Everyone has the right to a nationality. These words are part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But for millions of people, they are an illusion.
A stateless person is someone who is not considered a national by any State under the operation of its law. Today, millions of people around the world are denied nationality. The exact number of stateless people is not known, but UNHCR estimates that there are many millions globally – of which approximately one-third are children. As a result, stateless people often are not allowed to go to school, see a doctor, get a job, open a bank account, move around freely, buy a house, or even get married. Without these basic rights, they can face a lifetime of obstacles and disappointment and be stuck in a devastating cycle of deprivation and vulnerability.
Lebanon does not have an automatic birth registration system, and therefore, parents must follow a multi-step procedure to declare and register their children’s birth within one year. There is no official data on the scope of the statelessness issue in Lebanon. Recent studies, including the UNHCR/SIREN study’ Mapping and understanding statelessness in Akkar’ published in 2021, estimate that between 27,000 to 60,000 non-refugee persons are deprived of their fundamental right to a nationality in Lebanon. The majority of these persons have never left Lebanon and have deep roots in the country. The causes of statelessness include a variety of reasons ranging from the historic events of the creation of the Lebanese State and the non-registration of individuals in the last national census carried out in 1932 to a complex civil registration system.
In its efforts to end statelessness, UNHCR, through advocacy and provision of technical advice, supports the Government of Lebanon in reforming the civil registration law to ensure simplified administrative procedures that could help in preventing and resolving statelessness situations and reforming the nationality law. Additionally, UNHCR collaborates with its expert partner on statelessness, Frontiers Rights, to provide legal aid to stateless persons to remedy their lack of nationality or to access documentation. Through legal aid, UNHCR and Frontiers Rights aim to support the government’s capacity to provide free quality legal aid, ensure the effective implementation of laws, and identify and address challenges in practice.
When baby Marita was born in Lebanon, her Lebanese parents did not have the financial means to proceed with her birth registration. They also were not aware of the one-year deadline to declare and register their daughter’s birth. Additionally, Marita’s father was a daily wage laborer in Beirut and could not afford to lose a day’s work to approach authorities in Baalbeck, where he is registered and must complete the paperwork. Many years later, the father learned of his inability to register his daughter’s birth since the one-year deadline had passed. After a lot of back and forth, the Ministry of Social Affairs ultimately referred the case to UNHCR’s partner, Frontiers Rights.
After studying the case, Frontiers took it on, provided free legal aid, represented the family in court, followed up as needed, and ultimately succeeded. Today, at 6 years old, Marita is registered as a Lebanese citizen and is no longer stateless.
“I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do. It haunted me to think my daughter wouldn’t have an ID card… that she couldn’t attend school or see a doctor. Everybody told me the legal process would be very complicated, and I got even more confused and frightened by the daunting financial aspect in the midst of this financial crisis. Until Frontiers came along. They truly accompanied me every step of the way, comforted me, explained all the details to me… and we were so happy. The entire family was happy when Marita was finally registered. Thank you doesn’t even begin to express our gratitude”, explained Marita’s mom on Frontiers’ free legal aid.
One Frontiers Rights counselor expressed how rewarding this work is, especially when families are cooperative and eager to resolve the issue. “Helping individuals end their plight as “invisible” stateless people gives us more strength and determination… reminds us that what we do is useful”, the counselor explained.
With funding from the American Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), UNHCR is able to continue collaborating with its partner Frontiers Rights and other experts in the field. With PRM’s generous funding in 2023 and 2024, UNHCR will continue working on the prevention and reduction of statelessness in Lebanon through advocacy and legal aid. During the 2-year implementation period, PRM’s generous funding will allow a total of 800 stateless persons to receive legal aid, including counselling, assistance, and representation to confirm or acquire their nationality.
Statelessness is a cycle that can be broken, and we know how: by introducing safeguards into nationality laws to protect against childhood statelessness, establishing procedures to identify and protect stateless people, eliminating laws that deny nationality on discriminatory grounds, and ensuring universal birth registration. Together, we can dramatically reduce the ranks of those denied so many of their basic rights and ensure a brighter future for children like Marita.
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