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Constitutional Covenant on Citizenship, Non-Domination and Guarantee of Lebanese Pluralism
COMPLETE FOREWORD OF TEXT
Working Version — 26 August 2026
Cardinal principle
The majority governs, but it never dominates.
The minority may lose an election, but it can never lose its rights.
The citizen politically precedes his religious affiliation.
Project led by Bernard Raymond Jabre
Nature of document
This text is a constitutional and political preliminary draft. Its aim is to lay the legal foundation for a Lebanon where citizenship is the first in the political order, where the fundamental rights of the individual are intangible, and where community pluralism is protected without transforming each community into a permanent veto over the state.
In order to become fully effective against the public authorities, such a pact should be integrated into the summit of the Lebanese legal order, including through constitutional review and implementing organic laws. Its final drafting should be expertised by constitutionalists, judges, human rights experts and representatives of civil society and Lebanese sensitivities.
The philosophy of the project is simple: no longer protect communities by sharing the state indefinitely, but protect them by making their mutual domination legally impossible — while guaranteeing each Lebanese that their civil and political rights are never dependent on their faith, number or demographic weight.
PREAMBLE
We Lebanese,
heirs of a land where for centuries different religions, cultures, traditions, languages, memories and communities have met;
recognizing that this diversity is one of Lebanon’s fundamental assets, but that it has also, when it has been politically instrumentalized, fed fear, confrontation, foreign intervention and wars;
having learned from our history that no community, demographic majority, political majority, religion, ideology or armed force can legitimately claim to own Lebanon or impose their domination on others;
affirming that Lebanon also belongs to all its citizens and that no Lebanese has more rights there simply because of its number, religion, religion, sex, origin, region or political affiliation;
convinced that civil peace cannot be based on the sole denominational distribution of public office, but must be based on a deeper guarantee: that no one can be politically erased, discriminated against or dominated by demographic change or a change of majority;
affirming that the human individual politically precedes his or her religious affiliation and that Lebanese citizenship constitutes, in the legal order of the State, the primary political quality of any Lebanese;
recognizing simultaneously that religious and cultural communities constitute legitimate historical realities and that they have the right to freedom, security and preservation of their identity, without such recognition being able to confer on them a right of domination over their members or permanent ownership over a part of the State;
refusing both majority domination over minorities and community domination over individuals;
affirming that democracy means the right of the majority to govern but never to dominate;
affirming that a minority can lose an election without ever losing its rights;
convinced that no community should have to seek from any foreign power, militia or particular armed force the security that the Lebanese State has a duty to guarantee to all;
desiring to gradually transform the Lebanese Republic from a system of religious division of power into a State of free and equal citizens, while constitutionally protecting its historical pluralism;
let us adopt this Beirut Convention as the permanent political and legal foundation for Lebanese coexistence.
TITLE I — FUNDING PRINCIPLES OF THE REPUBLIC
Article 1 — Primacy of citizenship
All Lebanese are citizens before the Republic before any other membership.
The status of Lebanese citizen constitutes his political and legal identity in his relations with the State.
No political, civil, administrative, economic or social right may be granted, refused, diminished or increased according to the religious or religious affiliation of a citizen, except for the transitional provisions expressly provided for in the Constitution during the period of deconfession.
Article 2 — Fundamental equality
All Lebanese citizens are equal in dignity, rights and duties.
The law does not recognize any hierarchy based on, inter alia:
• religion;
• confession;
• absence of religion;
• family origin;
• sex;
• the region;
• language;
• philosophical convictions;
• political opinions;
• social situation;
• fortune;
• or any other personal condition.
Article 3 — Principle of non-domination
No citizen, group, party, community, religious institution or public authority may exercise or claim power with the object or effect of placing another part of the population in a position of political, legal or institutional domination.
Article 4 — Fundamental democratic principle
The majority governs; She can never dominate.
The minority may lose an election; She can never lose her rights.
Under no circumstances can a democratic alternation bring into question the fundamental rights of a citizen or the legitimate political existence of a minority.
Article 5 — Independence of rights in relation to the number
The fundamental rights of citizens and the essential guarantees granted to communities do not vary with their demographic importance.
No demographic change, census, emigration, immigration and any change in the proportions between communities can create, suppress or diminish a fundamental right on their own.
The number can determine an electoral majority. It cannot determine the value of a right.
Article 6 — Common sovereignty
Sovereignty belongs exclusively to the Lebanese people as a whole.
No community, no party, no religious institution or region can claim to hold a sovereign fraction of the state.
No majority can claim to be the sole owner of this sovereignty.
