National Implementation of the Women and Land Campaign in Lebanon

Building on the regional Women and Land Campaign launched by UN-Habitat and the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) in partnership with the Stand for Her Land Campaign, the national implementation of the Women and Land Campaign in Lebanon was kicked off through a roundtable event held in Beirut in December 2022 and organized by UN-Habitat in partnership with the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW).

The Lebanese Constitution protects the right to own land for both women and men but does not prohibit discrimination based on gender in the legislation. While women theoretically enjoy the right to own and use land, housing and property without discrimination, gender-based discrimination persists in the legislation as well as in practice.

In Lebanon, property laws dedicate the right to private ownership and use of property without discrimination, whereas for inheritance, the situation is different. Inheritance laws differ between religious communities and between individuals of different sects within the same community; this disparity in inheritance rights has resulted in compromising women’s housing, land and property (HLP) rights, and not guaranteeing them equality both in terms of the right to inherit and the share of inheritance.

While some family practices have diverged from the discriminatory laws and have applied, for example, the equal division of inheritance between sons and daughters, other discriminatory customs and family traditions, which prioritize males in inheritance practices, have negatively affected women’s HLP rights.

Protecting and enhancing women’s HLP rights in Lebanon will require raising women’s understanding of their HLP rights so they are better able the claim these rights, raising their awareness on how to overcome challenges in accessing theses rights, in addition to amending discriminatory laws and reform policies that hinder their access to HLP rights.

The campaign aims to raise awareness and initiate a multi-level dialogue about women’s HLP rights in Lebanon by increasing the understanding of the challenges faced by women in enjoying and accessing their HLP rights. This aims at empowering them to claim their HLP rights while drawing the public’s attention on the importance of protecting women and men’s HLP rights and on the vast impact this can have on the sustainable development and well-being of communities.

Follow the campaign through the hashtag #WomenAndLand and #HLPrights and through the following social media channels:

• Facebook: @UNHabitatLB, @Arab Land Initiative, @National Commission For Lebanese Women

• Twitter: @UNHabitatLB, @GLTNArabLand

• LinkedIn: UN-Habitat Lebanon, Arab Land Initiative 

• Instagram: @unhabitatlb, @nclwgov