Conflict Incident Report

BEIRUT: Some 70 protesters rallied outside the Labor Ministry in Beirut's Ashrafieh to call on Labor Minister Mohammad Kabbara to overturn a law that treats spouses and children of Lebanese women as foreign workers.

The protesters argued that the spouses and children of Lebanese women should have the same rights as Lebanese.

Under Lebanese law, children carry the nationality of their fathers. Women cannot pass their nationality to their spouses and children.

Children of such unions are legally viewed as foreigners, even though the majority of them were born in Lebanon.

Foreigners are usually required to obtain a work permit in order to be legally employed in Lebanon. Some nationalities, such as Syrians and Palestinians, face restrictions on what kinds of jobs they are allowed to hold.

"We demand complete equality by granting [them] the nationality," demonstrators said.

My Nationality is Mine and My Family’s Right, a campaign advocating for the cause, argues that children of Lebanese women are not foreigners.

The campaign said some employers have threaten to lay off spouses and children of Lebanese women over Labor Ministry decrees, despite Kabbara’s pledges that they will be treated similar to Lebanese nationals.

After hearing about the threatened layoffs, "the campaign immediately met with the Labor Minister and filed complaints," Campaign Coordinator Karima Chebbo said.

"However, to this day, we continue to receive complaints from Lebanese women and their families about the continuation of their arrest and expulsion by the municipal police."

Chebbo added that the arrests and layoffs have been done under the pretense of Decree 91 by the labor ministry.

"Our children are not foreigners, they are Lebanese,” one protester said. “Firing our children and spouses comes in line with a decision to rectify the status of foreigners."

Allowing Lebanese women to pass their nationality to their husbands and children could alter the country’s sectarian demographics, officials say.

Many Lebanese women are married to Palestinians, who under the Lebanese Constitution are not allowed to obtain Lebanese citizenship.

Women's rights activists have been protesting for years to change the law, pointing to the hardships faced by the families over work and residency issues.