adv newsletter english june2010 f

8/8/2019 ADV Newsletter English June2010 F

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FRONTIERS RUWAD NEWSLETTER

Frontiers, Ruwad is an independent

apolitical grass root human rights non-governmental organization. Since itsinception, Frontiers Association hasmaintained the objective of promotingthe legal protection of asylum-seekers,refugees, foreign detainees, and othervulnerable migrants through increasing

their access to administrative justice in

both international and local institutions(UNHCR, UNRWA, Lebanese courts, andadministrative bodies) and advocatingfor development of the rule of law andrespect for their fundamental humanrights and dignity in Lebanon and theMiddle East.

IN THIS ISSUE

Invisible Citizens, legal study onstatelessness in Lebanon

Judiciary orders the release of a refugeearbitrarily detained

Putting an end to discrimination againstwomen?

Protecting domestic migrant workers Undocumented Palestinian refugees

remain undocumented

International Protection of Iraqis andDarfuris

June 2010

Issues No.1,2,3


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BEYOND PROTECTION

Beyond Protection is a campaign launched by FR to advocate for a legal frameworkfor the protection of refugees and stateless persons in Lebanon. The campaign centers

on the establishment of an adequate protective environment covering legal, social,security and economic aspects of statelessness, and focuses on ensuring compliance ofdomestic laws with international standards. Most importantly, it endeavors to achievethe exclusion of refugees from the crime of illegal entry and/or illegal residence, a clearand integrated legal framework that reduces the cases of statelessness in Lebanon, andan end to the practice of indiscriminate and arbitrary detention of aliens .

Beyond Protection Activities

Closed Meeting with Judges

Under the auspices of the Minister ofJustice, FR organized a closed judicialcolloquium, entitled The Penaltyof Refugee Deportation in JudicialProceedings (11 December, 2009,Metropolitan Hotel). The colloquiumgathered several rst instance judges

from different regions of Lebanon, as wellas the Director General of the Ministry ofJustice, Mr. Omar Natour; the RegionalRepresentative of the United Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees, Mr. StephaneJaquemet, and the representative ofthe German Embassy, Mr. Klaus Koenig.Judges debated the issue of deportationand refugee protection, and Lebanonsinternational obligations and positivelaws in this respect, and agreed that

refugees and asylum seekers should notbe deported.

Targeting Media Professionals

Convinced of the important role of themedia in disseminating and promotingthe culture of human rights, FR held twoworkshops with a number of journaliststo discuss refugee protection issues inLebanon and to urge them to give greatercoverage in the media to the problems

and needs of refugees .Under the slogan Protection by Word,

Voice and Image ,FR held the rst workshopof its Beyond Protection campaign withmedia professionals on November 3, 2009,at the Monroe Hotel. The purpose of themeeting was to highlight concerted andcollaborative efforts to defend refugees,and to emphasize the role of the mediain protecting this category of people byaddressing their fears and concerns.

A second workshop revolved around theprotection of stateless persons in Lebanon.FR took this opportunity to launch its legalstudy on the phenomenon of statelessnessin Lebanon, entitled Invisible Citizens.The meeting was held on December 7,2009, at the Monroe Hotel.

Beyond Protection Activities


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Expanded

Meeting with

Civil Society

Organizations

On 15 December,

2009, as part ofInternational HumanRights Day activities,FR organized an opendiscussion with civilsociety organizationsin the presence ofZiad Sayegh, adviserto the Lebanese-Palestinian DialogueCommittee, under thebanner Human Rightsin Lebanon underRevision. This meetingfocused on civil societys preparation of Lebanons universalperiodic review report, submitted to the UN Human RightsCouncil in April.

Group Counseling

Meetings with

Refugees

During the secondhalf of 2009, Frontiers

organized severalmeetings with therefugee communities,including two principalmeetings, held on 19 and20 December, markingInternational MigrantsDay (18 December). Themeetings constituteda platform to discuss

the main problems ofrefugees, and providethe latter with counseling,guidance and adviceabout their rights andobligations.

During the second half of 2009, FR continued it activities on issues related to therights and protection of refugees and marginalized groups, based on internationalhuman rights principles which are binding on the Lebanese state. These included:

- Letters to the Minister of Interior and the State Public Prosecutor drawing theirattention to cases of arbitrary detention, and asking them to put an end to thisillegal practice and to punish those responsible.

