The campaign targeted 18,000 Lebanese women married to foreigners. The majority of them live in Lebanon and they have problems with the residency and work of their children. 

In 2005, a group comprising representatives from different regions of Lebanon and from all religious faiths was launched as well as a petition, collecting 300,000 signatures in 8 months, was presented to the Lebanese parliament in a draft national law. A huge advertising campaign was carried out with writings and meetings with secular and religious groups from all sides, deputies and Presidents of the Bar.

Through these actions, some improvements in the children’s and families’ lives of Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese were achieved, namely: medical coverage for families of women civil servants (including those married to foreigners); residence permits of 3 years and relaxing rules on the employment of children of Lebanese women and foreign fathers.

This practice has been identified in the framework of the CSO WINS project (Capacity-building in the Southern Mediterranean to Open policy dialogue and monitoring for Women IN Society), with the support of the European Union’s Neighbourhood Civil Society Facility.