Lebanon’s first periodic report (CAT/C/LBN/1)[1] was submitted to the Committee against Torture on 9 March 2016, and will be reviewed by the Committee at its 60^th session. Although this effort is a step forward, the report had been overdue for 14 years, and contained no substantial information in terms of developments and efforts made by the Lebanese government towards preventing and putting an end to the practice of torture in Lebanon. It also had no mention of Lebanon’s progress towards implementing recommendations accepted as a result of the 2015 Universal Period Review related to the issue. This experience is unfortunately the norm, since prolonged delays often precede the submission of Lebanon’s reports, which results in part from the absence of a comprehensive data collection policy or a specific mechanism to monitor human rights and prepare State reports. This directly affects the work of local and international actors in accessing valuable information through which they could keep track of Lebanon’s progress and challenges to encourage reform at the domestic level.

The undersigned Lebanese civil society organisations hereby submit this shadow report in which they evaluate the use of torture and the environment conducive to it, highlighting their concerns and addressing recommendations for improvement to the State party. The report is built on contributions provided by the undersigned organisations, based on their respective area of expertise being it providing legal, social, psychological assistance to vulnerable categories or documenting human rights violations in the country.

As this report will detail, torture in Lebanon results from inhumane conditions of detention, the disrespect of legal safeguards and a general climate of impunity. The report also details the vulnerabilities of specific categories of the Lebanese population. An assessment of the absence of efficient measures for prevention and redress is also provided.

While acknowledging the challenges of various nature currently experienced by Lebanon, the undersigned organisations hope that the Committee’s constructive dialogue with the State party and its recently appointed new government will allow it to tackle the issue of torture in the country.

LINK TO REPORT: Joint Submission to UN Committee Against Torture

[1] Committee against Torture, Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention, Initial reports of State parties due in 2001, Lebanon, 14 April 2016, (CAT/C/LBN/1*); hereinafter “State party report”.