What Principal legislation related to nationality and statelessness exists in relation to Palestinians in Lebanon?
In its series of country reports for 2021, the US Department of State wrote about Lebanon in March 2022:
“Palestinian refugees residing in the country could not obtain citizenship and were not considered citizens of any other country. Palestinian refugee women married to citizens were able to obtain citizenship after one year of marriage. By law the father transmits citizenship to children. Palestinian refugees, including children, had limited social and civil rights and no access to government-provided health, education, or other social services. Children of Palestinian refugees faced discrimination in birth registration, as bureaucratic and administrative procedures at the Directorate of Political Affairs and Refugees (DPRA) made it difficult to register these children after the age of one year. Additionally, many Palestinian refugee children had to leave school at an early age to earn an income.
[...]Citizenship is derived exclusively from the father, resulting in statelessness for children of a citizen mother and a noncitizen father when registration under the father’s nationality is not possible. This legal discrimination particularly affected Lebanese, Palestinians, and increasingly Syrians from households headed by women. Moreover, undocumented Syrian refugees were unable to register their marriages and births of their children due to their lack of official status. Additionally, some children born to citizen fathers did not have their births registered due to administrative obstacles or a lack of understanding of the regulations. There were no official statistics on the size of the stateless population”.
(Source: US Department of State (USDOS) “2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Lebanon”, Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, March 2022, pp. 29-30)
Based on a 2020 book by scholar Dr. Nora Stel, and other sources, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported in 2021 that:
“10.1.1 Legal Status
PRL do not have the same rights as Lebanese citizens, other refugees or foreigners and fall into the so-called protection gap in which their legal status is one of exclusion; there are no national, regional or international laws that the Lebanese government follows. The Department of Affairs of Palestinian Refugees has the official task of establishing an institutional framework for the presence of Palestinians in Lebanon. Sources state that there is a lack of such an institutional framework. Academics and NGOs see the ambiguity of the lack of legislation as a tactic more often used by the Lebanese authorities on other controversial topics. Dr. Nora Stel of Radboud University, for example, states that decisions by this government body remain unclear about what rights the Lebanese government gives to PRL and that Lebanese authorities deliberately strive for institutional ambiguity. By including few rules about Palestinian refugees, the government does not have to bear much responsibility for this.” (In-house translation. The translator is a native Dutch speaker)
ORIGINAL SOURCE
“10.1.1 Juridische status
PRL hebben niet dezelfde rechten als Libanese burgers, andere vluchtelingen of buitenlanders en vallen in de zogenaamde protection gap waarin hun legale status een van exclusie is; er bestaan geen nationale, regionale of internationale wetten die de Libanese overheid volgt.295 Het Department of Affairs of Palestinian Refugees heeft officieel de taak om een institutioneel kader op te zetten voor de aanwezigheid van Palestijnen in Libanon.296 Bronnen stellen dat het ontbreekt aan een dergelijk institutioneel kader.297 Academici en ngo’s zien de ambiguïteit van het ontbreken van wetgeving, als een tactiek die vaker door de Libanese autoriteiten wordt toegepast bij andere omstreden onderwerpen. Zo stelt dr. Nora Stel van de Radbound Universiteit dat besluiten van dit overheidsorgaan onduidelijk blijven over welke rechten de Libanese overheid aan PRL geeft en dat Libanese autoriteiten bewust naar institutionele ambiguïteit streven. Door weinig regels over Palestijnse vluchtelingen op te nemen hoeft de overheid ook weinig verantwoordelijkheid te dragen hiervoor.”
(Source: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Thematisch ambtsbericht Palestijnen in Libanon”, January 2021, p. 47)
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs added the following about naturalisation, citing numerous academic reports, the UNHCR, and a 2016 Fact-Finding Mission of the Finnish Immigration Service:
“Palestinians cannot naturalize in Lebanon, descendants of Palestinians in Lebanon are registered as Palestinian refugees through the male line with the DPAR36. Opposition to the naturalization of Palestinians, who are largely Sunni, is widely supported among the Lebanese population and authorities. This would put pressure on the current balance of power between the various sectarian groups in Lebanon.37 In some cases it is possible to obtain Lebanese nationality, including for Palestinians (see 3.2). UNHCR argues that the terms of naturalization are highly politicized and fall under the discretion of the Lebanese state.
36 FIS, ‘Fact-Finding Mission Report: Syrian and Palestinian (in Lebanon and exiting Syria) refugees in Lebanon’, 29 September 2016.