TITLE II — THE LIBANAIS CITIZEN
Article 7 — Independent citizenship of religion
The exercise of Lebanese citizenship shall not be subject to:
• membership in a religion;
• membership in a given denomination;
• the declaration of a religion;
• maintenance in the religion of birth;
• the absence of religion.
Article 8 — Freedom of membership
Everyone has his religious or philosophical affiliation freely.
She’s free
• to believe;
• not to believe;
• practice;
• not to practice;
• changing religion;
• leaving a community;
• to join a community;
• not to declare membership.
This decision shall not entail any loss of civil or political rights.
Article 9 — Neutrality of political civil status
No document necessary for the exercise of political, civil or administrative rights may require the mention of religion or confession.
The State may retain the information strictly necessary for the administration of religious regimes freely chosen by citizens, but this information:
1. remain confidential;
2. may not be used to determine access to a job, function or public service;
3. shall not be used for discriminatory purposes.
Article 10 — Right to civil status
Every Lebanese citizen has the right to a common civil status organized by law.
Membership in a religious community cannot force a citizen, against his will, to be subject to religious jurisdiction for the whole of his personal life.
Religious regimes of personal status may remain for citizens who freely choose to accede to them, while respecting the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
Article 11 — Equality of men and women
Men and women are fully equal in civil, political, economic and social rights.
The law guarantees equality in particular:
• access to public office;
• in political rights;
• in civil marriage;
• in the protection of the family;
• in the transmission of nationality;
• and in all relations between the citizen and the State.
No Community rule may be opposed to a citizen when its application would affect the intangible core of fundamental rights recognized by this Convention.
TITLE III — INTANGIBLE RIGHTS OF THE CITIZEN
Article 12 — Intangible constitutional core
1. human dignity;
2. the right to life;
3. personal freedom;
4. equality before the law;
5. freedom of conscience;
6. freedom of religion;
7. freedom to change religion or to have no religion;
8. freedom of expression;
9. freedom of assembly;
10. freedom of association;
11. political freedom;
12. the right to participate in public affairs;
13. the right to vote;
14. the right to be a candidate;
15. equal access to public service;
16. the right to an independent judge;
17. the right to an effective constitutional remedy;
18. protection against discrimination.
Article 13 — Political equality
Every citizen has the same right to participate in the conduct of public affairs.
In the long run, no political function of the Republic can be legally reserved for a person because of his or her confession.
Existing religious provisions may remain only in the context of the transition provided for in this Convention.
Article 14 — Access to public office
Administrative, judicial, military, security and public functions are assigned according to:
• competence;
• integrity;
• experience;
• merit;
• and the needs of the public service.
No one has a right to a public service solely because of their community membership.
Article 15 — Prohibition of systemic exclusion
An apparently neutral rule that would have the lasting and objectively demonstrable effect of systematically excluding a class of citizens from political or public life may be declared unconstitutional.
However, a statistical difference in representation alone is not sufficient to constitute discrimination.
There must be evidence of an unjustified, serious and lasting obstacle to equal access.
TITLE IV — COMMUNITYS AND PLURALISM
Article 16 — Recognition of pluralism
The Republic recognizes the historical contribution of religious and cultural communities to the formation of Lebanon.
It guarantees their freedom of existence and their right to preserve their religious, cultural, educational and historical heritage.
Article 17 — Nature of Community rights
The rights of communities are intended to protect the freedom of the people who make up them and national pluralism.
They do not constitute:
• nor special sovereignty;
• neither a property on a function of the State;
• neither a right of domination over their members;
• a permanent right to a quota of ministries or public employment.
Article 18 — Collective rights protected
1. the free exercise of worship;
2. freedom of religious organization;
3. the protection of places of worship;
4. the establishment and management of religious institutions;
5. freedom of religious education;
6. the establishment of schools and cultural institutions in accordance with national standards;
7. the preservation of religious and cultural heritage;
8. freedom of association;
9. protection from persecution;
10. protection against collective discrimination;
11. effective access to political representation.
Article 19 — No right of possession of the State
No community can claim as a permanent constitutional right:
• the presidency of a given institution;
• a ministry;
• administrative management;
• a military command;
• a judicial post;
• a fixed number of public jobs;
• or a specific part of the State’s resources.
Community guarantees protect existence and freedom; they do not create property rights in the State.
Article 20 — Prohibition of internal domination
A Community authority may not:
• deprive a member of his or her political rights;
• preventing the change of religion;
• impose a conviction on him;
• limiting the right to vote;
• determine its political opinion;
• or to impose on him a constraint incompatible with his fundamental rights.
The community is protected by the State; The individual is also protected from his community.
