SEEKING NATIONALITY THE JUDICIAL ODYSSEY OF APPLICANTS • MANAL AND FADI ARE UNREGISTERED. They were born to a Lebanese father and a stateless mother. Their parents were married by a sheik. Considering that the wife is stateless, it was not possible to register the marriage in the husband civil record. The wife was naturalized in 1994. However, due to family dispute, the husband did not register his religious marriages despite the children continuously asking to be registered. The father finally obtained proof of marriage from the religious court in 2014. Then, the children with their mother filed a lawsuit against their father requesting their registration. They did not know where and how to file the lawsuits. During that period, their mother passing away in 2015. They submitted the lawsuit before the Public Prosecution’s Office in their region to discover later that the latter had not taken any action and the complaint was still in his incoming mail. The death of their father in 2017 prevented the children from following their case with the Public Prosecution’s Office. FRH assigned an attorney to legally represent them in their judicial proceedings given the complexity of the procedures. • OMAR WAS BORN TO A LEBANESE FATHER MARRIED RELIGIOUSLY TO A SYRIAN WOMAN. The marriage was not registered in the husband’s civil records as the wife did not have the required identity documentation to complete the marriage registration procedures. The wife was of Lebanese origins. After her marriage, she acquired the Lebanese nationality by a judicial ruling and registered their marriage. However, due to family disputes, Omar’s birth registration was neglected until many years later when his father filed a lawsuit to register his birth and obtained a positive ruling. The father obtained from the court the authentic copy of the executable decision. During this period, Omar’s mother left her home and disappeared. In revenge, the father refused to execute the court ruling. FRH assigned an attorney to represent Omar to obtain copy of the executable decision and executed the decision. • KARIM WAS STATELESS DESPITE BORN TO A LEBANESE FATHER AND A STATELESS WOMAN. Karim is married and has 11 children who are all unregistered. Karim obtained a judicial ruling rectifying his father’s marital status from single to married and to have his birth registered under his father’s record. Later, Karim asked the Mukhtar in his area and an attorney to help him to file a lawsuit to register his children but he stopped when both asked for a large amount of money, and was told that he has to bear a huge amount for the DNA tests. Given his dire financial situation, FRH assigned an attorney to file a late birth registration lawsuit for the children, ex post facto of Karim’s registration ruling. B. Jus Sanguinis Lawsuits - Children born out of wedlock - Article 2 of Decision 15/1925 The 5 lawsuits involve children born out of wedlock of Lebanese parents. By the law, these children are considered Lebanese by Law. However, to be registered administratively, or later judicially if the birth was not declared during the first year of the date of the birth, one or both of parents (father or mother) must formally acknowledge affiliation while they are still minors.28 If none of the parents acknowledges the child, the latter, after reaching the age of majority, could file late birth registration lawsuit against his mother or father if he/she can prove paternal or maternal biological affiliation. In case the child did not obtain the consensual acknowledgement of affiliation and a favorable judicial decision for lack of proof of affiliation, and was born in Lebanon, he may file a lawsuit for the acquisition of the Lebanese nationality on jus soli ground. This was the position of certain Courts of First Instance, which considered a child unacknowledged by either of his parents to be a child of unknown parents (foundling), even though the parents might be known.29 Women who acknowledge the affiliation of their child born out of wedlock is treated differently than in the case the men during the official administrative registration procedures. Although, the birth certification is registered as declared with the civil registrar, a matter that safeguard the right to full registration even after the one-year delay, the authorities conduct investigations and interrogations about the women, their personal relationships. News of the birth out of wedlock spreads in the woman’s environment. In addition, the process takes a long period of time and requires the mother to go to different departments more than once, such as the Civil Status Officer, the chief of the Civil Status Department and the Director General of Civil Status who shall have the final decision on whether to register the child or not.30 This treatment scares many single mothers who do not register the child from fear of the social “scandal. The authorities justify this to ensure that the women are not trying to give their Lebanese nationality to children born to foreign fathers as way to give their children the Lebanese nationality by the law. SEEKING NATIONALITY | PART 2 FRONTIERS RIGHTS 40