FRONTIERS RIGHTS SEEKING NATIONALITY THE JUDICIAL ODYSSEY OF APPLICANTS • KHALIL WAS BORN TO A LEBANESE DIVORCEE MOTHER AND AN UNKNOWN FATHER. Khalil was born 4 years after the mother obtained her divorced from the religious court. The divorce was not executed in the civil status records. Nevertheless, to avoid “social shame”, she gave the hospital where she gave birth Khalil the name of her ex-husband. The hospital issued his birth notification mentioning the ex-husband name as his father. The Ministry of Social Affairs referred Khalil to FRH who assigned an attorney to represent him in late birth registration lawsuit requesting his registration under his mother’s record, after she formally acknowledged his affiliation before the Notary. • FOUAD WAS BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK. His Lebanese mother was raped by an unknown man when she was 12 years old. Her family discovered she was pregnant several months later and was not possible to abort the child. Her family did not bring lawsuit against the rapist for fear of ruining their daughter’s reputation. When Fouad was born, the family informed their extended family and their neighborhood that his mother got married and divorced. Fouad was raised by his mother’s parents. He only had an identification attestation issued by the village’s Mukhtar who knew the truth. Fouad’s mother approached FRH requesting assistance to register Fouad. She formally acknowledged his affiliation. FRH assigned an attorney to represent her in a late birth registration lawsuit to register a child born out of wedlock under the Lebanese mother’s record. The judge issued a positive decision in less than a year. Fouad today is registered under his mother’s family record and holds the Lebanese nationality. • HALA WAS BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK. Her Lebanese mother was raped by an unknown man. The mother did not declare Hala’s birth, out of fear of people’s opinion. She even did not obtain Hala’s birth certificate from the hospital. When Hala became 30 years old, she approached FRH who obtained the mother’s acknowledgement of affiliation and assigned an attorney to filed a lawsuit to register her birth under her mother’s civil record. NATIONALITY LAWSUITS The legislator considered the issue of statelessness when drafting the Lebanese Nationality Law and the Census Decree of 1932. The aim was to set legal provisions that would prevent children from becoming stateless. Stateless persons that meet the legal conditions have to file a nationality lawsuit before the Court of First Instance. Such lawsuits aim to create a political link between the state and the individual who requests being considered Lebanese by law. This applies to children born in Lebanon with no evidence or proof showing that they have acquired, by filiation, upon birth a foreign nationality, children born in Lebanon of parents with unknown nationalities, and any individual who can prove his/her Ottoman roots and the residency of his ancestors in Lebanon on 30 August, 1924. Such lawsuits are filed against the state. Moreover, an unregistered woman (Maktoumat alQayd) married to a Lebanese is entitled to acquire the Lebanese nationality by marriage one year after the execution of the rectification of the husband’s marital status, as is the case for foreign woman. However, unlike the latter, an unregistered woman should file a judicial lawsuit by virtue of which she may acquire the nationality. Nationality lawsuits fall under Article, clauses (2) & (3) of the Lebanese nationality law no.15/1925. These legal provisions stipulate important safeguards against statelessness on jus soli grounds. Article 1(2) considers to be Lebanese any person born on the Lebanese territory and proven to not have acquired a foreign nationality upon birth by affiliation. Article 1 (3) considers to be Lebanese any person born on the territory of the State of Greater Lebanon from unknown parents (foundlings) or parents of unknown nationality. To acquire the Lebanese nationality under these provisions, three conditions must be met: a) born on the Lebanese soil; b) proven did not acquire another nationality by affiliation on birth; or c) born to unidentified nationality or unknown parents. In some cases, these provisions are invoked in conjunction with Article 12 of Decree 8837/1932 related to the 1932 population census (Bedouin origin) or with Article 1 of Decision No. 2825 dated 30/8/1924 related to the emergence of the Lebanese nationality. 42