TITLE V — PROTECTION AGAINST THE TYRANCY OF MAJORITY
Article 21 — Prohibition of the laws of domination
Any measure whose actual purpose or obvious effect is:
1. permanently exclude a community from national life;
2. to withdraw from him the exercise of his religious freedoms;
3. prohibit him from expressing his identity;
4. subject it to institutional discrimination;
5. to deprive her of any effective political representation;
6. organize its forced displacement;
7. voluntarily alter a region in order to expel a population;
8. or create a situation of persecution or domination against him.
Article 22 — Constitutional test of protection
The challenge of a law in the name of the rights of a minority can only lead to its annulment if it is demonstrated:
• real and substantial damage;
• a serious effect;
• a discriminatory or disproportionate nature;
• and a sufficiently direct threat to a guaranteed fundamental right.
The mere loss of a political advantage, position, quota or influence does not constitute an existential impairment.
Article 23 — Proportionality
Any limitation of a fundamental right must:
1. be provided by law;
2. pursue a legitimate objective;
3. be necessary;
4. be proportionate;
5. to be the least attackable means reasonably available;
6. be subject to judicial review.
Article 24 — No general religious veto
No community has a general right of veto over legislation or government action.
The protection of fundamental rights is exercised by law and by the constitutional judge, not by permanent paralysis of institutions.
TITLE VI — POLITICAL DECONFESSIONALIZATION
Article 25 — Objective
The Republic is gradually moving from a system of representation of communities to a system of representation of citizens, while maintaining specific guarantees where they remain necessary to protect pluralism.
Article 26 — Prior safety principle
Political deconfession cannot be based on the brutal abolition of existing guarantees.
It is organised according to the principle: first guarantee the rights, then gradually abolish the quotas which have become useless.
Article 27 — First stage: constitutionalisation of guarantees
Before any general abolition of confessional guarantees are put in place:
1. the intangible rights provided for in this Convention;
2. an independent Constitutional Court;
3. the individual constitutional remedy;
4. an independent electoral authority;
5. comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation;
6. freedom of civil personal status;
7. guarantees of judicial independence.
Article 28 — Second stage: public administration
The denominational reference is deleted in:
• administration;
• public institutions;
• the judiciary;
• public universities;
• regulatory bodies;
• the security forces;
• and the armed forces,
subject to the temporary mechanisms necessary for the transition.
Appointments are made exclusively on the basis of competence, integrity and merit.
Rule 29 — Third stage: Chamber of Deputies
A Chamber of Deputies is elected on a national and non-denominational basis.
Any citizen may vote for any candidate in accordance with the electoral law, regardless of their respective religions.
The electoral law ensures:
• political pluralism;
• equality of suffrage;
• equitable territorial representation;
• reasonable proportionality;
• and the impossibility for one group to artificially exclude others.
TITLE VII — THE SENATE OF GUARANTEE AND PLURALISM
Article 30 — Creation
Simultaneously with the election of a Chamber of Deputies on a non-denominational basis, a Senate of guarantees and pluralism is established, in accordance with the principle already provided for in the Constitution.
Article 31 — Purpose of the Senate
The Senate does not constitute a second denominational chamber exercising general power.
Its mission is limited:
• protection of pluralism;
• fundamental changes in the national pact;
• the materials which may directly affect the existential guarantees of the components of lebanese society.
Article 32 — Representation
A constitutional law determines its composition so that:
• the main spiritual families of Lebanon are represented;
• no community can control it alone;
• citizens claiming no denominational affiliation can also be represented;
• the representation of women is guaranteed;
• no community affiliation confers a superiority of dignity or citizenship.
Any declaration of membership, if any, necessary for the election of the Senate is voluntary and confidential and has no other legal effect.
Article 33 — Limited jurisdiction
The Senate intervenes exclusively on:
1. changes in fundamental rights;
2. rules on religious freedom;
3. the basic rules of personal status;
4. the territorial structure of the State;
5. essential changes in the electoral system;
6. this Convention;
7. the constitutional provisions protecting pluralism.
It has no general competence over:
• the current budget;
• ordinary taxation;
• economic policy;
• administrative appointments;
• or daily government action.
Article 34 — Suspensive Veto
The Senate may exercise a reasoned suspensive veto over ordinary legislation within its jurisdiction.
This veto causes:
1. a new deliberation;
2. an attempt at conciliation;
3. and, in case of alleged violation of a fundamental right, the possibility of bringing the matter before the Constitutional Court.
It cannot become a permanent mechanism of paralysis.
TITLE VIII — THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
Article 35 — Transformation of the Constitutional Council
The Constitutional Council is transformed into the Constitutional Court of the Lebanese Republic.
