Back to Contents The same source further reported that: “The Directorate of Political and Refugee Affairs (DPRA) is responsible for late registration of children of Palestinian refugees. According to the law birth registration of children older than one year requires a court procedure, an investigation by the DGS in some cases, and final approval from the DPRA. Where paternity is in doubt or where the applicant is age 18 years and older, he/she may also be required to take a DNA test. Birth registration can take more than a year and was extremely complex for all Palestinian refugee children whose parents were registered with DPRA.” (Source: US Department of State (USDOS) “2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Lebanon”, Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, March 2022, p. 31) ‘Non-registered’ Palestinian refugees The Palestinian Refugees Portal, a Palestinian refugees-led website reported in February 2022 about prospects of changing the Palestinian refugee card into a magnetised card: “The head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, Dr. Basil Al-Hassan, said that his committee is working on completing the necessary technical studies to change the card of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to a magnetised card. [...] and Hassan talked about “a unified state policy towards the Palestinian topic in Lebanon, whether at the level of the state’s ministerial, administrative or security institutions,” referring to common views that will turn into a unified policy very soon, according to him. Since 1948, the Directorate for Palestinian Refugee Affairs in Lebanon has issued handwritten identity cards that are large in size and easy to damage, and they have always caused confusion and problems for Palestinian refugees, at security checkpoints, due to the lack of clarity in the registered data.” (Inhouse translation. The author is an Arabic native speaker) ORIGINAL SOURCE : ‫ لتغيري بطاقة الالجئني الفلسطينيني يف لبنان إىل أخرى‬،‫ إ ّن لجنته تعمل عىل إنجاز الدراسات الفنية الالزمة‬،‫قال رئيس "لجنة الحوار اللبناين الفلسطيني" الدكتور باسل الحسن‬ ‫ سواء عىل ُمستوى ُمؤسسات الدولة الوزارية أو اإلدارية أو األمنية" مشريا ً إىل آراء‬،‫] وتحدث حسن عن "سياسة موحدة للدولة تجاه املوضوع الفلسطيني يف لبنان‬...[ .‫ممغنطة‬ ‫ بطاقات هوية مكتوبة بخط اليد وكبرية‬،8491 ‫ منذ العام‬،‫ وت ًصدر "مديرية شؤون الالجئني الفلسطينيني" يف لبنان‬.‫مشرتكة ستتحول إىل سياسة موحدة قريباً جدا ً وفق قوله‬ ‫ وطاملا تسببت يف التباسات وإشكاليات لالجئني فلسطينيني عىل الحواجز األمنية لعدم وضوح البيانات املسجلة‬،‫الحجم وسهلة التلف‬ (Source: Palestinian Refugees Portal: “Al-Hassan: The identity card of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon will be changed to a magnetic one”, February 22, 2022) AlAraby, an international Arabic newspaper and website, published testimonies by Palestinian refugees of their difficult access to identity papers: “Alaa Al-Dein Jaber, a Palestinian refugee born in Gaza in 1976 and lives in Ein El-Hilweh Refugee Camp in Lebanon, says: «My wife remains registered under her family as a single woman because the Lebanese state refused to register the marriage, using 1967’s Nakba as an excuse. Palestinians of the 1967 Nakba do not have the right to do this without going back to the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that has the right to issue us papers that prove our identity. We tried it multiple times, but we couldn’t reach anything, the Palestinian embassy in Lebanon didn’t serve us in this issue, while ambassador Abbas Zaki was content with only securing us an identity card after having to carry forged identity cards because we didn’t have an alternative.» [In-house translation. The author is an Arabic native speaker] ORIGINAL SOURCE : ‫ ال تزال زوجتي مسجلة حتى اليوم عىل قيود أهلها بأنها عزباء ألن الدولة اللبنانية‬:]‫ ويقيم يف مخيم عني الحلوة‬١٩٧٦ ‫و يقول [عالء الدين الجابري الذي ولد يف قطاع غزة عام‬ ‫ وقد‬.‫ ال يحق لهم ذلك من دون العودة إىل وزارة الخارجية الفلسطينية التي متلك حق إعطاء أوراق تثبت هويتنا‬١٩٦٧ ‫رفضت تسجيل الزواج بحجة أن فلسطينيي نكبة عام‬ ‫ يف حني اكتفى السفري عباس زيك بتأمني بطاقة‬،‫ فالسفارة الفلسطينية يف لبنان مل تعمل لخدمتنا يف هذا الشأن‬،‫ لكننا مل نستطع الوصول إىل أي يشء‬،‫حاولنا فعل ذلك مرات‬ ."‫تعريف لنا بعدما كنا نحمل بطاقات هوية مزورة ألننا ال منلك غريها‬ (Source: AlAraby - Palestinians without IDs in Lebanon, January 13, 2022) 4. Legal and policy frameworks and their implementation 41