June 15, 2021<\/p>\n
To the Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council,<\/p>\n
Excellencies,<\/p>\n
We, the undersigned Lebanese and international organizations, individuals, survivors, and families of the victims are writing to request your support in the establishment of an international, independent, and impartial investigative mission, such as a one-year fact-finding mission, into the Beirut port explosion of August 4, 2020. We urge you to support this initiative by adopting a resolution establishing such a mission at the Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n
On August 4, 2020, one of\u00a0the largest non-nuclear explosions<\/a>\u00a0in history decimated the port and damaged over half the city. The Beirut port explosion killed 217 people, including nationals of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, and the United States. It wounded 7,000 people, of whom 150 acquired a physical disability, caused untold psychological harm, and damaged 77,000 apartments, forcibly displacing over\u00a0300,000 people<\/a>. At least\u00a0three children<\/a>\u00a0between the ages of two and 15 lost their lives. Thirty-one children required hospitalization, 1,000 children were injured, and\u00a080,000 children<\/a>\u00a0were left without a home.\u00a0The explosion affected\u00a0163 public and private schools<\/a>\u00a0and rendered\u00a0half of Beirut\u2019s healthcare<\/a>\u00a0centers nonfunctional, and it impacted\u00a056% of the private businesses<\/a>\u00a0in Beirut. According to the World Bank, the explosion caused an\u00a0estimated<\/a>\u00a0US$3.8-4.6 billion in material damage.<\/p>\n The right to life is an inalienable and autonomous right, enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (article 6), which Lebanon ratified in 1972. The Human Rights Committee, which interprets the ICCPR, has stated that states must respect and ensure\u00a0the right to life<\/a>\u00a0against deprivations caused by persons or entities, even if their conduct is not attributable to the state. The Committee further states that the deprivation of life involves an \u201cintentional or otherwise foreseeable and preventable life-terminating harm or injury, caused by an act or omission.\u201d States are required to enact a \u201cprotective legal framework which includes criminal prohibitions on all manifestations of violence\u2026that are likely to result in a deprivation of life, such as intentional and negligent homicide.\u201d<\/p>\n The facts as currently known suggest that the storage of more than\u00a02,700 tons of ammonium nitrate<\/a>\u00a0alongside other flammable or explosive materials, such as fireworks, in a poorly secured hangar in the middle of a busy commercial and residential area of a densely populated capital city likely created an unreasonable risk to life.<\/p>\n Since the explosion, a number of\u00a0official documents<\/a>\u00a0were leaked to the press, including official correspondence and court documents that indicate customs, port, judicial, and government officials as well as military and security authorities had been warned about the dangerous stockpile of potentially explosive chemicals at the port on multiple occasions since 2013.<\/p>\n Further, the Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 36 on article 6 states: \u201cThe duty to protect by law the right to life also requires States parties to organize all State organs and governance structures through which public authority is exercised in a manner consistent with the need to respect and ensure the right to life, including by establishing by law adequate institutions and procedures for preventing deprivation of life, investigating and prosecuting potential cases of unlawful deprivation of life, meting out punishment and providing full reparation.\u201d The investigations into violations of the right to life must be \u201cindependent, impartial, prompt, thorough, effective, credible, and transparent,\u201d and they should explore \u201cthe legal responsibility of superior officials with regard to violations of the right to life committed by their subordinates.\u201d<\/p>\n The impact and aftermath of the explosion also likely violated Lebanon\u2019s international human rights obligations to guarantee the rights to education and to an adequate standard of living, including the rights to food, housing, health, and property. More notably, Lebanon can only uphold its obligation to provide effective remedy to the victims on the basis of a credible, effective, and impartial investigation whose findings would then be the basis for any effective remedy plan.