Whilst we welcome the nomination of the new cabinet members after a protracted period, the Nationality Campaign and the regional Equality without Reservation Campaign would like to remind the ministerial committee entrusted with the task of writing the Ministerial Declaration of the urgent need to seriously address the issue of citizenship rights and entitlements for women and men.

The forthcoming Ministerial Declaration ought to include clear statements committing the cabinet to put in place legal reforms, programmes and actions aiming to contribute to gender equality taking especially into consideration the following:

1. Approve the reform of the nationality law so that women citizens have similar rights as their male counterparts in transmitting their nationality to their partners and children;

2. Ensure women’s full political participation in the forthcoming municipal elections through adopting a quota system;

3. Approve the proposed law for protecting women from domestic violence in line with the demands of the National Coalition for Legalizing the Protection against Family Violence;

4. Address seriously all the observations and comments expressed by the United Nations Commission for the Status of Women during their meeting of 1 February 2008 including lifting Lebanon’s reservations on CEDAW and signing its optional protocol;

5. Promote women’s economic participation and ensure women’s full economic rights and entitlements through putting in place relevant programmes and interventions as well as allocating state budgets for gender equality;

6. Promote the role of the National Commission for Lebanese Women especially in relation to its collaboration and coordination with women and civil society organizations.

It is imperative that the forthcoming Ministerial Declaration includes clear objectives, plans and programmes which commit the in-coming cabinet to its implementation. This will allow civil society organizations to participate in this process particularly at the level of monitoring and accountability. This is particularly critical since the two previous Ministerial Declarations of 2005 and 2008 included vague mentions of women’s rights and entitlements and were never reflected into action.

Beirut, 11 November 2009