- A letter in support of a group of hunger striking detained refugees, calling oncompetent ofcials to open an immediate investigation into the matter, to endarbitrary detention, respect the principle of non-refoulement of refugees andasylum-seekers, punish those responsible for illegal detention and refoulement,

and instantly to release those on hunger strike and every detained refugee whohas served his sentence and is still in detention, if no clear, valid legal groundssubstantiate such detention.

- Submitting certain cases before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.These cases included 13 refugees registered with the UNHCR who are arbitrarilydetained. The aim was to defend those persons before relevant UN bodies and totake action to secure their release and ensure Lebanons full respect of its obligationsregarding arbitrary detention.

Other Activities

2010

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.

| 15 2009


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FRONTIERS RUWAD ASSOCIATION DENOUNCES FORCED DEPORTATION OF

RECOGNIZED REFUGEE GOVERNMENT THREATENS MORE TO COME

At noon, on Saturday February 20, an Iraqi Airlines plane took off from Raq Hariri International

Airport destination: Baghdad. On board was an Iraqi refugee recognized by the United NationsHigh Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon who had not chosen to voluntarily return tohis native Iraq but was forced into doing so. Until the airplane door, he resisted deportation andsuffered what was described by one daily as a nervous breakdown. Thus ends Mortadha M.>ssearch for protection!

Mortadha M. ed to Lebanon in 2000. Hewas arrested on April 26, 2004 and sentencedfor three years of imprisonment, a ne anddeportation. His sentence expired on May17, 2007, but he remained under arbitrarydetention until February 20, 2010 patientlyenduring its privations as he, fearing for hislife, refused to return to Iraq. But under theconsiderable emotional pressures and harshconditions of prison, he succumbed once andsigned the deportation document, hoping thatthis signature will deliver him from his cell andthat he will be able to regularize his status oncehanded over to the Surt Gnrale. But evenin the Surt Gnrale lock-up, the coercionto return to Iraq did not cease. This time, hisrefusal to return was denitive. He retracted his

signature, he feared for his life, but to no avail.Authorities decided to forcefully deport him.

As of Thursday February 18, 2010, FR contactedthe competent authorities, particularly theMinistry of Interior, the Surt Gnrale andvarious local and international organizations,appealing to halt his deportation. Wewere informed that some of these partiesintervened on his behalf. But nothing could beaccomplished.

We recognize the right and duty of the State

to ensure its security and implement its judicialdecisions. However it should be noted thatinternational laws and standards pertainingto absolute rights and those ratied by theState precede all domestic laws. Therefore, nohuman being may be forcefully expelled fromLebanon.

This right gains special signicance in Lebanonwhere most refugees are tried without legalrepresentation within the context of hastyprocedures that do not always guarantee

them a chance to defend themselves, presenttheir reasons for seeking asylum or declare theirstatus as refugees. Moreover, public prosecutorsappear not to always take into consideration,in their prosecution of refugees, Lebanon>s

international commitments or the refugeestatus of the defendant, and thus they do notdraw the judges attention to that fact.

What concerns us most today, followingthe deportation of Mortadha M. and theinformation we received concerning the threatsof deporting other refugees, is whether theseactions indicate a return to the pre-2004 forcefulexpulsion policy? Is this the fate awaiting the 40or so refugees held in the custody of the SurtGnrale?

We therefore call upon the LebaneseState to halt forceful deportation. We alsonote that choosing to return to ones nativecountry cannot be considered voluntary if itoccurred in detention and under the variouspressures entailed by detention. Furthermore,we ask the judiciary to refrain from sentencingto deportation asylum-seekers or refugeesrecognized by the UNHCR, in compliance withthe aforementioned international customs andstandards and to ascertain that these personsenjoy all guarantees ensuring the respect of

their rights and a chance to plead their case.We appeal to the Lebanese authorities toimmediately suspend the execution of any judicial deportation sentence, awaiting aproper examination of these sentences in lightof the dangers entailed by returning asylum-seekers and refugees to their native countriesand, until a decision is made, to release themand grant them temporary residency at leastfor humanitarian reasons.

NEW GOVERNMENTS SAME OLD POLICY


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PROTECTION CONCERNS IN LEBANON RAISED IN

UNHCR ANNUAL CONSULTATIONS WITH CIVIL SOCIETY

In the context of the annual consultations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) with NGOs from all over the world (June 29 - July 1, 2009), Frontiers held meetings with a

number of ofcials from the Commissioners ofce to raise the problems of refugees and asylumseekers, and stateless and undocumented persons, with special emphasis on their arbitrarydetention in Lebanon. FR highlighted the policy adopted by the Lebanese authorities towardsrefugees and asylum seekers where governmental practices range from arrest and prolongeddetention to deportation as they do not differentiate between a refugee and a regularmigrant.

