Interpretation has a say in countering discrimination against women in the right to nationality

Lawyer Ghadeer Alayli signed yesterday his book entitled ‘The Right of the Lebanese Woman to pass nationality to her children’ at the Beirut Bar Association following a seminar on the subject. Alayli presented the highlights of his Master's dissertation on the acquisition of the Lebanese Nationality as stipulated in the last paragraph of Article 4, Decree No. 15 “1925/s”, which he included in his book. “Jurisdiction has a role in protecting families and disadvantaged groups, and has the remit to prevent discrimination against women, and therefore against their children, particularly in the event of the legislator’s abstention from practicing his role in amending or revising laws in line with society’s evolution,” Alayli wrote. According to Al Akhbar newspaper, Article 4 comes in two parts, one involving minor children's entitlement to the Lebanese nationality, be they of a Lebanese mother or father. Alayli, however, bases his study on the second part of above article, focusing mainly on two important legal facts: first, the extent of public commitment to the right of women to pass their nationality to their children, and secondly the permissible edge of jurisdiction in this specific text. Alayli asserts that the content of this text is controversial, while arguing that jurisprudence is not restrictive and can sanction the right of women to transmit her nationality to her underage children. He also argued that the current legal text was drafted in a patriarchal spirit which considers the father to be the ‘breadwinner’, pointing out that many developments since then have disproved this statement. Finally, Alayli put forward three levels of interpretations regarding the last paragraph in Article 4 which can largely facilitate the work of justice. (Al Akhbar, 19 June 2015)