Citizenship order ignites debate on privileges of elite in Lebanon
BEIRUT — A Lebanese presidential decree to naturalize hundreds of foreigners, including Iraqi Vice President Iyad Allawi and other regional elites, has ignited a row over who deserves citizenship in this tiny Mediterranean country, where 1 in 4 people is a refugee and women married to foreigners cannot pass on their citizenship to their children.
News of the decree, which was signed in secret in mid-May but leaked to the public two weeks later, has fueled the perception that citizenship, like so many other liberties in this country, is a privilege reserved for the wealthy.
Meanwhile, Lebanese women married to foreigners don’t have the right to pass on their nationality to their children.