“My Nationality is a Right for me and for Family Campaign” rejects the law proposal to restitute the Lebanese nationality and consider it discriminatory against women

My Nationality is a Right for me and for my Family Campaign expressed in a statement released yesterday, its rejection of the law proposal to restitute Lebanese Nationality to immigrants of Lebanese descent, stating that this law proposal further violates Lebanese women’s right to full citizenship.
The statement noted that according to media sources, the Speaker of the House, Mr. Nabih Berri, intends to place the new proposed law on the agenda of the parliament, to be discussed and endorsed as swiftly as possible after dealing with the law related to salary scales.  It was also announced that the Speaker of the House has called on the Parliamentary Commissions to meet on Tuesday May 13th to discuss this law petition and to decide on the criteria for reinstating Lebanese citizenship.
Thus, the Nationality Campaign expressed its rejection of this move, first because of the primacy of Lebanese women’s right to full citizenship over that of immigrants of Lebanese descent and second, because it undermines the right of Lebanese women to transmit, same as men, their nationality to their spouses and children.
The Campaign particularly highlighted the fact that, according to the suggested law, only immigrants of male Lebanese descent will be eligible to a restitution of Lebanese nationality, promising that it will make comments on the proposal law in a subsequent statement.
The Nationality Campaign reminded the public of the deplorable step taken by the former cabinet on 12 December 2011, when it approved by consensus the law proposal in question after revising one clause which allowed women to reclaim Lebanese nationality under the guise that they wanted the new law to be in line with the current discriminatory nationality law of 1925. (Part one of clause 1: if he or any of his kin or relatives of his father up till the fourth decree were physically living in Lebanon according to the census of 1921 as per the Ministry of Interior records and archives, notably the record of immigrants).
In conclusion, the Campaign called on those MPs who are keen on citizenship rights and on equality between women and men, to turn down the proposed law in its present form, and to demand its revision so as to ensure equality between women and men.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar, Al-Akhbar 13 May 2014