Back to Contents stateless persons who are simply non-existent for the State – except for those known as ‘Qayd Dars’ (under study) who have a specific register as foreigners of unidentified nationality. Lebanese laws do not define statelessness and rarely mention the term ‘stateless’, for example in relation to provisions on the jurisdiction of penal courts that extend to ‘stateless persons’, and to the issuance of laissez passer to ‘foreigners of unidentified nationality’, and to hospitalisation in public hospitals that is allowed for “needy persons who have no nationality”. The term ‘Maktoumin’ (unregistered) is used to define those who fall under the treaty of Lausanne and Decision 2825.” (Source: The Collective for Research & Training on Development- Action, The Nationality Campaign, Ruwad alHoukouk Frontiers Rights et al, “Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review”, July 2020, p. 5) Middle East Online (meo) wrote in an article, titled “Citizenship sale exposes Lebanese political hypocrisy”, the source indicates that wealthy Palestinians have been naturalised through this practice: “Throughout Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, much of the country’s internal debate centred on how the naturalisation of the country’s Palestinian refugees could be halted, with the predominantly Christian right-wing opposing the Palestinian Liberation Organisation within Lebanon and accusing it of working towards naturalising the Palestinians and establishing Lebanon as a surrogate state. The post-civil war settlement in 1990 resulted in a clear amendment to the preamble of the Lebanese Constitution, dismissing the likelihood of either the settlement or naturalisation of any foreigners within the country. Nevertheless, following the outbreak of the Syrian crisis and the influx of more than 1 million refugees, the spectre of naturalisation has returned to the Lebanese stage with most Lebanese opposed to the idea. This has led Lebanese cabinets to adopt xenophobic measures intended to make refugees feel unwelcome in Lebanon, barring them from work and limiting their ability to purchase property. Despite this anti-naturalisation policy, many non-Lebanese have acquired citizenship through a special decree issued by the Lebanon’s president, who, by the provisions of the constitution, has the discretionary authority to bestow medals, special pardons and, it seems, nationality. As has become the custom, each departing president would have towards the end of his term bestowed this privilege on affluent Arab businessmen and their families — mostly Palestinian and Syrian — making it possible for them to own property and avoid the hassle of red tape and residency requirements. [...] [...] the recent naturalisation decree signed by Aoun, granting approximately 400 individuals Lebanese citizenship, unleashed a gale of criticism and deafening cries of hypocrisy. Chief among the allegations against Aoun are those of corruption, with payments totalling millions of dollars thought to have taken place, further exposing the hypocrisy of the anti-naturalisation camp led by Aoun.” (Source: Middle East Online (meo), “Citizenship sale exposes Lebanese political hypocrisy”, 10 June 2018) In relation to Palestinians specifically: 4.4. What principal legislation related to nationality and statelessness exists in relation to Palestinians in Lebanon? In its series of country reports for 2021, the US Department of State wrote about Lebanon in March 2022: “Palestinian refugees residing in the country could not obtain citizenship and were not considered citizens of any other country. Palestinian refugee women married to citizens were able to obtain citizenship after one year of marriage. By law the father transmits citizenship to children. Palestinian refugees, including children, had limited social and civil rights and no access to government-provided health, education, or other social services. Children of Palestinian refugees faced discrimination in birth registration, as bureaucratic and administrative procedures at the Directorate of Political Affairs and Refugees (DPRA) made it difficult to register these children after the age of one year. Additionally, many Palestinian refugee children had to leave school at an early age to earn an income. 4. Legal and policy frameworks and their implementation 35