My Nationality campaign, Legal Agenda submit an appeal against the new nationality law

The Legal Agenda and the ‘My Nationality is A Right For Me and My Family’ campaign, addressed an appeal memorandum to the Constitutional Council this week challenging the new law 41/2015 which governs the restoration of nationality to Lebanese emigrants and following the notice of appeal submitted by the ‘Democratic Gathering’ bloc against the same law. The two organizations demanded its repeal for being based on gender discrimination and for being unsubstantiated in its claims regarding the origin of emigrants. The Campaign and the Agenda explained during a symbolic sit-in in front of the Constitutional Council in the Beirut suburb of Hadath that the act of repeal will shift the debate, for the first time, from the level of sectarian-controlled politics to that of constitutional jurisdiction.

While both organizations were aware that present legislation does not allow citizens to appeal constitutionally, the action of the ‘Democratic Gathering’ motivated the Legal Agenda and the Nationality Campaign to make an unprecedented move towards the Constitutional Council in support of non-gender discrimination, and in favor of women’s right for the first time. 

During the meeting with Legal Agenda chief lawyer Nizar Saghieh and Campaign representative Lina Abu Habib, the president of the Constitutional Council formally refused to receive the memorandum but recommended they publicly address it to the Council through the media. The appeal of both civil organisations was made by virtue of the comprehensive powers of the Council to consider the law number 41 dated 24/11/2015 including provisos that are not covered by the appeal. In its essence the appeal is based on the irrevocability for non-constitutional reasons of both provisions a) and b) of the law because they violate the constitutional principles of equality and non-gender discrimination and because the entire law violates the principle of equality between citizens in rights and duties. (Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, As Safir and Al Akbar, December 23, 2015