Dialogue session on the right of children of Libyan women married to foreigners to obtain citizenship

#Libyan_Cloud_News_Agency – Tripoli

The International Humanitarian Law Center organized in Tripoli on Saturday a dialogue session entitled “The Citizenship Right for the Children of a Libyan Woman Married to a Foreigner between Acceptance and Denial”, under the slogan “I am Libyan I am Foreigner.”
A number of human rights female activists, officials of the Ministry of Social Affairs, organizations working on citizenship right, a group of Libyan women married to foreigners, the President of the General Assembly of the Arab Union of Judges, and the Head of the Department of Sociology at Al-Zawia University attended the dialogue session.
The Director of the International Humanitarian Law Center, and Head of Stranger in My Mother’s Nation Organization gave the opening speeches. The agenda included four legal, social and religious aspects, in addition to a SKYPE speech by the Legal Advisor of the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory.
A number of surveys and opinion polls were presented during the dialogue session. These included a question about the right of children of Libyan women married to foreigners to obtain Libyan citizenship. In 2016, 53% of people who took part in the surveys answered “yes to citizenship” while in 2018, the “yes” answer increased to 72%.
A member of the International Humanitarian Law Center, Nehal Al-Dahmani, said all Libyan citizens are concerned with this issue as it has been a thorny issue since the 2011 events.
“We, as human rights advocates, tried to exert pressure on the legislative body to enact laws to grant citizenship to the children of a Libyan woman married to a foreigner,” she said, indicating that law No.24 for the year 2011 allowed the Libyan mother to grant Libyan citizenship to her children, but with conditions that are almost impossible to achieve.
“We are currently trying to eliminate the arbitrary conditions established by law No.24.” She concluded.