FRONTIERS RIGHTS SEEKING NATIONALITY THE JUDICIAL ODYSSEY OF APPLICANTS a legitimate marriage. Despite the religious court’s ruling, the judge demanded that both parents provide a formal acknowledgment of parenthood concluded at the Notary Public’s office to confirm kinship. Such request is legally not justified for the acknowledgement of paternity/ birth notification. Many of them seek judicial solutions years after their birth and lack proper details of their place and date of birth and have no evidence to support their claim. Some of them cannot even find witnesses to confirm their date and place of birth and/or origin as they may be second or third generation, and themselves rarely can provide credible information about their origin and causes of their statelessness. As such they have difficulties to meet the two legal conditions - birth in Lebanon and non-acquisition of a foreign nationality upon birth by affiliation and/ or prove cannot acquire another nationality. The inability to meet these conditions is further aggravated as access to public documents that may help them to find any record the claimants can prove that their ancestors were in Lebanon in 1924, such as the Ottoman Register, and the population census of 1921 and 1932 whether they were registered as foreigners, as Lebanese, or as people without a nationality. Many stateless persons believe that the only solution to end their statelessness is naturalization, THE RUGGED ROAD TO ACCESS JUSTICE The most prominent barriers are the lack of sufficient information regarding laws, practice, and rights, wrong advice presented to litigants, and the high cost of accessing the judicial system. Poor Knowledge of Laws and Procedures SEEKING NATIONALITY | PART 3 parenthood is, according to Article 15 of the Law on Registering Civil Status Documents, a procedure established for children born out of wedlock only. In a different lawsuit submitted by the father requesting the registration of the births of children, the legal petition brief included attestation signed by the unlicensed midwife who assisted the delivery of the children and authenticated by the Mukhtar, and proof of marriage and kinship issued by a Shari’a court. Contrary to the facts of the case, the judge requested proof that the births of the children were attended by a licensed midwife, and a copy conform of the marriage contract disregarding the clear information in the legal petition brief and the supporting documentation. Many stateless persons believe that the only solution to end their statelessness is naturalization, a matter that is discretionary and not a right. For this, they do not give much importance to obtain documentation such as birth notification from the midwife or the doctor who assist the delivery of their newborn baby on the Lebanese soil, and many of them, their births, are assisted by unofficial midwives that cannot give them Lack of basic knowledge of the laws and procedures is common among most Lebanese regardless of their background and level of education. In Lebanon, unlike most countries,59 there is no proper and adequate, comprehensive civic education in the school’s curriculum. Furthermore, the various public institutions and bodies do not have information desks or posters clarifying the different laws, procedures, and steps that should be taken in order to complete a certain transaction. There are also no local free legal advisory centers in the different Lebanese regions for individuals to seek and obtain advise for different legal issues. For instance, some parents do not know that they should declare the birth of their new born child within the one-year delay from the date of birth in order to be registered administratively otherwise they will have to file a registration lawsuit after. Also, many mothers do not know that they can declare the birth and this is not exclusive to the father. Unfortunately, many parents, particularly among the most marginalized and vulnerable, believe that the mere issuing of a religious marriage certificate and/or religious court ruling of proof of marriage or the issuance of a birth certificate endorsed by a Mukhtar means their event is “officially” registered automatically. Lebanese parents of children born out of wedlock do not know that they can register the child if either the two parents or one of them acknowledges filiation. Ignorance also affects many children born to Lebanese fathers and unregistered women. They remain stateless because there is a quasigeneral ignorance that a Lebanese man married to an unregistered woman can file a lawsuit before the single judge to correct his marital status and 68