To read the full article :http://www.assar.com/Windows/ArticlePrintFriendly.aspx?EditionId=1413

&ChannelId=32749&ArticleId=1424

On December 10, 2009, the 61st anniversaryof International Human Rights Day, under thetheme Embrace Diversity, End Discrimination,and at the invitation of the United Nations HighCommissioner for Human Rights, Berna Habib,representing Frontiers Ruwad, participatedin a seminar, moderated by Ghassan BenJeddo, which was broadcast on Al-JazeeraSatellite Channel on December 19. The seminardiscussed the categories of people that aremost vulnerable to discrimination, including

AIDS patients, female domestic workers, peoplewith special needs, and stateless persons. FRunderscored discrimination in legal texts whichleads automatically to cases of statelessness,and stressed the discrimination and the state ofdenial that all stateless persons experience. Ayoung stateless person gave a live testimony, a24-year long story of suffering, concluding withthe statement, What I have is nothing!

On December 14, 2009, the daily As-Sarpublished a report on refugees in Lebanon

prepared by Madonna Semaan entitledLebanon Overlooks Signed Human RightsAgreements & Implements Obsolete Laws; In theCountry of Hospitality and Freedoms, RefugeesFace Torture, Imprisonment & Deportation.

The reporter looked at the circumstances thatdrove those refugees to enter Lebanon illegally

and underlined the legal situation of thoserefugees in the country, as Lebanon is not a

signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating tothe Status of Refugees. According to Semaan,only 11,000 refugees have refugee cards

issued by the Ofce of the United Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees, and more than

50,000 still do not have any proper legal status.Semaan interviewed two refugees, resettled in

Sweden, who spoke about the hardship theyexperienced in Lebanon, presumed to be acountry of freedom and democracy. Her report

ends by quoting them, saying From wherethey now live in Sweden, Wael and Othman

both paint a bleak picture of Lebanon. Theyrefuse to come back, even for a vacation or

for some time off. To them Lebanon is no longerthe country of freedom, law and democracy.Its no more than a remote piece of land no

different than that homeland that inictedtorture on them and made them ee the

nightmares of pain and death. To them, Ruwadis the nicest, warmest memory they have of that

tiny country.

FRONTIERS IN THE MEDIA


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LEGAL STUDIES

In November 2009, Frontiers published a rst-of-its-kind legal study on the issue of statelessnessin Lebanon and the extent to which Lebaneselaws are compatible with international humanrights standards. Estimates place the numberof stateless persons in Lebanon, apart fromPalestinian refugees, at tens of thousands,among them Kurds, Bedouins, persons whosestatus is under consideration and persons ofLebanese ancestry who do not hold Lebanesenationality, such as those unregistered at

birth, in addition to certain orphans andchildren considered to have been born out ofwedlock, through the marriage of a Lebanesewoman to an alien or through an unregisteredmarriage of two Lebanese nationals.

The study looks into the legal provisions thatgovern issues of nationality and statelessnessin both international and Lebanese law, andconsiders ways to address cases of statelessnessin Lebanon, in order to grant all individualsthe right to nationality and all related rights

guaranteed by international human rights law.

The study concludes that nationalityregulations in Lebanon are not fully compliantwith international standards regardingnationality, especially relating to maternalnationality and to citizenship jus solis. They fallshort of international standards related to non-discrimination as they are widely discriminatory,particularly against women, between nationalsand aliens, and even among aliens themselves.

The study ultimately points out that Lebanesenationality laws are vague and unclear,allowing for a wide margin of interpretation andspeculation leading to conicting jurisprudenceand interpretations.

INVISIBLE CITIZENS A Legal Study on Statelessness in Lebanon


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SNAPSHOTS

On 19 December, 2009, the Minister of Interior launched a campaign for prison reformand improvement of detention conditions. This campaign followed a memorandum of

understanding signed between the Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs and the Ambassadorof Italy in Lebanon, featuring the implementation of the Cinema Arena 2009 A Viewfrom the Inside project. The project aims to ease the social reintegration of all prisoners byimproving the physical conditions inside prisons.

