International Instruments

State of Emergency: Challenges to human rights obligations

ALEF- act for human rights is deeply concerned with the extensions of the state of emergency in Beirut. Following years of raising the alarm about a shrinking civic space, this decision can lead to more intimidation, repression, and abuse. Concerns on State of Emergency in BeirutDownload

Beirut Blast – Statement of Lebanese CSOs

Beirut 7/8/2020 1. Beirut Explodes On August 4, 2020, Beirut was hit by the biggest explosion in its history, leading to more than 220 killed, seven thousand wounded, and tens of missing (according to the latest figures by the Ministry of Public Health) before the Lebanese army announced that it would stop the search for [...]

Lebanon’s Political rights and Freedoms: A submission to the Universal Periodic Review

The following report highlights Lebanon’s improvements and setbacks in a series of most pressing human rights issues throughout the implementation phase of the second cycle following Lebanon’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2015. The country, currently going through a series of crises such as the Lebanese protests that started on October 17, 2019, the financial [...]

Conditions of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon: Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review

The deterioration of the financial and socio-economic situations in Lebanon, coupled by the Lebanese protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, will require much humanitarian and development support to respond to the needs of refugees but as well the Lebanese host community. Social stability that is under threat while protection issues such as access to legal documentation, [...]

Conditions of Detention in Lebanon: Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review

In Lebanon, prisons and detention centers are chronically overcrowded. The World Prison Brief ranks the Lebanese prison and detention system as the 34 most overcrowded in the world. Severe overcrowding in prisons and detention centers has resulted in conditions that pose a significant threat to the health, safety, and dignity of detainees. Only Roumieh prison [...]

The Situation of Civil Rights in Lebanon: A Joint Submission to the UPR

Lebanon has ratified most of the international human rights conventions including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the international Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (2000) and its Protocol (2008). Lebanon does not implement article 6 of the ICCPR. According to the Human Rights Committee, states [...]

Threats to Civic Space: Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review

This submission is presented for consideration as part of the Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Report. It includes a summary of the human rights conditions in Lebanon along with recommendations on how the Lebanese government can improve these conditions and put an end to violations. This report on freedom of religion and belief, freedom of expression [...]

Access to Education: Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review

This submission is presented for consideration as part of the Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Report. It includes a summary of the human rights conditions in Lebanon along with recommendations on how the Lebanese government can improve these conditions and put an end to violations Lebanon was among the first that signed the Convention on the [...]

The Human Rights Implications of Quarantine Measures to Address COVID-19

This policy brief builds upon and supports the National Human Rights Commission’s statement on the need to respect human rights in the response against COVID-19. As the National Emergency Task Force for COVID-19 plans to introduce further quarantine measures to contain and delay the spread of the virus it is critical that the human rights [...]

Keeping Track of Commitments

by Francisca AnkrahPrograms Manager, ALEF act for human rights The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) has often been criticized by governments and NGOs alike as inefficient, which is certainly the case when states treat it exclusively as an elaborate reporting exercise that repeats itself every five years. The UPR’s purpose lies in its process more than [...]