Rai calls on young people of Lebanese origin to reclaim their nationality

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Raï on Saturday called on young people from the Lebanese diaspora to reclaim the nationality of their country of origin and register in the civil status records.

The patriarch celebrated Mass in Dimane, the summer seat of the patriarchate in the mountains of the North, before young people enrolled in the “Maronite Academy,” a program organized by the Maronite Foundation in the World to help young people of Lebanese descent discover Lebanon. In his homily, he said that the youth of the diaspora are “the future of Lebanon and its face to the world.”

“You are the messengers of this homeland to the world, and you are the messengers of the world to the homeland,” he said. “You are more than emigrants; you are the ambassadors of the Lebanese message.”

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‘Legal and national existence’

“Register your names in the Lebanese civil status records. Do not be content with nostalgia, but translate it into legal and national existence,” he urged, calling on young emigrants to “always remain in contact with Lebanon through your culture, your visits, and your support.”

The recovery of nationality was a flagship project of the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM, Aounist), Gebran Bassil, when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs (2014–2020). A first decree was signed in 2017 to allow emigrants to reclaim their nationality. The process is voluntary: candidates submit an application which, if deemed admissible, is subject to a General Security investigation to determine the person’s origins.

On Friday, President Joseph Aoun invited the diaspora to forge a genuine partnership and to invest in Lebanon, in order to offer the youth new job opportunities, as the authorities aim to carry out a series of reforms in a country still reeling from six years of a devastating economic and financial crisis.

A political debate is underway in Lebanon over the voting rights of Lebanese expatriates. Some in the political class want to amend the 2017 electoral law to allow emigrants to vote for all 128 members of Parliament, as was the case in the last two legislative elections. Others — including the FPM and the Amal Movement of Speaker Nabih Berri — want to preserve the current law’s provision to create six additional seats in a 16th constituency for “Lebanese abroad.”.

Raï appelle les jeunes d'origine libanaise a recouvrer la nationalité