The UNHCR managed to resettle 2,187 refugees between January and October, 2009,with the United States accepting 1,977, Australia 112, and Canada 51. One thousand andthirty-one families are still awaiting a decision regarding their dossiers, 865 of which weresubmitted to the United States.

On April 29, 2009, the Ministry of Justice called for the implementation of the decreerelated to the serving of sentences, which grants early release to convicted prisoners byreducing their sentences for good behavior. The request comes nearly six years after thepromulgation of the original law.

On 27 October, 2009, a judicial cooperation agreement was signed with France to facilitatethe transfer of prison management from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Justice. Theagreement includes training of prison staff by French prison authorities.

In October 2009, hundreds of Sudanese citizens were deported in an operation coordinatedbetween the Lebanese authorities and the Sudanese Embassy in Lebanon. The number ofdeported refugees and asylum-seekers remains unknown, since no registration or sortingwas done during the operation, and the UNHCR appeared to have no knowledge of theoperation.


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INSIDE STORIES

Loss...a key word that marked the life of SayyedAbdel-Shathe central point his days revolvedaround a tragedy that dened his belonging,identity, history, and more precisely, his wholebeingin every sense of the word. Abdel-Shawas a Sudanese national from Darfur who leftSudan and took refuge in Lebanon, seekinga haven of protection from the violence andpersecution he faced back home. He did notknow that in Lebanon he would experience akind of persecution and violence far more bitterand severe than that he was made to taste byhis fellow countrymen.

By leaving ones land and seeking asylum inanother country, one incurs a series of losses:the loss of land, the loss of home, the loss ofproperty, the loss of social values, the loss of tiesand relationships that bind people togetherat different levels. One must face and acceptthis reality with all the losses it entails; otherwise,one would be symbolically dead. Abdel-Sharecognized this reality. He stood up to it with

all its bitterness. He incurred the heavy burdenof continual imprisonment and endured beingtransferred from one prison to another. Hepassed away on November 11, 2009 in unclearcircumstances. He left behind him his causeand the cause of every refugee who came toLebanon seeking protection.

Abdel-Sha was arrested for the rst time in2005, and henceforth saw only prisons. He couldnot choose to go back home to Sudan wherehis life was at risk. He refused to be repatriatedto Sudan, in the hope of nding a safe havenelsewhere.

From Roumieh Prison, to the cells of theGeneral Security under Adlieh Bridge near thePalace of Justice in Beirut, to Batroun Prison,and then to Jezzine Prison, Abdel-Sha spent his

days hopelessly praying for someone to answerhis calls and cries. But all he got, as he reportedto us, were threats of deportation from theagents of the General Security, and pressure tomake him accept repatriation. Yet he did notyield. In return, the Lebanese judicial systemimprisoned him for refusing deportation.

Abdel-Sha wrote many letters describingwhat he was enduring in prison. He said hewas tortured during interrogation to force him

to accept deportation. He even hinted thatthe Sudanese Embassy had asked the GeneralSecurity to beat him to obtain his approvalto return to Sudan. In one of his letters heexpressed his suspicion that the written appealshe had send to UNHCR to reopen his asylumdossier were not delivered..

On November 11, 2009 Abdel Sha is said to have suffered an electric shock while

showering: he reportedly felt unwell, fell down and injured himself. The paramedics onlyreached Roumieh prison three hours later, and he was taken from the prison to BeirutPublic Hospital and from there to Al-Hayat Hospital, and nally to Dahr El-Bashek Hospital.None of these hospitals would admit him. Shamefully, he died on the same day becauseof the delay ingetting him to the hospital, and the refusal of the Lebanese hospitals toadmit him and provide him with treatment. The long journey that had taken him from oneprison to another ended in the Bekaa, where he was buried.

Abdel-Sha believed his journey would ultimately end back in his hometown in Sudan.He always wanted to write a book about Darfur, in which he could paint a true picture ofhis country, a picture that people were unaware of, as he used to say.

The Journey of Seeking ProtectionThe Story of a Sudanese Refugee in Lebanon


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SHORT STATEMENTS

Two men dressed as civilians knocked on my door withoutintroducing themselves or the institution they represent. I knewthem, as I had already seen them in the premises of the GeneralSecurity. They asked my name and requested to see my residencypermit. I gave them the UNHCR registration certicate. They saidthey do not acknowledge such a document and immediatelyhandcuffed me.