It guarantees:
• the Constitution;
• this Convention;
• fundamental freedoms;
• equality between citizens;
• and the principle of non-domination.
Article 36 — Independence
The members of the Court:
• are chosen for their legal competence and integrity;
• do not represent any community;
• do not exercise any political mandate;
• receive no instruction;
• have a long, non-renewable and protected mandate.
The composition of the Court cannot result from a compulsory denominational distribution.
Article 37 — Referral by the citizen
Any citizen who considers that a law, regulation or act of public authority infringes any of his constitutional rights may, under the conditions laid down by an organic law, apply to the Constitutional Court.
Constitutional law therefore no longer belongs solely to the governments or the Community authorities.
The citizen himself becomes guardian of the Constitution.
Article 38 — Collective action
A group of citizens or an association with a legitimate interest may apply to the Court when a public measure seriously infringes the fundamental rights of an identifiable category of citizens.
Religious authorities may also refer the matter of religious freedoms to the Court, without benefiting from a general right of political veto.
Article 39 — Effect of decisions
Any provision declared contrary to the intangible core of rights ceases to have effect under the conditions determined by the Court.
The decisions of the Court are binding on all public authorities.
TITLE IX — SOVEREIGNTY AND LEGISLATIVE FORCE
Article 40 — Monopoly of force
The protection of all citizens and communities is an exclusive obligation of the Republic.
Only the legal institutions of the State may detain and use organized military force.
No party, community, religious organization or political group can maintain an autonomous armed force.
Article 41 — No weapon as a Community guarantee
No community can invoke its security, religion or political representation to justify the permanent existence of an armed organization outside the authority of the State.
The State assumes in return the positive and absolute obligation to protect all components of the country.
Article 42 — Prohibition of foreign guardianship
No foreign power can exercise a right of political protection over a Lebanese community.
No community can delegate its political rights to a foreign State in Lebanon.
Protection of rights is primarily concerned with:
• the Constitution;
• justice;
• national institutions;
• and, alternatively, the international mechanisms to which Lebanon has freely acceded.
TITLE X — SUPPLEMENTARY INSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEE
Article 43 — Independent justice
The independence of the judiciary constitutes a fundamental guarantee of this Convention.
No magistrate may be instructed by a political, religious or economic power.
Appointments, careers and judicial sanctions must be protected from political interference.
Article 44 — Independent electoral authority
National and local elections are controlled by an independent permanent authority with own resources.
It guarantees:
• equality between candidates;
• transparency of political financing;
• the integrity of the vote;
• equitable access to the media;
• and the absence of religious discrimination.
Article 45 — Political parties
Every citizen is free to create or join a political party.
Parties may have religious, philosophical, social or political inspiration, but:
• they must respect democracy;
• accept the equality of citizens;
• renounce violence;
• have no armed organisation;
• and cannot demand the abolition of the fundamental rights of a category of citizens.
Article 46 — Foreign financing and transparency
Foreign funding of political parties, organizations and institutions directly involved in political life is subject to strict regulation, transparency and control of the law.
No foreign financing can allow an external power to exercise political control over a Lebanese component.
TITLE XI — INTERPRETATION OF RIGHTS
Article 47 — Primacy of the person
In the event of a conflict between a Community prerogative and a fundamental right of the person, the judge shall seek conciliation which respects pluralism.
However, the essential core of the dignity and fundamental rights of the individual cannot be sacrificed in the name of the Community interest.
Article 48 — Interpretation favourable to freedom
Any ambiguity concerning the extent of fundamental freedom must be interpreted in favour of freedom, subject to the equivalent rights of others.
Article 49 — Prohibition of Community diversion
Protection under this Convention shall not be invoked in order to:
• impose a belief;
• maintain an economic privilege;
• keeping a public post;
• protect corruption;
• to block a judicial investigation;
• prevent the application of a legitimate general rule;
• to neutralise the normal functioning of the institutions.
TITLE XII — FROM TRANSITION TO THE STATE OF CITIZENSHIP
Article 50 — General transitional principle
The transformation of the political system is gradually taking place in order to prevent both the indefinite perpetuation of confessionalism and the brutal suppression of the guarantees necessary for confidence between the components of the country.
Article 51 — Phase I: building guarantees
Priority are adopted:
1. this Convention in constitutional order;
2. Reform of the Constitutional Court;
3. institutional independence of justice;
4. the individual constitutional remedy;
5. anti-discrimination legislation;
6. civilian personal status;
7. preparatory electoral reform;
8. guarantees of the independence of the administration.
Article 52 — Phase II: deconfessionalising the administrative state
Confessional quotas are being phased out in the public service and replaced by transparent merit-based recruitment procedures.
