Nationality not Naturalization - The Rights of Lebanese Women to Full Citizenship and to Confer their Nationality to their Children This table does not specify the period covered by these figures, whether they are numbers for one, three, five years or more. The distribution of these figures is not detailed by region, nationality, denomination and sect of spouses, and the place of the marriage contract, nor does it address the distribution of these figures between courtesy residences granted to the husband of the Lebanese woman and those granted to her children. The same also applies to the number of the laissez-passer issued to non-registered Lebanese women “Maktoumi al-Qaid”, as it does not specify the time period covered by these figures. Recommendations their nationality to their children (Strategic Litigation). • File a hundred or more lawsuits before the judiciary all over the Lebanese territory to demand the right of Lebanese women to pass on their nationality to their children, and to cooperate with the Bar Association in Beirut and the North and some lawyers specialized in this field. • Partner with some local associations to cooperate in enforcing some of these activities. • Organize appropriate advocacy campaigns at the social level. Third: At the institutional level • Create an application to document marriages concluded by Lebanese women abroad, and invite those abroad, in particular, who have not registered their marriage contracts at Lebanese embassies to fill in the information as specified in this application. • Establish a data bank in Lebanon to document all information concerning Lebanese women married to foreigners, their children, and the non-registered women “Maktoumi al-Qaid” in addition to the violations against them and their families and the relevant court rulings. The underlying purpose for this bank is to utilize it as a source for advocacy campaigns, to gather information and indicators, and to serve in developing programmes and identifying needs. • Observe trials, especially those concerned with allowing Lebanese women to pass on their citizenship to their children. • Propose a draft law on the digitization of all data in the Directorate of Personal Status and the Directorate of Refugee Affairs of the Ministry of Interior and the digitization of marriage contracts and birth and death certificates registered in Lebanese embassies abroad. (This project can be implemented with funding from the United Nations and/ or the European Union). • Run campaigns to approve Lebanese mothers married to foreigners to pass on their nationalities to their children and not only focus action on the political level but also invite the stakeholders to participate in such campaigns and civil society institutions. • Organize panels, meetings and advocacy campaigns to urge and/or promote trade unions and federations to open membership to the children and spouses of Lebanese women who have been married for at least a year to have equal status with Lebanese citizens pending the amendment to the Nationality Law by the House of Representatives. • Organize advocacy campaigns and meetings to get the Lebanese Ministry of Health and the National Social Security Fund to allow children of Lebanese women married to foreigners to benefit from all health-care services that are equally available to other Lebanese citizens. • Amend the Social Security Law and adopt laws similar to Law 128/2010 and enable foreign spouses and children of Lebanese women to obtain the Social Security Fund benefits. At the conclusion of this study, we propose the following recommendations: First: At the individual level • Adopt a national programme to raise awareness in the community about the right of married Lebanese women to pass on their nationality to their children. • Provide legal advice either directly or through partner community-based organizations, which helps to document legal needs and legal loopholes. • Legal representation of Lebanese women married to foreigners before the judiciary to claim their rights to pass on their nationality to their children, based on the Lebanese Nationality Law — where possible — and the Bill of Human Rights, International Conventions, the National Action Plan for Security Council Resolution 1325, and the Lebanese Constitution. This recommendation aims to create a condition in the judiciary to compel it to exercise jurisprudence and apply justice and fairness principles. • • Document and use women’s stories in advocacy campaigns, as well as involve women and their children in these campaigns. Organize appropriate advocacy campaigns at the individual level. Second: At the social level • Hold round tables with judges and law enforcement agencies and build their capacities on various issues related to the rights of Lebanese women to confer on their Lebanese nationality to their children, including international conventions related to this right, directly and indirectly. • Exchange experiences with regional and/or international judges and encourage Lebanese judges to breach the Nationality Law and establish a new statutory norm found on diligence on the right of Lebanese women to confer their Lebanese nationality to their children, relying on the principles of justice and fairness, especially since the customary law and the natural law which is grounded on justice and fairness are a component of the legal norm. • Build the capacity of lawyers to plead and defend Lebanese women married to foreigners and claim their right to pass on 21