April 13, 2010 - The Daily Star - Lebanon Families of War time missing urge action

BEIRUT: Five years to the day after establishing a permanent presence in Downtown Beirut, the families of Lebanese missing during the Civil War are demanding that the government establish a second national commission to bring a definitive end to their plight.
The Lebanese organizations, among which was Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile (SOLIDE), held a Hyde Park Sunday afternoon in Jibran Khalil Jibran garden near ESCWA headquarters in Beirut.
The activity aimed to mark five years since the holding of a permanent sit-in by the families of the missing, and it came two days before the 35th anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War on April 13, 1975.
In addition to families of the missing, several political and international figures attended the event such as Metn MP Ghassan Mokheiber, former ministers Dimianos Qattar and George Qorm, and Ahmad Karoud, responsible for Amnesty International activities in the Middle East.
A number of peace activists and representatives from Arab human rights organizations were among the participants as well.
“This gathering is the first of its type,” said SOLIDE’s head, Ghazi Aad to The Daily Star.
“Instead of holding two events, one on April 11 and another one on April 13, we decided to combine both today,” said Aad.
During civil strife between 1975 and 1990, an estimated 17,415 individuals went missing, among whom 13,968 are believed to be Lebanese.
Many of the kidnapped are thought to have been buried in mass graves by warring militias on Lebanese territories or were transferred illegally to Israeli or Syrian authorities.
A decade ago, the government of Lebanese Premier Salim al-Hoss established a commission to uncover the fate of missing people during the Civil War; it ended up declaring all those who had disappeared as dead and failed to please many activists since it failed to tackle the issue of mass graves, among other things.
“This commission wasn’t credible and wasn’t established according to international norms,” said Aad, adding that several Lebanese believed to be missing were released from Syrian prisons following the commission’s announcement.
“We’re calling the government for establishing a national commission in accordance with international norms in which civil society and the government are represented,” he added.
Aad urged any future commission to mount a serious effort to identify mass graves and identify the names of people buried there with the help of a DNA database.
“We think the commission should also prioritize unveiling the fate of Lebanese prisoners in Syria, who we believe are still alive,” said Aad.
Speaking at the event were peace activists, along with figures who participated in the Civil War, highlighting the importance of forming a national commission and urging all parties to disclose information they have about missing people.
Asaad Shaftari, a former member of the Lebanese Forces, called for setting up a mechanism by which former participants in the war can give information they have about missing people while enjoying protection from revenge.
“Personally, I have a lot of information that I won’t disclose before such a mechanism is created,” said Shaftari, who also asked for forgiveness from those gathered.
In response, a woman voiced her readiness to forgive Shaftari, but not state authorities who have neglected the issue.
Habib Younes, a television talk show host who was a member of the Guardians of the Cedars militia during the war, proposed establishing a confidential means by which Civil War participants could provide information to the government.
“Otherwise, no one will dare disclose what he knows,” the talk show host added.
“Personally, I saw corpses being buried in mass graves in the area of Karantina in 1976,” Younes said, urging the authorities to search in that location.
Aad said that the sit-in would continue, “as a witness to [government] negligence and the formation of a national commission, which will uncover the fate of the victims of enforced disappearance.”