I was taken to the Lebanese intelligence building, where I

had to take off all my clothes and cover my chest with a platereading Number ..... Handcuffed and blindfolded, I was beatenevery time I was called for interrogation. This is how things werefor quite some time. I was counting the seconds of my life.

During Police Investigation

I was stopped at a checkpoint by theInternal Security Forces and transferred to apolice station. During the investigation, theofcer humiliated me; he swore at me and

insulted my sister and my country, Iraq. Afterthe interrogation was over, the ofcer asked meto sign the police interrogation record (procsverbal) without reading it. I refused at rst. Buthe threatened to beat me up as he pointedat a belt and some electrical cables he hadput to one side on the table probably tointimidate me. I signed, because I wanted toavoid being beaten. I was later transferred tothe detectives section and I was locked upin solitary connement with no food or water

When I started to bang on the door asking forfood and cigarettes, I heard voices mockingme, saying, Well get you what you want if youhave money, and threatening to skin me alive.Then one policeman asked me what I wanted. Isaid, Cigarettes. He asked me to reach out myhand through the small window that separatesthe cell from the passageway, and when I did,he hit me with a plastic rod. The door of my cellwas opened twice by three detectives whobeat me up and left.

Prolonged detention

It is unfair that I have to serve my sentenceand then remain locked in prison. My sentencewas multiplied by three or four times, maybeeven more. I shouldnt have been imprisoned

in the rst place. I ed my country and soughtasylum in Lebanon, and this is a right recognizedin all countries except in Lebanon.

Oddly, I was accused of illegal entry andwas locked up in the same cell with criminalssuch as killers and drug dealers

The prison guard came and said to mySudanese cellmate: You and your Sudanesefriend, meaning me are going to sleep atthe gate. I objected, saying I didnt want tosleep there because of mosquitoes. He said

You have a thick skin. You can put up with anymosquitoes!

FROM BEHIND BARS...

Arrest


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JUDICIAL DECISIONS

On 11 December, 2009, the Lebanese judiciary

- looking at the injunction brought before itto decide on the legality of the continueddetention of a female Iraqi refugee - YusraAl-Amiri - who had on 21 June 2009 servedher prison term of one months imprisonmentimposed by the court of rst instance forillegal entry - took a decision compellingcompetent authorities to terminate thedetention and to release Yusra immediately.The judge depicted this continued detentionas a violation of Al-Amiris rights and personalfreedom. The Lebanese state took note of the

decision on 24 December, 2009 but did notexecute it immediately. This raises the questionas to where the state now stand with regardto complying with

judicial decisions andprotecting personalfreedoms.

In Al-Amiris case,Judge Cynthia Kasarjibased her decisionon the grounds that:Yusra had acquiredan refugee statuscertifying that shewould be subject topersecution in herhomeland, Iraq; Article14 of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights provides for everyones right to seekand enjoy asylum from persecution in anothercountry if his/her life was at risk or if he/she wassubjected to torture; the Convention AgainstTorture, ratied by Lebanon, stipulates that

No State Party shall expel, return (refouler)or extradite a person to another State wherethere are substantial grounds for believing thathe would be in danger of being subjected totorture; it is impermissible to repatriate analien if it is established that repatriation wouldendanger his/her life; international treatiestake precedence over all local legal textsbased on Article 2 of the Civil ProceduresCode; the presence of a court verdict ordering

the immediate expulsion of Al-Amiri as soon

as she had served her sentence at a timewhen she did not have the status of a refugee does not justify her indenite, continuousdetention in spite of the expiry of her sentencemonths ago, under the pretext that it was notpossible to send her back to Iraq or to nd analternative country to host her.

The Judge concluded that since thecompetent authorities decision to keepal-Amiri detained in Zahle Women Prisonconstituted a violation of her personal freedomand justied the interference of the Summary

Judge, she ruled to put an end to this situationby compelling the defendant the LebaneseState to remedy this violation by setting Yusra

free immediately.

As human rightsactivists, we welcomedthis decision, as itshowed that theLebanese judicialsystem had assumed itsrole as an advocate of

rights and a protectorof freedoms. TheLebanese judiciary tookthis decision based oninternational texts andon its mission to end

injustice and violations of rights and freedoms,compelling other relevant authorities to followin its footsteps.

Yusra had come to Lebanon along with herbrother Raad in May, 2009, after armed militiasin Iraq killed her other brother and her husband.

