My Nationality is a Right for me and my Family Campaign challenges the arguments of the Mokbel Commission & steps up its actions || Newspapers (Arabic)

My Nationality is a Right for me and my Family Campaign organized a Press Conference yesterday Tuesday 22 January at the YWCA premises in Ain Mreisseh. The event was attended by 150 women concerned by the law in addition to media representatives, a representative from the National Commission for Lebanese Women, as well as representatives from the Lebanese Working Women League, Kafa, RDFL and other women organisations.  The Press Conference was convened in order to share the nationality Campaign analysis of the arguments presented by the Mokbel Commission as well as inform the media and the public of the next steps to be taken by the Campaign.

The Nationality Campaign critiqued the fact that the Mokbel Commission resorted to the “demographic imbalance argument” as well as the abuse of the issue of naturalization of Palestinian refugees noting that the statistics presented by the Ministry of Interior do not substantiate the stated demographic imbalance and are counterproductive to the Commission since they show that only 6% of women married to non-nationals are actually married to Palestinians.

The Campaign also noted that it will continue to reiterate that rights and equality are primordial universal principles and take precedence over any other consideration.  The Campaign also noted that Minister Bassil spearheaded the attack on women’s right to nationality and succeeded in having the upper hand despite the support for the reform of the nationality law expressed by the Prime Minister and by Ministers Fneich, Ali Khalil, Kanso and Abou-Faour.  

The Press Conference concluded on an emphasis of the future steps to be taken by the Campaign namely the stepping up of actions leading to the parliamentary elections as the Campaign will be scrutinizing the position of each candidate on this issue and will be publicizing its findings while calling on women not to vote for candidates who will undermine their rights.

The representative of the National Commission for Lebanese Women, Maitre Mirna Azar regretted the lack of seriousness with which the Mokbel Commission addressed the issue and the fact that the Commission did not even acknowledge and study the law proposal submitted by the NCLW.

Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Safir 23 January 2013