Claiming Equal Citizenship

Nearly three dozen women representing 15 NGOs and six countries in the Middle East — Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Syria — gathered over four days in early April to discuss strategies for the Nationality Campaign.

The goal of the meeting was to encourage women to continue lobbying their governments to ensure that the country’s actions are in line with their Constitutions as well as with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Most Middle Eastern countries have Constitutions that profess gender equality but in practice the laws do not grant women equal treatment with their male counterparts. One way this is manifested is in a citizen’s right to pass on nationality to family members. Women are unable to transfer their citizenship to their children when they marry a man who is not a national of her country. On the other hand, men are allowed to transfer their nationality to their children regardless of who they marry.

The regional conference in Beirut, Lebanon, from April 9-12, congratulated Morocco, Algeria and Egypt on their successes with the Nationality Campaign in their countries. Morocco is the most recent example of a successful legislative reform granting children citizenship regardless of the nationality of the father. Rabéa Naciri, President of Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc, shared with conference participants advocacy strategies used in their reform campaign. (Read a recent interview with Ms. Naciri on the next steps of the Morocco campaign).

In Egypt, where the law was amended a few years ago, President of Forum for Women in Development, Mirvat Abu Tiej, explained “We are continually checking to make sure the law is being applied, and we have succeeded in taking to court and winning the right for women to give their nationality to their children if married to a Palestinian man.”

Although the Nationality Campaign boasts some achievements, there are still many countries that restrict women from transferring their nationality to their children, making it nearly impossible for these children to access education, healthcare or land ownership. Participants at the Regional Conference pledged to continue their fight until women everywhere are treated as equal citizens.

Lina Abou Habib, the campaign’s regional coordinator is quoted in Lebanon’s Daily Star as saying, “We are asking for full and equal rights in citizenship among women in the Middle East, to allow them to pass on their nationality to their non-native husbands and children”.

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