The Plight of the Rightless: Mapping and Understanding Statelessness in Tripoli-V1.3
due to court and DNA expenses in addition to large amounts of bribes as well as brokerage fees
paid for hired commission-based individuals who work on securing the required documents for
applicants. The entire process has been taking 6 to more than 10 years.
PERCENTAGE
(of respondents
currently at this stage)
26%
21%
20%
14%
10%
PROCESS
Documents
preparation and
submission
Transition
from religious
to civil court
Civil court
Judge’s
ruling
Decision release
SUB-PROCESSES
(refer to map figure
20)
Documents
submitted to
Mukhtar (11%)
Obtained
proof of
lineage from
religious court
(21%)
General
Security
investigation
(13%)
Waiting for
judge ruling
(14%)
Received rejections
on lawsuit (3%)
Documents
submitted to
religious court
(15%)
Received positive
ruling but are
awaiting execution
(7%)
DNA testing
(7%)
CHALLENGES
Difficulty in
retrieving required
documents: birth
certificate, parents’
marriage
certificate, etc.
Lack of legal
knowledge.
Need to hire
lawyer.
Higher costs
at the civil
court.
High DNA and
medical costs.
Extended
investigation
periods by
General
Security.
Administrative delays.
Delays in execution
of ruling.
Pending cases.
CONSEQUENCES
Prolonged
process.
Bribes.
Loss of hope by
applicant at early
stages.
No follow-up.
Lawsuit stuck
at the
religious court
level.
Bottleneck
before
crucial DNA
stage.
Long waiting
period
Long waiting periods
despite positive
ruling.
Case rejections
despite positive DNA
results.
High fees paid in
vain.
MONEY SPENT
(median)
1,350,000 LBP
1,778 USD
4,750,000
LBP
3,150 USD
5,250,000 LBP
3,483 USD
7,500,000
LBP
4,975 USD
12,000,000 LBP
7,960 USD
DURATION (median)
5 years
6 years
7 years
8 years
More than10 years
Table 3-Registration lawsuit stages
Nationality Lawsuit: Mission Impossible?
The nationality lawsuit is filed before the First Instance Court.64 The Cases Commission at the
Ministry of Justice is notified and inquiries are made for clarification/investigation by relevant
authorities. The court at this stage will request the Personal Status Directorate to submit a report
64
First Instance Civil Court handling personal status cases.
49