37 UNHCR Lebanon, Statelessness Update, August 2014, p. 2.
Palestinians are not eligible for Lebanese nationality on the basis of Article 1 of Decree No 15 on Lebanese Nationality January 19, 1925. Article 1 grants Lebanese nationality to persons born in the territory of Lebanon who do not have a foreign nationality by descent, or persons whose parents have an unknown nationality. However, under the 1989 Ta’if Peace Agreement, the naturalization of Palestinians in Lebanon was declared unconstitutional.38 The 1990 constitution confirms that non-Lebanese are not allowed to settle in Lebanon.39 The naturalization of Palestinians, informally worded as tawteen, is seen as an infringement of Lebanese sovereignty.40 A child born in Lebanon of Palestinian parents is registered as a Palestinian refugee.” (In-house translation. The translator is a native Dutch speaker)
ORIGINAL SOURCE
“3.1 Naturalisatie in Libanon
Palestijnen kunnen in Libanon niet naturaliseren, nakomelingen van Palestijnen in Libanon worden via de mannelijke lijn geregistreerd als Palestijnse vluchteling bij de DPAR.56 Verzet tegen de naturalisatie van Palestijnen, die grotendeels soennitisch zijn, is breed gedragen onder de Libanese bevolking en autoriteiten. Hierdoor zou de huidige machtsbalans tussen de verschillende sektarische groepen in Libanon onder druk worden gezet.57 In sommige gevallen is het wel mogelijk om de Libanese nationaliteit te verkrijgen, ook voor Palestijnen (zie 3.2). UNHCR stelt dat de voorwaarden van naturalisatie erg gepolitiseerd zijn en onder de discretionaire beleidsvrijheid van de Libanese staat vallen.
Palestijnen komen niet in aanmerking voor de Libanese nationaliteit op basis van artikel 1 van Decree No 15 on Lebanese Nationality 19 januari 1925. Artikel 1 kent de Libanese nationaliteit toe aan personen geboren op het grondgebied van Libanon die niet door afstamming een buitenlandse nationaliteit hebben, of personen waarvan de ouders een onbekende nationaliteit hebben. Echter, onder het Vredesakkoord van Ta’if van 1989 werd de naturalisatie van Palestijnen in Libanon onconstitutioneel verklaard.59 De constitutie uit 1990 bevestigt dat niet- Libanezen zich niet mogen vestigen in Libanon.60 De naturalisatie van Palestijnen, informeel verwoord als tawteen, wordt gezien als een inbreuk op de Libanese soevereiniteit.61 Een in Libanon geboren kind van Palestijnse ouders wordt geregistreerd als Palestijnse vluchteling.”
(Source: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Thematisch ambtsbericht Palestijnen in Libanon”, January 2021, p. 15)
In 2020, a group of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working with Palestinians in Lebanon submitted a combined report to the Universal Periodic Review.
“Lebanese legislation has not developed a law providing a definition for a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon, taking into consideration the special legal situation of Palestinian refugees, with the exception of the personal identification cards issued by the Ministry of Interior’s General Directorate of Political Affairs and Refugees, whereby the Ministry’s General Directorate of General Security classifies refugees as a special category of foreigners. Nevertheless, Law 296/2001 denies Palestinian refugees from the right to own real estate and classifies them as stateless. Furthermore, the Lebanese Labor Law and the Plan to Combat Illegal Foreign Workers in Lebanon considers them as any other foreigners residing in Lebanon.”
(Source: Najdeh Association, Development Action Without Borders (Naba’a), Palestinian Human Rights Organization (PHRO) et al, “UPR 2020: Palestinian Refugee Rights in Lebanon”, July 2020, p. 3)
38 Sima Ghaddar, Second-Class Citizenship: Lebanese women fight to pass nationality to children and spouses, April 2017.
39 Preamble I, Part One, Lex Takkenberg en Francesca Albanese, Palestinian Refugees in International Law, 2020, p. 209.
40 Are Knudsen, Widening the Protection Gap: The «Politics of Citizenship’’ for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon 1948-2008, 2009, p. 54-55; Diana Allen, Refugees of the Revolution: Experiences of Palestinian Exile, 2014, p. 23-24, 28; Lex Takkenberg en Francesca Albanese, Palestinian Refugees in International Law, 2020, p. 212-213. Plus confidential source dated 13 October 2020.
Dr. Francesca Albanese and Professor Lex Takkenberg, legal specialists and authors of the 2020 book Palestinian Refugees in International Law, wrote:
“The treatment of Palestinians in Lebanon largely depends on their arrival and status. Besides those Palestinians – mainly wealthy Christians and others with family connections – who acquired Lebanese citizenship between 1952 and 1958, the vast majority of Palestinians in Lebanon remain without citizenship, and in a precarious situation. Among these stateless Palestinians, only those registered in Lebanon – and holding a Lebanese ID – according to Lebanese regulations are considered legal residents (see Palestinians with permanent residency (holders of Lebanese IDs).
Initially registration with UNRWA (and prior to that with the League of Red Cross Societies in 1948) was considered a prerequisite for legal residency of the refugees. Since 1959, registration and civil procedures for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have been handled by the Department of Political and Refugees Affairs (DPRA), which administers the (p. 213) presence of the refugees and issues civil documentation, including personal IDs, family records and travel documents for Palestinians registered in Lebanon. Since 2010, DPRA has been renamed ‘Directorate of Political Affairs and Refugees’ (DPAR).
(Source: “Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg/Oxford University Press, Palestinian Refugees in International Law”, May 2020, Chapter 3.3.3 Legal status and treatment, p. 275)