Two days after they sneaked into the country,an Internal Security Forces checkpoint inZahle stopped them and referred them to thecompetent authorities. They were later tried forillegal entry into Lebanon. While in prison, theUNHCR recognized them as rightful refugeesin view of the real and substantial danger totheir lives and safety in Iraq.

Nevertheless, they were kept in custody

Between the State and the Judiciary: A Decision...


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even after they had served their sentences -Yusra in Al-Mualaka Prison, Zahle, and Raad inRoumieh Prison, and later both at the GeneralSecurity commissariat.

Frontiers took a series of actions and initiativesto defend Yusra. Letters were sent to the Ministerof Interior and Municipalities, and to the StateProsecutor General, drawing their attention to

the arbitrary detention of Yusra Al-Amiri and

calling upon them to intervene immediately

to end this detention and take the necessary

disciplinary and legal measures against every

arbitrary violator of individual freedom. Thecase of Yusra and her brother was also raised

before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary

Detention to secure its intervention.

What are the rights of a Lebanese womanmarried to a foreigner, both in reality and inthe law? With the primacy of the Constitutionover the law, where do we stand todayregarding the constitutional right to equalitybetween citizens? Why are Lebanese mengranted the right to confer their nationalityto their spouses and children, while the sameright is denied to Lebanese women marriedto foreigners? Is it logical to grant a foreignwoman married to a Lebanese national bettertreatment than a Lebanese woman refusingto renounce her nationality? Is it conceivablethat Lebanese women have to declare theirchildren illegitimate in order to pass on their

nationality to them, as they cannot legallydo so under normal circumstances? Is itpermissible to leave those minors, who wereborn in Lebanon and who grew up with theirLebanese mothers, to the uncertainties of anunknown future, where they have to facethe constraints on residence and seek workpermits just like any other foreigner, althoughthey are descend from Lebanese mothersbut are being treated like strangers in theirhomeland? These questions were raised by

the Court of First Instance in Mount Lebanon the Fifth Chamber in Jdeidet El-Matn whichexamines civil status cases, presided over byJudge John Qazzi and including as membersJudges Rana Habka and Lamis Kazma. TheCourt issued a bold decision on June 16, 2009,granting the children of a Lebanese womanmarried to a foreigner the right to acquirethe nationality of their mother in one speciccircumstance that is, when the foreign father

is dead. The plaintiff in this case was marriedto a foreigner who died in 1994. She had fourchildren with that man, three of whom arestill minors. The woman kept her Lebanesenationality after her marriage, and based onthat she was asking to be allowed to conferher nationality to her children.

Many years ago, some Cassation Chamberstook the decision of treating Lebanesewomen on an equal footing with naturalizedforeign women in terms of the right to confernationality to children, based on Article 4 ofthe Lebanese nationality law. Clearly the2009 Court of First Instance decision restoresthe role of the Lebanese judicial system

in safeguarding rights and rejecting anydiscrimination.

Even though the verdict of the Court ofFirst Instance proves to be consistent withthe essence of the Constitution and theconventions that Lebanon has ratied in thisregard, some legal scholars have deemedit inappropriate, as a breach of the law,in their opinion. The General Prosecutionrepresenting the State appealed the verdict,claiming that it violates Article 4 of Decision

15 of 1925 (Lebanese Nationality Law). whichdoes not give a Lebanese woman whoseforeign husband has died the right to transferher nationality to her children.

Meanwhile, as we still await the appealresults, what we need is a well-deneddraft law on this issue, granting Lebanesewomen the right to pass their nationality onto their spouses and children without anydiscrimination or conditions.

Equality between Lebanese Women and Foreign Women When Will DiscriminationEnd Entirely?


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A unied contract related to migrant domesticworkers was put into force in March 2009.According to the Ministry of Labour, this contractcomes within the framework of an inclusive seriesof measures aimed at regulating the relationshipbetween workers and employment agents.The negotiations for this unied contract, whichbegan in 2006, involved the ministry of Labour, thesyndicate of placement agencies, the embassiesof sending countries, related UN agencies andnational NGOs. It is proposed that a special unitbe created within the Ministry of Labour to addressthe problems that may arise between the parties,along with a hotline to take the complaints ofmigrant domestic workers.

