My Nationality and HRW condemn Minister Bassil's racism vis-a-vis Palestinians and Syrians

The positions expressed by Minister Bassil during the concluding session of the expatriates' conference in New York regarding women's rights to nationality and the racism regarding Palestinians and Syrians (http://bit.ly/2cYHchE) continue to stir wide condemnations from various segments of society.  Indeed, My Nationality is is a Right for me and my Family Campaign condemned in a statement issued today, the outrageous racist and sexist statements expressed by the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gebran Bassil.  The Campaign noted the Minister's insistence on the issue of the "specificity of Lebanon", an argument used the world over to justify the denial of rights. As an executive of the Lebanese government, the duty of the current Minister is to uphold rights and equality amongst citizens and not make judgments based on prejudice and discrimination, said the campaign.  Moreover, the Minister's role, as per the campaign, is also to ensure that the Constitution as well as International Human Rights Convention instruments ratified by Lebanon are upheld.  On the other hand, the Nationality Campaign noted that though it may be aggravated by the Minister's statements, yet, these statements are not surprising since they are consistent with earlier racist and sexist positions expressed by Minister Bassil and other Lebanese politicians. 

In addition, the vice director if the MENA section of Human Rights Watch, Lama Faqih, noted that Bassil's racist statements will further exclude Lebanese women married to Palestinian and Syrians from enjoying their right to transmit nationality to their families.  Faqih further accused Bassil of undermining efforts to reform the currently discriminatory family laws.  Social Media advocates also launched a hashtag campaign (#bassil_has_to_resign) calling on Bassil, to resign and condemning his racism vis-a-vis Palestinians and Syrians. (Daily Star and Al Hayat, 20 September, 2016)