MP Mohamad Qabbani stressed in a statement on Wednesday that the rights of the Lebanese woman are basically her rights as a citizen and a human being before any other political or electoral rights. “Occasionally, we witness eventful salutations of the rights of women in political issues and calls to support them and to eliminate gender-based discrimination,” Qabbani said. “But, we also hear populist remarks cautioning against giving the Lebanese woman the right to grant nationality to her children, which are all overstatements that do not reflect reality or humanity,” Qabbani added. The right of a mother to grant nationality to her family members is actually one of the basic human rights before anything else, he maintained, describing as unfounded and ineffectual the justifications to abort those rights based on demographic change. The latter, he stated, has been underway since independence for social and economic reasons by 95%. (Al Mustaqbal, November 30, 2017)