Civil campaign for personal status to resume following a forced break

In an interview with An Nahar newspaper, founder of Non-Violence University for Human Rights, Dr. Ugarit Younan, noted that the personal status law which she drafted with Dr. Walid Salibi, has been on the agenda of the common parliamentary committees since 2011. Younan pointed out that the Civil Campaign for Personal Status which is an umbrella for concerned associations and individuals will resume its action after a forced break imposed by the paralysis in political life, which the Campaign stigmatized. Meanwhile, the Campaign produced a booklet featuring a synopsis of studies on personal status laws and proposed various alternatives to contract civil marriage. “There is no state law as such in Lebanon, the governance of personal status in the country is assigned to confessional authorities by virtue of the Constitution,” Younan said while highlighting the major contradiction in Lebanese law and practices of citizen rights. On one hand Article 9, she explained, ensures respect of the personal status systems of the different religious sects, it does not necessarily mean confining the subject of personal status to those sects. On the other hand, the Constitution as stipulated in Article 19 has granted leaders of confessional groups the right and authority to appeal in the event of any case that violates their personal status systems. Based on this, Younan demanded that the Government develops a personal status law for all citizens, indicating that no country in the world is in a similar situation except Lebanon. She went on to say that Lebanon has a firm and progressive ground for civil marriage despite the present dire sectarian atmosphere, and criticized the fact that the media only focuses on extremism. Finally, Younan concluded that women’s rights are better preserved and protected by civil marriage as confessional laws are largely discriminatory against women at all levels. (An Nahar, 16 July 2015)