Lawyer Dr. Rana Al Jamal, Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, including the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (NHRC-CPT), participated in a roundtable on equal nationality rights organized by Expertise France on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, at Citea Apart Hotel in Achrafieh, Beirut, under the European Union-funded Women Empowerment Hub in Lebanon (WEHUB) project.
The meeting addressed the reform of Lebanese legislation related to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), particularly Lebanese women’s right to pass their nationality to their children and foreign spouses. It formed part of the activity “Lifting CEDAW Reservations through Inclusive Policy Dialogue.”
In her intervention, Dr. Al Jamal emphasized the need for a fair legal approach that takes account of the different legal circumstances of the families concerned. She highlighted the distinction between children of Lebanese women who hold another nationality and those who have no nationality or face a risk of statelessness, given the legal, humanitarian and social consequences.
She stressed that reform must be grounded in equality between women and men, with clear legislative safeguards protecting children’s rights and avoiding blanket approaches that overlook individual circumstances. She also emphasized that nationality law reform is an essential step towards equal citizenship and justice, with consequences extending beyond legislative amendments to the everyday lives of women and their families.
The roundtable contributed to a Baseline and Benchmarking Study on CEDAW-Related Legal Reform in Lebanon, reviewing the reform record, the obstacles encountered and the experiences of other Arab countries. Participants were invited to validate and complete the study’s findings, refine its preliminary recommendations, and identify priority actions and the actors responsible for implementing them, laying the groundwork for a coalition to support the next phase of dialogue and reform.
The initiative advances WEHUB’s objectives of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in Lebanon, strengthening women’s participation in public life, and supporting institutional and legislative reforms in partnership with national institutions and civil society.
Legal Background
Lebanon maintains a reservation to Article 9(2) of CEDAW, which provides for women’s equal rights with men regarding the nationality of their children. The specific scope of this reservation should be distinguished from the broader question of equality in the rules governing the acquisition of nationality by foreign spouses, which also forms part of the debate on nationality law reform.
The initiative also included a second roundtable, held on 4 November 2026, on equality in personal status. It addressed reforms relating to marriage, divorce, parental rights, guardianship and family names, within the dialogue on Lebanon’s reservations to certain provisions of Article 16 of the Convention.
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