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Palestinian Human
Rights Organization (Rights) - PHRO
Member: Euro – Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
Member: International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Email: PHRO@PalHumanRights.Org - P.O Box: 114/5004 Beirut -
Lebanon
Tel: 00 961 - 3 - 780034 / 843883 Tele-Fax: 00961 - 1 - 855389
Press Release
Lebanese Ministry of Interior to revoke Lebanese citizenship of
Palestinian Refugees who have obtained it
Lebanon’s highest legal authority, the Shura Council, effectively
ordered the
Minister of Interior to re-examine the files of up to 300,000
people (other estimates put
the number at 150,000) who were granted Lebanese citizenship in
accordance with
decree no. 5247, and to revoke the citizenship of those who had
obtained it by way of
falsified papers.
Since the issuing of decree in June 20, 1994, under the auspices
of then Lebanese
President Elias Herawi, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Minister
of Interior Bishara
Merhej who signed and ratified the decree, the Maronite League has
actively fought for
its annulment. According to the League, the decree contradicts
Lebanon’s post-war
constitution wherein the granting of citizenship to Palestinians
is expressly forbidden,
regardless of how long they have lived on Lebanese soil.
The timing of the Shura Council’s ruling to re-examine the files
of those granted
citizenship is significant as, under Lebanese law, those who have
held Lebanese
citizenship for 10 years are granted full civil rights, including
the right of employment
in government posts and running for office. The ruling comes one
month before the
ninth anniversary of the 1994 decree’s passing.
The minister of interior will begin examining 87,000 files which
naturalized entire
families of which 65% are Muslim and 35% Christian. It is expected
that Palestinians
will be most affected by the re-examination.
On May 12, 2003, The Daily Star newspaper reported:
Interior Minister Elias Murr has announced his intent to strip
Lebanese
citizenship from thousands of Palestinians and others “who
obtained it
fraudulently.”
“We will annul the citizenships of all Palestinians who do not
deserve it … who
falsified documents and submitted thousands of applications in
order to obtain
it,” Murr said on Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation television.
“All those who don’t deserve it will lose their Lebanese
citizenship,” Murr
said…
Murr said that the people of the country had been waiting for the
ruling for
nearly 10 years, adding that the 1994 decree “triggered an
imbalance and
constituted a very dangerous precedent” of granting citizenship to
Palestinians.
Palestinian Human Rights Organization (Rights) - PHRO
Member: Euro – Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
Member: International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Email: PHRO@PalHumanRights.Org - P.O Box: 114/5004 Beirut -
Lebanon
Tel: 00 961 - 3 - 780034 / 843883 Tele-Fax: 00961 - 1 - 855389
With the 1994 decree’s naturalization of thousands of
Palestinians, the vast majority of
whom are Sunni Muslims, the religious/sectarian balance of Lebanon
was tipped.
Seeing that the political composition of the Lebanese government
is a mirror of its
demographic balance, the Maronite League called for the decree’s
immediate annulment
in order to keep the political balance in favor of Maronite
Christians. Interior Minister
Murr’s comment that the decree “triggered an imbalance”
constitutes a blatant
recognition that the current initiate to revoke the citizenship of
thousands of
Palestinians is based on an effort to maintain Maronite power at
the expense of
Palestinian livelihood.
Those Palestinians who became Lebanese citizens in 1994 have been
living as Lebanese
for the past 9 years. They have thus had the opportunity to buy
homes and real estate,
find employment in the public and private sectors, pursue academic
training to become
a lawyer, doctor, etc. If their Lebanese citizenship is revoked,
they will be prevented
from owning real estate, banned from most professions and, for
many, the academic
training they are currently pursuing will prove useless (e.g., the
student of medicine
will, as a Palestinian, not be allowed to work as a doctor). Even
those who have served
in the Lebanese army are subject to having their citizenship
revoked.
Now, the minister of interior will begin examining the files of
those who obtained
citizenship in 1994 and revoke the citizenship of those who
falsified their papers. The
Palestinian Human Rights Organization-Rights (PHRO) regards this
decision as
completely unjust since it was the minister of interior who
granted citizenship to those
who presented false papers. The ministry of interior is thus
making Palestinians pay for
its own mistake (ironically, the minister of interior in 1994 is
the father of the current
minister of interior).
In fact, the 1994 process of obtaining citizenship required
submitting various form of
identification issued by Lebanese government offices, the
presentation of previous
identification cards and documents which were subject to the
scrutiny of Lebanon’s
director of general security, the department of personal affairs,
the minister of work and
the department of real estate. How, then, were papers falsified?
The PHRO has met with
naturalized Palestinians who paid sums ranging between 1,000 and
20,000 dollars in
order to obtain citizenship. The question thus arises: Is it fair
to blame Palestinians for
Lebanese corruption?
The PHRO re-affirms its convection that the right of return
granted by UN Security
Council resolution 194 constitutes the fair solution for the
problem of Palestinian
Refugees in Lebanon.
However, the issue here is to be viewed from a humanitarian
perspective and not a
political one. The naturalized refugees have already been
integrated into the Lebanese
society, and major aspects of their daily lives depend on their
status as Lebanese
citizens.
Palestinian Human Rights Organization (Rights) - PHRO
Member: Euro – Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
Member: International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Email: PHRO@PalHumanRights.Org - P.O Box: 114/5004 Beirut -
Lebanon
Tel: 00 961 - 3 - 780034 / 843883 Tele-Fax: 00961 - 1 - 855389
Though the hypothetical use of falsified documents in their
applications is considered a
major mistake, but stripping entire families of their citizenships
based on the mistake
committed by one member of the family constitutes a form a
collective punishment. In
this context, a bigger mistake cannot correct an earlier one.
The decision of the Shura Council and the following political
predicaments made by
Lebanese sides that addressed this issue overlooked the motives at
the basis of the use
of falsified documents in applying for Lebanese citizenship.
Had the Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon enjoyed the rights of
refugees and not been
treated as aliens, this would not have been the case.
Had Lebanon honored its signature of the 1965 Casablanca Arab
League treaty that
dictated that Palestinian refugees should be treated as citizens
without granting them the
right of citizenship; this might not have been the case.
Had Lebanon avoided acting discriminatively by expressing its
reservations on applying
the UN Convention on Economic-Social-Cultural rights to
Palestinian Refugees on
Lebanese territories, this would not be have been the case.
It is extremely doubtful that Palestinian refugees would venture
into falsifying papers if
they enjoy the same civil rights that are inherent to the Lebanese
citizenship.
Consequently, PHRO strongly condemns the Lebanese government’s
attempts to strip
naturalized Palestinians of their citizenship. These Palestinians
will find their lives
turned upside down, in many cases ruined, and undoubtedly worse
off than before
receiving Lebanese citizenship. Palestinians must not be made to
pay for the Lebanese
government’s own mistakes.
Palestinian Human Rights Organization – PHRO
25- May-2003
Palestinian Human Rights Organization (Rights) - PHRO
Member: Euro – Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
Member: International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Email: PHRO@PalHumanRights.Org - P.O Box: 114/5004 Beirut -
Lebanon
Tel: 00 961 - 3 - 780034 / 843883 Tele-Fax: 00961 - 1 - 855389
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