A temporary monitoring mechanism verifies that an alleged merit policy does not conceal a systematic exclusion.
Article 53 — Phase III: Reform of the legislative power
A non-denominational Chamber of Deputies is elected.
The Senate of Guarantees is simultaneously established.
The House represents citizens; The Senate protects pluralism.
Article 54 — Phase IV: End of denominational ownership of functions
When the guarantee institutions provided for in this Convention function effectively, the confessional reservation of the highest functions of the State shall be progressively repealed.
Any citizen who meets the constitutional requirements can then take up any function of the Republic.
Article 55 — Irreversibility of rights
No deconfession reform can reduce:
• religious freedom;
• cultural rights;
• protection against discrimination;
• freedom of religious institutions;
• or the fundamental rights of a minority.
Deconfessionalizing the state does not mean deconfessionalizing society by coercion.
TITLE XIII — SAFEGUARD CLAUSES
Article 56 — Basic clause
Cannot be abolished:
1. equality of all citizens;
2. human dignity;
3. freedom of conscience;
4. religious freedom;
5. the principle of non-discrimination;
6. the democratic character of the Republic;
7. the principle that the majority cannot abolish minority rights;
8. the principle that a community cannot remove the rights of its members;
9. State unity and sovereignty;
10. the monopoly of legitimate force by the State.
Article 57 — Revision of the Convention
Any revision of the provisions of this Convention requires a strengthened constitutional procedure.
No revision may have the object or effect of restoring a hierarchy of citizenship based on religion or confession.
Article 58 — Prior checking
Any amendment to the fundamental principles of the Convention shall be submitted to the Constitutional Court before its entry into force.
The Court verifies that it does not destroy the essence of the Pact of Citizenship and Non-Domination.
TITLE XIV — FINAL DEPOSIT
Article 59 — The foundation of the Republic
The purpose of this Convention is neither to abolish religions nor to erase communities nor to deny the history of Lebanon.
It aims to establish a common political space between them and above them: Lebanese citizenship.
Religion remains a freedom.
The community remains a membership.
Citizenship becomes the foundation of political law.
No Lebanese is more or less citizen than any other.
No majority acquires more fundamental rights by number.
No minority loses part of its political dignity through its digital decline.
No community owns the state.
No citizen belongs politically to his community before he belongs to the Republic.
Founding principle
We no longer ask how much we are to know what our rights are. Our rights precede our number.
Democratic principle
The majority governs, but it never dominates. The minority may lose an election, but it can never lose its rights.
Principle of citizenship
In the eyes of the Republic, there is no Christian, no Muslim, no Druze, no citizen without a confession. First, there is a Lebanese citizen, free and equal in rights. His religion belongs to him. The Republic belongs to all.
LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL NOTE
1. Citizenship first
The Convention does not deny communities. It changes their place in the political order: religious affiliation becomes a protected freedom, while citizenship becomes the first legal quality in the relationship with the State.
2. Protection without permanent veto
Communities do not have a general right to block. Their guarantees cover a precisely defined core of rights and are protected by the Constitutional Court. The system thus seeks to prevent the tyranny of the majority without institutionalizing confessional paralysis.
3. House of Citizens and Senate of Pluralism
The Chamber of Deputies is intended to become non-denominational and to represent citizens. The Senate would have limited competence to truly fundamental matters relating to the national pact, freedoms and pluralism.
4. Individual constitutional remedies
The creation of an individual remedy is a decisive element: a Lebanese no longer depends on a political or community leader to defend his constitutional rights. He himself became a subject and guardian of the Constitution.
5. Civil status freely chosen
Common civil personal status must be accessible to all citizens. Religious statutes may remain for those who freely choose them, subject to respect for the intangible core of fundamental rights.
6. Sequence deconfessionization
The method chosen is progressive: to create guarantees, to reform justice and constitutional control, to deconfession the administration and then to transform political representation. Legal certainty therefore precedes the elimination of quotas.
7. Monopoly of legitimate force
No citizenship pact can work on a sustainable basis if part of the population depends on a particular armed force for its security. The Community guarantee must come from the state and the law, not from a foreign militia or protector.
8. Legal background
In order to produce binding effects, the Convention should be integrated into the summit of the Lebanese legal order. Its final version would require a constitutional review, accompanied by organic laws relating, inter alia, to the Constitutional Court, the Senate, elections, civil status and the fight against discrimination.
SUMMARY FORM
The old system sought to protect communities by sharing the state with each other. The Beirut Convention protects communities by making their mutual domination impossible — and then gradually renders the State to all citizens.
Bernard Raymond Jabre
Beirut Convention •1
