Lebanon (the Lebanese Republic)

Lebanon continues to fight to assert its democratic principles, being threatened from one side by Syria's imperialistic goals, and from the other side by Hezbolla'z Shiite fundamentalism. Hezbollah keeps on obtaining consensus, undermining thus the precarious demographic balance between the religious components of Shiites, Sunnis and Christian Maronites.

Considered as the most developed model of Arab democracy in the Middle East, Lebanon experienced a period of openness and improvement of human right conditions since the withdrawal of the Syrian troops on April, 2005. The withdrawal, established by the UN Security Council Resolution 1559/2004, put an end to 30 years of Syrian occupation since the Lebanese civil war in 1975. The same Resolution established the disarmament and disbanding of all the militias inside Lebanon, a directive which has never been enforced and the Hezbollah continue to be a very strong destabilizing reality to the politics and security of the State, as described by Dr. Kassem Jafaar's evaluations. Despite of the formal retreat of the troops, Syria still represents an important factor in the political Lebanese scenario, first of all for his presumed involvement in the murder of key persons such as the former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri in 2005, as indicated also by the report of the UN investigation commission, headed by the German judge Mehelis.

Despite the constant threats, the Lebanese civil society continues to express its sentiments, either anti-Syrians or pro-Hezbollah ones. It can be seen in great manifestations and criticism expressed in the local newspaper without beig necessarily disciplined by the Government. Nonetheless, the very strong intimidating mood prevailing until 2005, has induced self-censorship among the press.

This situation of overall and discreet tolerance toward government opponents is being absolutely lacking regarding Israel. Even the attitudes for only consider a normalization towards the Jewish state are strongly prohibited, and there is a risk to be charged with collaborationism or spying for Israel. The death penalty is not only imposed for crimes such as slay, attempted murder, terrorism, acts of rebellion and civil war, but also for collaborationism with Israel.

The humanitarian NGOs point out violations of individual freedom, although sporadic compared with the regional trend. On last may, the Human Rights Watch brought the case of 9 more than a year convicts, accused of incitement to sectarian fights, who are been imprisoned by the Ministry of Defense in isolation conditions. Four of them were probably tortured.

The freedom of association is regulated by the Ministry of Interior that imposes on any organization to invite Ministry's officials in their general assemblies, where they discuss the organization's statute or carry out internal elections. Those changes need in fact to be approved by the Ministry.

Although the Lebanese women enjoy a high level of emancipation, the law toward them is discriminatory in several severe circumstances. The reduction of penalty in case such as “honor crime” (a murder by a relative of a woman who has adopted “filthy” sexual behavior) is a very common phenomenon. In addition, the women cannot give their right of Lebanese citizenship to a foreign husband, especially not to her children. It seems that this measure is being held by governmental efforts avoiding integration of Palestinian refugees in the Lebanese society. This is one of the most painful pages in Lebanon history. Due to the exclusive heredity principal of the status of the Palestinians refugees established by the UNRWA (UN agency dealing exclusively with Palestinians refugees), the nearly 100,000 refugees in 1948 are now around 400,000, and most of them do not have neither social rights nor political ones. During 2005, the Government has reduced the list of banned works to the Palestinians from 72 to 22, but the discrimination towards them, which live in dozen refugees' camps, keeps growing.