The National Commission for Human Rights, which includes the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, is following with great interest the discussion surrounding the text of the tripartite framework document between the United States of America, the State of Israel, and the Republic of Lebanon, especially what was raised regarding the pledge to “refrain from taking any hostile or hostile measures in international political or legal forums. They also pledge to work to search for and return the remains, and to release the detainees.”
The Commission stresses that the prosecution of perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of torture does not constitute a hostile act or a political stance, but rather represents a legitimate exercise of the right to litigation, and an implementation of international legal obligations aimed at combating impunity, redressing victims, and establishing the principle of not escaping responsibility for the most serious crimes affecting humanity.
The Commission warns that any interpretation or commitment requiring the cessation or abstention from initiating or completing prosecutions or international legal procedures would seriously undermine the right of the Lebanese state and the right of victims to resort to international judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms stipulated in international law. This includes, in particular, the possibility of bringing or pursuing cases before the International Court of Justice in cases where there are grounds for jurisdiction, and supporting efforts to hold perpetrators of international crimes accountable before the International Criminal Court in accordance with applicable legal frameworks, as well as following up on complaints and proceedings before the Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and other competent United Nations organs, including independent international investigative mechanisms or fact-finding commissions and investigative bodies established by the Human Rights Council to investigate serious violations of international humanitarian law. and international human rights law.
The Commission confirms that resorting to these mechanisms does not constitute a hostile act or a departure from the requirements of any political understanding, but rather represents a legitimate exercise of rights guaranteed by the rules of international law, and is part of the state’s commitment to protect its citizens and defend their rights, and the victims’ right to truth, justice, fairness and reparation. Therefore, any commitment or interpretation that could lead to disrupting or limiting these paths would perpetuate impunity, undermine the rights of victims, and weaken the Lebanese state’s ability to use available international legal means to hold those responsible for grave violations accountable.
In light of the legal and political explanations and interpretations raised by Paragraph (13) of this text, the National Commission for Human Rights affirms that any commitment that the Lebanese state may take within the framework of its international relations or understandings cannot, from a legal standpoint, extend to the individual rights of the victims or their families, and may not be interpreted as restricting, preventing or detracting from their inherent right to resort to national or international judiciary, or to prosecute those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other international crimes and to demand reparation. And fairness.
The Commission also affirms that the Lebanese state does not have the right, in accordance with its constitutional and international obligations, to waive its duty to take all necessary legal, diplomatic and judicial measures to confront violations of international law, including the use of available national, regional and international mechanisms, and it may not refrain from taking any action that would ensure accountability and combat impunity, or shirk its responsibility to establish and activate national and international mechanisms ensuring the right to litigation, access to justice and redress for victims. The Commission stresses that the right Victims and their families in litigation are a personal and inherent right, which no public authority has the power to waive, dispose of, or limit its exercise. It is a right protected by the provisions of the Lebanese Constitution and the international agreements to which Lebanon has adhered, most notably the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations Convention against Torture, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the basic principles of the United Nations regarding the right of victims to redress and reparation.
The Authority confirms that individual lawsuits filed before national courts that exercise their jurisdiction based on the principle of universal jurisdiction or other internationally recognized foundations of jurisdiction remain independent of any political understandings or agreements between countries, and may not legally be considered included in any government undertaking related to the management of international relations or the state’s foreign policy.
The Commission notes that a number of Lebanese victims and their families have already initiated legal procedures before competent foreign courts, based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, and that these judicial procedures constitute a legitimate legal path guaranteed under the national laws of the countries with jurisdiction and under the rules of international law, and are expected to continue independently of any political or diplomatic obligations that governments may make.
Based on its mandate to protect human rights and promote respect for international law, the National Commission for Human Rights, which includes the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, declares its full support for the right of victims and their families to resort to the competent national or foreign judiciary, and to initiate or follow up on individual lawsuits aimed at prosecuting Israeli officials suspected of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, or other international crimes, in order to achieve justice, redress the victims, redress the damages they have suffered, and ensure that no official escapes accountability in accordance with international law.
The Commission believes that these lawsuits constitute an integral part of the international justice system, and play an essential role in combating impunity, revealing the truth, protecting collective memory, and ensuring that grave violations are not repeated in the future.
The National Commission for Human Rights affirms that it is not permissible, legally or humanitarianly, to link the issue of living Lebanese citizens who were detained and transferred into Israeli territory, some of whom are still in detention or whose fate is unknown, with the issue of the remains of Israeli soldiers whose traces have been lost for decades during the military operations that took place on Lebanese territory.
The Commission stresses that living persons who have been deprived of their liberty enjoy full protection under the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and international human rights law, including the right to protection from unlawful transfer, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearance, and the right to communicate with their families, to a fair trial, and to be released whenever there is no legal basis for their continued detention.
On the other hand, the search for the remains of missing persons or dead in armed conflicts, including the remains of missing Israeli soldiers, constitutes an independent humanitarian obligation imposed by the rules of international humanitarian law, and may not be used or linked in any way to the rights of living persons detained and forcibly disappeared or to the deprivation of their liberty.
The Commission believes that any approach based on a barter or link between the release of living Lebanese detained and forcibly disappeared persons, and the search for the remains of Israeli soldiers, contradicts the basic principles of international humanitarian law, which clearly distinguishes between obligations related to protecting the living and obligations related to respecting the dead and missing, and prevents the transformation of human rights into tools for negotiation or political bargaining.
Accordingly, the Commission affirms that any pledge that the Lebanese government may take to search for the remains of Israeli soldiers must remain an independent humanitarian commitment, and may not be linked, explicitly or implicitly, to the release of living Lebanese detained in Israel or to revealing the fate of forcibly disappeared Lebanese, as they enjoy independent and inalienable legal rights that require their release or disclosure of their fate unconditionally, and in accordance with the provisions of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
