEBANON Melkar el-Khoury, Thibaut Jaulin September 2012]. 26. The jus soli principle only applies if no other nationality can be attributed to a child when they are born. The child can acquire nationality only if both parents are unknown or have unknown nationality [Art. 1, sec. 3 Decree No 15]. 27. In principle, minors born to a naturalised father become Lebanese by operation of the law (Article 4 of Decision 15/1925). However, minors born to an unmarried naturalised father face difficulties to acquire this derivative nationality automatically and have to resort to court. Minor children born to a naturalised mother and foreign father become Lebanese, only if their foreign father is deceased. 28. A stateless woman married to a Lebanese man may acquire the Lebanese nationality by marriage one year after the registration of marriage by a judicial decision, based on Article 5 of the nationality law. Foreign wives may apply for nationality by a simple administrative procedure. The obstacles to securing nationality by marriage is therefore much greater for stateless women, who must secure a favourable judicial decision.” (Source: The Collective for Research & Training on Development- Action, The Nationality Campaign, Ruwad alHoukouk Frontiers Rights et al, “Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review”, July 2020, pp. 6-7) 33 Are Knudsen, Widening the Protection Gap: The «Politics of Citizenship’’ for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon 1948-2008, 2009, p. 54-55; Diana Allen, Refugees of the Revolution: Experiences of Palestinian Exile, 2014, p. 23-24, 28; Lex Takkenberg en Francesca Albanese, Palestinian Refugees in International Law, 2020, p. 212-213. Plus confidential source dated 13 October 2020. 34 Since this excerpt, this number has dropped to 24, as Liberia has amended its laws to give women and men equal rights to pass on their nationality to their children. #IBelong Campaign Update, July-September 2022 4. Legal and policy frameworks and their implementation 33