The Plight of the Rightless: Mapping and Understanding Statelessness in Tripoli-V1.3
census or any previous ones. Among those individuals are under-study and MAQ persons,
especially those of non-Lebanese, unknown or unprovable origins.63
In brief, both lawsuits start with the plaintiff submitting a request to be officially registered on his
father’s name at the Directorate of Personal Status with all required supporting documents that
are available, including birth certificate, parents IDs, and parents’ marriage certificate. An
authorised person or legal guardian can submit the lawsuit on behalf of a person, as long as the
former also submits the authorisation or legal stewardship document to the court too. For the civil
status lawsuit, a proof of lineage, in the form of a judicial decision, from the relevant religious court
could be required along with the other available required documents. Subsequently, the relevant
Sole Civil Judge in each court will ask the plaintiff to notify the State usually represented by the
Cases Commission before the Ministry of Justice and also asks the General Security and the
Directorate of Personal Status to submit a report regarding the case and, when necessary,
conduct an investigation.
Civil Lawsuit: Processes and Obstacles
The personal status lawsuit in Lebanon is based on the Law of Documenting Personal Status
(1951) and its amendments. The map below shows the process and approximate fees of each
stage in Lebanese Pounds.
63
Unprovable origins include individuals whose great grandfather was Lebanese but passed away
without leaving any tangible proof of his Lebanese nationality (Lost or destroyed ID…) or is still alive but
lacks any official documentation of his Lebanese nationality.
46