Lebanon: Exclusion exacerbated by war  

Over 1.2 million people were displaced when the Israeli war intensified against Lebanon in late September 2024. Though the Lebanese government announced these statistics, they don’t reflect the real numbers of internally displaced non-Lebanese citizens. This exclusion raised civil society organizations’ concerns, especially with the documentation of human rights violations and discrimination cases against non-Lebanese. 

Statelessness is a complex issue in Lebanon. Some are born stateless due to a patriarchal legacy of French colonial citizenship law, which prevents Lebanese women passing their nationality to their children. Some, such as Palestinian or Syrian refugees, have become stateless as a side-effect of fleeing from the horrors of war in their home countries. Some, like Bedouins, are stateless due to exclusion from the country’s last official census in 1932, conducted by the French colonizers. 

Oummal, a local organization focusing on stateless individuals’ rights, documented cases of stateless individuals being denied access to shelters and aid. ‘A mother with five children, ages 4 to 14, slept for 15 days on the streets’, Nourine Fadel from Oummal told us. The family’s repeated pleas failed to secure admission to any of the government-run shelters in Tripoli, north of the country. ‘Stateless individuals in Lebanon, including this family, faced additional barriers under the requirements of holding official identification restricting their access to emergency support’, said Nourine. 

The family was finally admitted into a shelter in Zaghrta, north Lebanon, after tiring negotiations between Oummal’s staff and the officials in the area. Nourine noted that even if the war ended ‘the family’s needs remain significant. Without documentation, the mother – the only breadwinner – has no access to employment or financial assistance, underscoring the urgent need for support and protection for stateless families facing systemic exclusion.’ 

Lacking legal identity imposes stateless individuals with multi-layered challenges. They are denied access to education, public health services, social security benefits, employment, and the ability to vote or run for office, as all require presenting legal documentation. Their only available employment opportunity is the informal sector, which, unregulated by labour law, frequently subjects stateless individuals to exploitation. The result is a state of precarity that’s hard to escape from. Stateless individuals suffer from discrimination because of their situation. They’re also rendered particularly vulnerable to human rights violations since they cannot access justice. 

Understanding the Numbers 

Resources estimate the number of stateless individuals between 80,000 and 120,000. However, these numbers are not based on recent verified data, according to Oummal. ‘We doubt these numbers for several reasons: the fact that 60,000 stateless individuals resulted from missing the registration after the 1932 census, and the cluster data that we have been working on within every project, where in each area we identify thousands of stateless people. This input strongly contradicts the 80,000 number’, Nourine explained. ‘We initiated a study to reassess these statistics focusing on stateless populations, particularly those clustered along Lebanon’s borders’, she added.  

The data-driven understanding of the statelessness issue sets the ground for leveraging service provision and policy influence. Oummal’s efforts encompass collecting, analyzing, and utilizing data including on the living circumstances, health conditions, and specific challenges faced by stateless individuals. 

Mitigating the Aggravation of Statelessness  

The regular official procedures require parents to register their newborn children within the family’s governate of origin. In wartime, concerns were raised about an increased number of cases of unregistered births among IDPs that would raise the levels of statelessness. A prompt response from the Directorate of Personal Status at the Ministry of Interior Affairs mitigated this risk by facilitating the registrations in governorates different from the usual residence.  

Oummal actively coordinated with the directorate and conducted awareness sessions in 10 sheltering centers in Zgharta. The sessions were primarily aimed at the shelter coordinators, who informed the IDP families of the new procedures and disseminated awareness materials. Oummal’s Lawyers and legal team provided step-by-step guidance to those who needed to register their new birth. 

Oummal is a Lebanese organization that focuses on statelessness rights in Lebanon. With the support of MRG’s MACS project, they are expanding their legal services and policy influence. They follow an affected-people-led approach by actively engaging stateless individuals in the planning, decision-making, and implementation of projects.

Featured image: Women displaced by war in Lebanon cook food for other displaced people at a drop-in centre run by NGO Mouvement Social in Bourj Hammoud, Beirut. 21 November 2024. Credit: Sally Hayden / SOPA Images / ZUMA Press Wire.