Children at risk as Lebanon rejects civil marriages: report

One of the first Lebanese couples to have had a civil marriage, Khalil Rizkallah, and Nada Nehme, were married using Utah’s process of conducting civil marriages online to facilitate weddings during Covid restrictions.  

Dozens of couples followed their footsteps, including people who got assured by the authorities that their marriages would be officially recognized, “then the authorities changed their mind. The about-face is not only affecting the couples but also putting their children at risk,” said the organization.   

However, after Rizkallah and Nehme learned that the General Directorate of Personal Status had de-registered their marriage, they couldn’t register their first child, as the Interior Ministry refused to register the remote marriages of other couples, some of whom are expecting children.

Based on the report, “unregistered children in Lebanon may be at risk of exploitation, and could face hurdles to attending school, and, later, opening a bank account, getting a job, or marrying.”   

“A cumbersome procedure exists to register children of unmarried parents, but the child will be registered only under the father’s name, leaving no legal connection to the mother. They may still face social stigma as “illegitimate” as well as restrictions on rights, including inheritance,” it added.   

Nevertheless, the Lebanese couple then filed a lawsuit over the deregistration of their marriage.   

But with the country in deep financial collapse, “the government’s response is a dereliction of Lebanon’s obligations to register children immediately after birth and uphold their right to a nationality,” the report stated.   

Human Rights Watch reiterated that these cases are another reason the Lebanese parliament should act, calling the government to pass optional civil personal status law.