LEBANON AT RISK OF PERPETUATING STATELESSNESS By covering Greater Beirut and Mount Lebanon, this study brings the number of geographic areas covered to four, after addressing statelessness in Tripoli (2019) and Akkar (2021). While the field mapping confirms initial estimates, it also highlights the inaction of authorities when it comes to preventing and ending statelessness. CONSISTENT ESTIMATES • With respectively 4,116 and 1,138 stateless persons mapped in Greater Beirut and Mount Lebanon, the uncovered number of stateless individuals now stands at roughly 11,500 across the four geographic areas covered by the different studies since 2019. • These findings are consistent with Siren’s previous estimates on the total stateless population in Lebanon that do not exceed 27,000 persons. This is contrary to unrealistic approximations from other sources, which sometimes reach 80,000 persons. • Consequently, this research's more limited estimated size of the stateless phenomenon helps to defuse the political and sectarian considerations that have been attached to the issue, which have blocked progress toward its definitive resolution. • Under such context, developing concrete and efficient policy solutions to address the different administrative ramifications entangling thousands of stateless men, women and children of Lebanese origins seems feasible. POLICY SOLUTIONS IN REVERSE • Despite Lebanon’s constitutional and international obligations to defend and respect the right to nationality, there has been no tangible progress in addressing statelessness in recent years. • The 2020 legislative proposal to hand over to MoIM the handling of registration procedures for nonregistered MeQ persons without the need for a court order has not been pursued. • As a result, this category of statelessness continues to grow, putting at the risk the future of younger generations. • On the contrary, Lebanese authorities changed direction recently with regard to nationality rights. For instance, some members of parliament were preparing a bill that aimed to ban the naturalization of stateless children born after 2011, out of fear of naturalizing Syrians. The legislative proposal has not yet been discussed by Lebanon’s parliamentary commissions. While MPs’ fears might be understandable from a sectarian demographic perspective, such propositions constitute a barrier to the right of stateless persons to acquire citizenship, especially non-registered children, in addition to contravening to the country’s legal obligations. © 2023 Siren Associates. All Rights Reserved. 86