MP Marc Daou. (Credit: NNA)
This Mother's Day, celebrated on March 21 in Lebanon, saw MP Marc Daou (independent) express on his X (formerly Twitter) account "all solidarity with the Lebanese mother's claim to her right to pass on her nationality to her children."
MP Daou was referring to the inability of Lebanese women married to foreigners to pass on their nationality to their children or spouses. The Lebanese law on the transmission of nationality, dating back to 1925, grants this right exclusively to Lebanese men, not even mentioning women, which has led many to argue that Lebanese women are virtually second-class citizens.
Despite decades of active campaigning, activists have never seen a breakthrough on this issue. There is no shortage of political pretexts, revolving mainly around "demographic" fears, supposedly linked to the fear of the settlement of Palestinians who have been refugees in Lebanon since 1948. For children born to Lebanese mothers and residing in Lebanon, this situation is a source of much suffering, as they continue to be considered foreigners.
In his message on X, Marc Daou also called for women to be "protected from the growing violence against them, not to mention the right of guardianship" that often is used to deny them custody over their children in the event of divorce. In Lebanon, questions of personal status are handled by religious courts, and the rules that apply to women differ from one community to another and are generally unfavorable to them.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.