Civil Society Backs Families of Missing After Calls to Reconsider Lebanese State Council Decision

More than twenty civil society organizations called on Prime Minister Tammam Salam to recount the appeal submitted before the (State Council) Shura Council, requesting a stay of execution of the “landmark” decision that ordered the state to hand over the full investigation dossier to the families of the missing.

In an open letter addressed by the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon and the Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile (SOLIDE), supported by civil society groups, these organizations called on Salam to “advise the judicial body to refrain from requesting a re-trial and to take the initiative to immediately implement the decision of the Shura Council.”

These organizations also called on the prime minister to “take the initiative to implement the decision immediately,” stressing the importance of “adopting all the necessary measures to ensure the right of the families of the missing to know about the fates of their loved ones.”

The concerned civil society organizations stated that any delay in the implementation of the Shura Council’s decision “leads to the unending suffering of the families of the missing,” and poses a threat to one of the “most important” decisions of the Lebanese judiciary.

The Shura Council issued on March 4, 2014 a “landmark” decision ordering the state to deliver the full investigation dossier of the Official Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Fate of the Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Lebanon, appointed by the former Prime Minister Salim El-Hoss in 2000 to the families. Two months later, the judicial body requested a re-trial along with a stay of execution, claiming that the implementation of the decision “threatens” civil peace.
The signatories are:

The Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon; Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile (Solide); ACT for the Disappeared; Wehadatouna Khalasouna; Offre Joie; Arab NGO Network for Development ; Legal Agenda; Committee of Lebanese political detainees in Syrian Prisons; Zoukak; Abaad; Nahwa Al Mouwatiniya; Palestinian Human Rights Organization-PHRO; Union de la Jeunesse Démocratique Libanaise; Civil Society Movement ; Lebanese Economic Association; Sustainable Democracy Center; Lebanese Center for Policy Studies; UMAM D&R; Peace Initiatives; KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation; Center for Lebanese Studies; Fédération Euro-Méditerranéenne Contre les Disparitions Forcées,  Lebanon Support, Frontiers Ruwad Association.

Contacts

Wadad Halwani: 03-706685

Ghazi Aad: 03-242063

Act for the Disappeared: 01-443104

For text of open letter addressing PM Salam, click here