Lebanon: Lebanese wives of foreigners demand equal rights

AFP
Apr 9, 2009

BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese women married to foreigners demanded in Beirut on Thursday the right to pass on their nationality to their children, threatening to boycott June elections if they do not get their way.

"You will not have our votes, and next time there will be more of us across Lebanon," the women shouted at a demonstration organised by a branch of the League of Lebanese Women's Rights.

The organisers estimate there are 18,000 such women in the country affected by a law that bars them from passing citizenship to their children.

The measure is widely viewed as an attempt to prevent refugees in Lebanon from getting citizenship.

Thousands of Palestinians fled to Lebanon when Israel was created in 1948, and the country hosts 410,000 of them and their descendants, most of whom live in refugee camps and are denied many basic rights.

Bariha Haraji, a 39-year-old mother of two married to a Palestinian, says she suffers because of the law.

"My husband was born in Lebanon. My children were born in Lebanon. They are Lebanese. They have nothing to do with Palestine, and still they are denied Lebanese citizenship," Haraji told AFP.

Siham Jabbour, 43, says the "government is punishing me because I married a non-Lebanese."

Also a mother of two, whose husband is Georgian, she tells of the hours she spends in offices to renew her children's residency papers.

"I pay my taxes. I work to support my family, and no one gives a damn what we go through every day," she said.

Lebanon heads to the polls on June 7 for a parliamentary election that many say will define the country's future, at least for the next four years.