A few of the most important clauses featuredin the contract are: (1) Working hours shall notexceed 10 hours per day for no longer than sixdays a week, including a daily rest period of no

less than eight uninterrupted hours at night. (2)Salaries shall be paid out and workers shall sign areceipt for their monthly salary. (3) The worker shallbe entitled to sick leave of 6 days and an annualleave. Added to this are a set of obligationsincumbent on workers, including performing theirjob in accordance with work ethics and the homeprivacy.

The employer has the right to cancel the contractin case the worker breaches his/her obligations,

most notably if the worker commits any actthat harms the interest of the employer or anymember of the employers family, or any act thatis criminalized by Lebanese law. In these cases,the worker would have to leave the country athis/her own expense.

Without underes t imat ing th i sdevelopment, Ruwad believes the uniedcontract still falls short of acceptedstandards. It does not provide expresslyfor the right of workers to keep possessionof their passports, despite the insistenceof the Minister of Labour that passportsbelong to their owners and no one hasthe right to conscate them. Moreover,the mechanisms for monitoring andcontrolling the implementation ofobligations stipulated by the contractremain weak, if they exist at all.

ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES: A UNIFIED CONTRACT

IS IT ENOUGH TO PRESERVE MIGRANT DOMESTIC

WORKERS RIGHTS?!


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THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR FREEZES THE ISSUANCE

OF IDENTIFICATION CARDS FOR NON-ID PALESTINIAN

REFUGEES

Between three thousand and ve thousand

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon do not haveidentication papers and are not recognizedeither by the Lebanese state or by UNRWA.These individuals are commonly known as Non-

IDs. In August 2008, the Lebanese Governmentdecided to issue a special identication cardto Non-ID Palestinian refugees, but the issuingof these IDs ceased three months later.

The decisions of the Ministry of Interior toissue the IDs and later to stop were not made

public, and nor were they published in the

Ofcial Gazette. According to the information

gathered, a Non-ID Palestinian refugee had

to ll out a special application form provided

and stamped by the PLO Representation

Ofce in Lebanon, to be submitted to the

General Security along with other documents,

including the Proof of Nationality Certicate,

issued by PLO Representation Ofce since

2006, and a Certicate of Residence, issuedby the Mukhtar.

Between 2006 and 2009, FR worked on the right of this vulnerable population to obtainrecognition and secure their basic and fundamental rights. In 2006, the organization published abreakthrough legal analysis of the reasons why these Palestinian refugees nd themselves in thisstate of limbo and made recommendations for ending this state of affairs. FR then launched acivil campaign to advocate for their right to legal recognition. FR also opened a dialogue withthe authorities and met a number of times with the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee(LPDC) established by the Prime Minister at the time.

2200 applications are said to have been submitted. However, only 765 cards were issued, while300 applications were rejected because they did not fulll the requirements. Three hundred cardswere apparently completed, but had not been delivered to their owners. It is worth noting that itseems that detained Non-ID Palestinian refugees could not le their applications to the GeneralSecurity as it was mandatory to show up in person for application submission. Family members ofsome detainees managed to acquire these cards, while the detainees were either banished tothe borders and in some cases released provisionally pending acquisition of the cards. Moreover,Palestinian refugees holding Egyptian, Jordanian or other identication papers could not obtainthe new cards, pending settlement of the issue between Lebanon and the relevant countries.

The LPDC conrms that this [non-ID Palestinian refugee] card gives its holder freedom ofmovement, the right to work and the right to register marriages and births, just like the Palestinianrefugees registered with the Ministry of Interior and recognized as Palestinian refugees.

The reasons that prevent the Lebanese authorities from proceeding to effective registration ofthese Palestinian refugees, sticking instead to the issuance of Identication Cards, are linked tothe fact that Lebanese laws are interpreted as only acknowledging1948 refugees from Palestine,whereas a large number of refugees have come to Lebanon either illegally from neighbouring


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countries or at later stages. Lebanese laws regulating the legal status of Palestinian refugees,promulgated during the 1950s and 1960s, do not denitively close the door for new Palestinianarrival but are at times vague and ambiguous. They should be amended to be clear and toinsure that they address the continued and aggravated plight of Palestinian refugees.

