Nationality not Naturalization - The Rights of Lebanese Women to Full Citizenship and to Confer their Nationality to their Children ANNEX First: Lebanon’s Commitment to International Conventions on the Right of Lebanese Women to Pass on Their Nationality to Their Children Lebanon has participated in many international efforts on human rights and development issues, including those that addressed the issue of the Right to Nationality, Elimination of Discrimination against Women and Equality of rights between men and women before the law, as follows: • In 1972, Lebanon acceded to the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. (ICESCR) These Covenants guarantee the equal rights of women and men without any discrimination based on gender, religion or race,70 such as the right to acquire a nationality,71 the principle of equality before the law without discrimination72 and the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights.73 • In 1991, Lebanon acceded to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which defined “racial discrimination” as any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin, which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.74 Paragraph 3 of Article 5 (d) of this convention deals with the issue of states’ obligations to eliminate racial discrimination in matters related to nationality. • In 1996, Lebanon ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women under Law 592, which entered into force on 1 August 1996. It made reservations regarding Article 9 (2) relating to nationality, and Article 6 (c), (d), (f) and (g) regarding personal status, in addition to the reservation to Article 29 of this Convention. This Convention defines “discrimination against women” as any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex that has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms by women in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field, irrespective of their marital status on the basis of equality between men and women. The CEDAW Commission recommended that national laws be reformed to enable women to pass on their nationality to their children and to foreign husbands on an equal footing with male nationals. In 2017, a regional meeting resulted in a statement endorsed by the Secretary-General of the Arab League, calling on the Member States of the League of Arab States to protect equal nationality rights of all citizens, regardless of gender, and to strengthen the process of lifting reservations on nationality in the CEDAW Convention. The Arab League issued the Arab Declaration on Belonging and Legal Identity as a ministerial declaration in 2018. It calls for gender equality in nationality rights in all Member States and for children in all Member States to enjoy their right to a legal identity.75 • The Convention on the Rights of the Child76 stipulates that the child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to acquire a nationality, and States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their legal, national and international obligations, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless on failure to do that.77 • At the Arab level, Lebanon has acceded to the Arab Charter on Human Rights (ACHR)78 that ensures the right to enjoy equality without distinction on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religious belief, opinion, thought, national or social origin, wealth, birth or physical or mental disability and obliges States Parties to guarantee effective equality in the enjoyment of all the rights and freedoms in order to ensure protection against all forms of discrimination.79 The Arab Charter also provides that all persons are equal before the law and have the right to enjoy its protection without discrimination.80 It also stipulates that the State and society shall ensure the protection of the family, the strengthening of family ties, the protection of its members and the prohibition of all forms of violence or abuse in the relations among its members, and particularly against women and children, and stipulate that States parties shall take all necessary legislative, administrative and judicial measures to guarantee the protection, survival, development and wellbeing of the child in an atmosphere of freedom and dignity and shall ensure, in all cases, that the child’s best interests are the basic criterion for all measures taken in his regard, whether the child is at risk of delinquency or is a juvenile offender.81 • Member States participating in the ESCWA Committee on Women adopted “the Muscat Declaration: Towards the Achievement of Gender Justice in the Arab Region”. The Declaration expressed that despite significant progress towards achieving gender equality, there remains a considerable degree of discrimination against women because of fragmented approaches to achieving gender justice that overlook many elements of this broad concept. The Declaration acknowledges the need to adopt a comprehensive approach to gender justice, with two principal components: (1) ensuring accountability by determining effective national accountability mechanisms that limit discriminatory measures; and (2) achieving equality by eliminating all forms of discrimination between men and women. Participants in the seventh session of the ESCWA Committee on Women confirmed their commitment to implement measures and procedures to achieve gender justice in its broadest form, including ensuring gender equality and accountability; take appropriate measures to implement international treaties on equality and eliminating discrimination that member States have ratified, especially CEDAW; harmonize national legislation with international and regional commitments ratified by the Member States, 23