By Patrick Galey BEIRUT: Lebanon’s failure to adopt United Nations equality recommendations will result in the continued abuse and mistreatment of women, refugees, migrants and homosexuals, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday.
During this month’s UN Human Right’s Council review, held by member states in New York, the Lebanese delegation agreed to form a National Commission on Human Rights, designed to criminalize all forms of torture and ill-treatment in the country.
HRW, however, was unimpressed with the level of commitment made by officials. “Lebanon agreed to some reforms but missed an opportunity to tackle some of its longstanding human rights problems,” said Nadim Houry, Beirut director at HRW.
According to the organization, the Lebanese delegation dismissed recommendations that would have safeguarded fair treatment for some of the country’s most marginalized groups. The measures, if adopted, would “promote equality for women, provide Palestinian refugees with the right to own property, protect migrants from frequent abuse, decriminalize homosexuality, and abolish the death penalty.”
Most notable among the failures cited by HRW was the delegation’s inability to agree upon laws that prevent discrimination against women. Although Lebanon supported a recommendation to pass a law protecting women from domestic violence, it rejected the chance to amend its citizenship law to allow Lebanese women to pass their citizenship to their spouses and children. It also failed to remove discriminatory aspects of the country’s personal status laws, HRW said.
In addition, the delegation failed to agree on specific measures to protect the wellbeing of Lebanon’s estimated 200,000 migrant workers.
Bangladesh, a country that provides thousands of workers to the Lebanese marketplace each year, “expressed concern at some instances of poor working conditions and violations of the rights of migrant workers,” according to the UN’s report on the human rights review session.
Lebanon also rejected recommendations to amend a long-standing law barring the country’s 400,000 Palestinian refugees from registering property, in spite of the passing of legislation in August designed to improve their working conditions.
Palestine’s UN delegation said that successive conflicts in Lebanon “had hampered developments in the area of human rights.” It accused lawmakers in Beirut of continually depriving refugees of various civic freedoms.
Palestine’s UN delegation said that successive conflicts in Lebanon “had hampered developments in the area of human rights.” It accused lawmakers in Beirut of continually depriving refugees of various civic freedoms.
“Countries as different as Finland and Brazil called on Lebanon to end discrimination against Palestinians,” Houry said. “One important way to improve the status of Palestinians would be to amend Lebanon’s property law to allow them to register their property, just like any other foreigner.”
Several states called on Lebanon to establish a moratorium or abolish the death penalty, but the delegation rejected the recommendations.
HRW had previously voiced concerns over the power held by Lebanese military courts to issue the death sentence to – or detain without trial – suspects which are often subjected to abuse during interrogation. The UNHCR session noted that the jurisdiction of such courts had been increased “as a result of the prevailing security situation.” Lebanese courts have issued at least five death sentences in 2010, HRW said.
Various member states called Lebanon to task over its human-rights record.
The United States “remained concerned that Lebanese women were inequitably represented in government and that refugees lacked basic rights to move freely within the country,” the UN report said. “It noted that some forms of torture were not criminalized.”
The United Kingdom “expressed also concerns about allegations of torture and humanitarian and human rights situation for Palestinian refugees.”
The Lebanese delegation agreed to amend the government’s definition of torture, which “would be brought in line with international standards and sentences for the crime of torture be increased accordingly.”
The human rights records of all United Nations member states are reviewed by the Human Rights Council once every four years.
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