SEEKING NATIONALITY THE JUDICIAL ODYSSEY OF APPLICANTS Table 12?? or 10? Distribution of the Courts and Type of lawsuits Single Judge/Birth Registration Court of 1st Instance/ Nationality Total Tripoli 10 12* 22 Halba 22 Court Region Beirut Qoubaiyat Today, to put an end to their statelessness, stateless persons, whether their statelessness is due to historical reasons or non-registration have to resort to the judiciary to obtain confirmation of their Lebanese nationality or to be registered in their parents’ civil status records. In this chapter, we present the analysis of 76 lawsuits, 44 Late Birth Registration (we will be using from here onward the term “registration” to denote “late birth registration”) cases, and 32 Nationality cases. Among them 14 strategic litigation cases. These lawsuits were submitted before different regional courts. The attorneys-at-law were assigned by FRH between 2014-2018.21 The registration lawsuits are related to birth registrations, marital status rectification, and acquisition of nationality by extension from a naturalized father whereas nationality lawsuits will include the different legal grounds for considering a person to be Lebanese by law. The analysis was complemented by the review and analysis of 88 Court of Cassation decisions issued during the same period related to both late birth and nationality cases. The aim is to better understand the jurisprudence trend regarding these lawsuits. With the exception 7 lawsuits that obtain court decisions, 4 of them were executed and the 3 were still in the process to be executed, the remaining lawsuits were still ongoing at first instance courts by the date of writing this study. The analysis of these lawsuits covers the legal grounds of civil status lawsuits, along giving samples of these lawsuits that show the general features of cases and highlights some social and personal reasons that prevent people from working towards ending their statelessness or the statelessness of their children. 22 15 15 6 6 Sidon 2 2 4 Zahle 1** 2 3 Northern Metn 1 Baabda 1 1 1 Baakline 1 1 Jib Jennine 1 1 Total 44 32 76 * One of the 12 lawsuits is a late birth registration but filed before the court of 1st instance. ** One of the lawsuits is a nationality case but filed before the Single Judge. Table 11 Age and Gender Distribution of the Beneficiaries of the Lawsuits Female Male Total Minors 70 86 156 Adults 40 75 115 Total 110 161 271 Age Group SEEKING NATIONALITY | PART 2 FRONTIERS RIGHTS Table 13 Legal Grounds of Lawsuits Assigned by Ruwad alHoukouk Legal Ground Number of Lawsuits Article 1 Paragraph 1 of Decision No. 15/1925 and Article 21 of Decree No. 8837/1932 28 Article 1 Paragraph 1 of Decision No. 15/1925 12 Article 1 Paragraph 2 of Decision No. 15/1925 6 Article 1 Paragraph 3 of Decision No. 15/1925 6 Article 1 Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Decision No. 15/1925 11 Article 5 of Decision No. 15/1925 3 Article 2 of Decision No. 15/1925 3 Article 1 Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Decision No. 15/1925 and Article 1 of Decision No. 2825/1924 2 Article 1 Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Decision No. 15/1925 and Article 12 of Decree No. 8837/1932 2 Article 4 of Decision No. 15/1925 2 Article 1 Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Decision No. 15/1925 and Article 4 of Decision No 15/1925 Total 1 76 36