REPORT: Lebanon's first civil marriage

 
Kholoud Sukkariyah and Nidal Darwish make the couple of the season for being the first couple to engage in a civil marriage on the Lebanese territory. Amid negative comments depicting them, Kholoud and Nidal succeeded in abandoning the current system and entering another place, a better place.         

Civil marriage in Lebanon is impossible, but who said so? Nidal and Kholoud broke this theory and obtained the necessary paperwork, after removing the reference of their sects from their respective IDs in 2008.              

The couple based their marital contract on Decree No. 60 L.R. – a numeration of decrees adopted by the High Commissioner [during the French Mandate in Lebanon] – of 1936, which organizes and recognizes sects and grants them rights, said Lawyer Talal Husseini, who authored the draft. The decree says that those who are not affiliated with a sect are subject to the civil law of personal status, as well as to the introduction of the Constitution which adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.          

Accordingly, Kholoud and Nidal's marital contract was signed by the Notary Public, since the couple defined a specific financial system for their life, system which does not go into effect unless a notary public signs the contract. The file was referred to the Interior Minister Marwan Charbel who will look into its legitimacy.               

This development may open a new era in Lebanon.