Following the decision of the Lebanese authorities to freeze the issuance of new identity cards,a number of NGOs, at the initiative of Frontiers, sent an open letter to the Minister of Interior,calling on him to reverse this administrative measure, explain the reasons behind it, and identify

all the rights granted to the holders of these cards. In response, the Minister of Interior asserted thathalting the issuance of Identication cards was a decision to freeze and not to abolish or forbid.It is merely a legal and technical decision; denitely not political. He pointed out that meetingswere being held to develop mechanisms to control abuses and contraventions, prevent anypossible fraud, and ensure that these cards are granted to those who need them

On April 27, 2009, the Ministry of Interiorrequested the Council of Ministers approvalto put on the agenda for discussion a draftlaw related to granting Lebanese women theright to confer their nationality on their children,


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As part of its regular submissions of arbitrary detention cases to the relevant UN bodies, inMay 2009, Frontiers raised three cases of arbitrary detention of refugees and stateless personsin Lebanon before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Two of the detainees werebeing held arbitrarily by the General Security for illegal stay in the country. The rst had beenheld for more than nine months, the other for more than ve; none has appeared before aLebanese court. Their detention exceeded the maximum legally permitted time limit of 48 hrsrenewable only once before referral to court. The third was arrested while renewing his residencepermit. It appeared that there is a sentence in absentia against him for illegal entry although hewas charged and sentenced for this crime in 2005. A lawyer assigned by Frontiers managedearly April to overturn the sentence in absentia; the court dropped the charges and ordered theimmediate release of the refugee, for double jeopardy. However he remained in custody afterthe court ruled his release for around one month due to administrative problems. He was onlyreleased late May on bail of his employer.

UNHCRs New EligibilityGuidelines Concerning Iraqis

In April, 2009, the UNHCR issued new

guidelines relating to Iraqi refugees and

asylum-seekers, replacing 2007 guidelines.

Accordingly, the geographical areas of

asylum-seekers prima facie recognized as

refugees became the central provinces and

north of Baghdad (Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa

and Salah Al-Din) considering the unstable

security situation in these regions. The UNHCR

recommends that asylum seekers from other

regions be individually assessed according

to the 1951 Convention or relevant regional

instruments and should not benet from

prima facie recognition or complementary

protection unless the situation deteriorates

unexpectedly. Exceptions also cover actualand potential supporters of the former regime,

as well those afliated with political parties who

are no longer identied as at risk only because

of their membership, , since these groups are

no longer targets of systematic attacks. Under

the new guidelines, UN employees and NGO

workers are also considered at risk, On the

other hand, exclusion clauses can still be

applied on a case-by-case basis..

UNHCR urges all states such as Lebanon

that have no special legal framework related

to refugees and asylum seekers and that

host Iraqi refugees to allow even temporary

residence to refugees coming from the ve

central Iraqi provinces, and to opt for a case-

by-case assessment of applications led by

refugees from the remaining provinces listed

in the regulations.

ARBITRARY DETENTION IN LEBANON: FR BRINGS

THE CASE BEFORE THE UN WORKING GROUP ON

ARBITRARY DETENTION

UPDATES ON INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION


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In February, 2009, the UNHCR called uponstates to provide international protection tonon-Arab refugees coming from Darfur, byrecognizing them as refugees pursuant to the1951 Convention, or at least granting themcomplementary protection.

However, the criteria that the UNHCR Ofcein Beirut has added as to actual residence inDarfur made Frontiers question the validityof the various sources of information usedregarding this issue. While some sources that

UNHCR-Lebanon apparently relies on assertthat internal relocation is possible for Darfurirefugees, others say this option is not validfor this category of refugees. In fact, several

reports show that the safe return of asylum-seekers to Darfur is not possible, irrespective oftheir African or Arab origins, and irrespective ofwhether they are residents of Darfur or not.

In view of this conicting information,conducting a real assessment of the substantialrisk of persecution and the true need forinternational protection seems extremelydifcult for Darfuri refugees of non-Arab originwhose habitual residence was outside Darfur.Therefore, Ruwad calls upon the UNHCR to

identify and make publicly available the sourcesit relies on in shaping its policy in Lebanon, andto put the 2006 regulations into practice withoutany additions.

If you wish to send us an article to be included in this Newsletter, or to comment on any subject oron the content of the Newsletter, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

Or on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/groupphp?gid=43639471821&ref=ts

Our website is: www.frontiersruwad.org

Frontiers can also be contacted on: 961 1 1389556 / 961 1 383556 (phone/fax),

and 961 3 457324 (mobile)

We look forward to receiving your comments, suggestions and contributions.

Supported by:

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

UNHCR's Policy Regarding Refugees from Darfur

You're from Darfur: Youre a Refugee, but not in Lebanon

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