National consultation in Lebanon ahead of the upcoming ICCPR review
Published on 12 Dec 2017, 04:22 PM
A crucial examination after 20 years of absence
National consultation on the implementation of the ICCPR in Lebanon, 6 December 2017
Lebanon’s implementation of the ICCPR will be examined by the Human Rights Committee in March 2018 in Geneva. The last review of Lebanon by the Human Rights Committee dates back to twenty years ago, making 2018 a unique opportunity to assess the main challenges regarding civil and political rights in the country.
In this context, CCPR-Centre together with its local partner, Alef, organised a national consultation on the implementation of the ICCPR in Lebanon. The workshop took place in Beirut on 6 and 7 December 2017, with the participation of 14 representatives of civil society.
The national consultation also served as a space to share experiences with representatives of the Jordanian Coalition Against Torture (JoCAT), who recently participated in the Human Rights Committee review of Jordan.
Main concerns of civil society regarding civil and political rights in Lebanon
Among others, these areas of concern were highlighted by civil society representatives during the national consultation:
- Discrimination of women and LGBTI persons in law and in practice
- Restrictions to freedom of assembly and association as civil society organisations often do not get permission to carry out a peaceful demonstration or other public events and do not obtain the permits to register their organisations.
- Inhumane conditions of detention, including overcrowding
- Lack of independence of the judiciary
Next steps
The participating NGOs will submit a civil society report to the Human Rights Committee, with the support of CCPR-Centre and Alef, to contribute to the review of Lebanon. A number of representatives of civil society will participate in the 122nd session of the Human Rights Committee in Geneva to present their report to the members of the Committee.
Find out here the State report (CCPR/C/LBN/3) submitted to the Human Rights Committee in November 2016 and the List of Issues adopted by the Committee (CCPR/C/LBN/Q/3) in August 2017.
In the mean time, the coalition of Lebanese NGOs has submitted two reports to the Human Rights Committee for the upcoming review of their State. Read them here and here.
