My Nationality Campaign calls on President Aoun to amend the nationality law

Under the banner ‘Mothers’ Day Respited’, My Nationality Is A Right For Me and My Family campaign staged a sit-in yesterday in Riad el Solh demanding ratification of the draft law for granting Lebanese women the nationality to their family members. Nadira Nahas, speaking on behalf of the mothers, and in the presence of nearly 2000 people, said protestors are here to claim their rights as sanctioned by the Constitution of Lebanon. “Being Lebanese women married to foreigners, we have the right to give nationality to our children on parity with Lebanese men married to non-Lebanese women,” Nahas grieved. “Our children are not refugees or displaced persons, they are children to a Lebanese mother,” Nahas said. Likewise, the coordinator of the Campaign, Karima Shebbo, explained that the sit-in comes to remind the officials of their pledges to bring justice to women and to reject the deliberate evasion practiced in this direction. “We are here to put the three branches of government before their responsibility to change the texts and laws that are discriminatory against Lebanese women and mothers. Shebbo demanded a fair law that is founded on complete equality between men and women citizens, a law that guarantees the rights of Lebanese women to pass the nationality to their families. In her address to the Parliament, the Cabinet and the head of the Republic, Shebbo called for formulation of legislations that are in harmony with Paragraph 7 of the Constitution mandating, that “All the Lebanese are equal before the law”. What is required is an implementation of the pledges, she warned. “We are here because politicians say something on the media and do in fact nothing when they meet. We demand upright modification of the nationality law without any argument or compromises,” Shebbo advised. (Al Mustaqbal, L’Orient Le Jour, March 20, 2017)