<\/p>\n In August, 30 UN experts publicly laid out\u00a0benchmarks<\/a>, based on international human rights standards, for a credible inquiry into the August 4, 2020 blast at Beirut\u2019s port, noting that it should be \u201cprotected from undue influence,\u201d \u201cintegrate a gender lens,\u201d \u201cgrant victims and their relatives effective access to the investigative process,\u201d and \u201cbe given a strong and broad mandate to effectively probe any systemic failures of the Lebanese authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n The domestic investigation into the Beirut blast has failed to meet those international standards.\u00a0 The ten months since the blast have been marked by the authorities\u2019 obstruction, evasion, and delay.\u00a0Human Rights Watch<\/a>,\u00a0Amnesty International<\/a>,\u00a0Legal Action Worldwide<\/a>,\u00a0Legal Agenda<\/a>, and the\u00a0International Commission of Jurists<\/a>\u00a0have documented a range of procedural and systemic flaws in the domestic investigation that render it incapable of credibly delivering justice, including flagrant political interference, immunity for high-level political officials, lack of respect for fair trial standards, and due process violations.<\/p>\n Victims of the blast and their relatives have been vocal in calling for an international investigation, expressing their lack of faith in domestic mechanisms. They claim that the steps taken by the Lebanese authorities so far are wholly inadequate as they rely on flawed processes that are neither independent nor impartial. This raises serious concerns regarding the Lebanese authorities\u2019 ability and willingness to guarantee victims\u2019 rights to truth, justice, and remedy, considering the decades-long culture of impunity in the country and the scale of the tragedy.<\/p>\n As we approach the one-year anniversary of the explosion, the case for such an international investigation has only strengthened. The Human Rights Council has the opportunity to assist Lebanon to meet its human rights obligations by conducting an investigative or fact-finding mission into the blast to identify whether conduct by the state caused or contributed to the unlawful deaths, and what steps need to be taken to ensure an effective remedy to victims.<\/p>\n The independent investigative mission should identify human rights violations arising from the Lebanese state\u2019s failure to protect the right to life, in particular whether there were:<\/p>\n The independent investigative mission should report on the human rights violated by the explosion, failures by the Lebanese authorities, and make recommendations to Lebanon and the international community on steps that are needed both to remedy the violations and to ensure that these do not occur in the future.<\/p>\n The Beirut blast was not an isolated or idiosyncratic incident. In the weeks following the explosion,\u00a0two fires broke out<\/a>\u00a0at the port in scenes reminiscent of the fire that resulted in the Beirut blast, terrorizing the public. In February 2021, a German firm tasked with removing tons of hazardous chemicals left in Beirut\u2019s port for decades warned that what they found amounted to \u201ca second Beirut bomb<\/a>.\u201d If these substances caught fire, Beirut would have been\u00a0“wiped out<\/a>,\u201d the interim port chief said.<\/p>\n It is time for the Human Rights Council to step in, heeding the calls of the families of the victims and the Lebanese people for accountability, the rule of law, and protection of human rights. The Beirut blast was a tragedy of historic proportions, arising from failure to protect the most basic of rights \u2013 the right to life – and its impact will be felt for far longer than it takes to physically rebuild the city. The truth of what happened on August 4, 2020 is a cornerstone in redressing and rebuilding after the devastation of that day.<\/p>\n The thousands of individuals who have had their lives upended and the hundreds of thousands of individuals who have seen their capital city disfigured in a most irrevocable way deserve nothing less.<\/p>\n \n List of signatories:<\/strong><\/p>\n Organizations:<\/p>\n Access Center for Human Rights (Wousoul)<\/p>\n Accountability Now<\/p>\n ALEF – Act for Human Rights<\/p>\n Amnesty International<\/p>\n Anti-Racism Movement<\/p>\n Arab NGO Network for Development<\/p>\n Arab Reform Initiative<\/p>\n Basmeh & Zeitooneh<\/p>\n Baytna<\/p>\n Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)<\/p>\n Centre d’acc\u00e8s pour les droits de l’homme (ACHR)<\/p>\n Committee of the Families\u00a0of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon<\/p>\n Dawlaty<\/p>\n Gherbal Initiative<\/p>\n Gulf Centre for Human Rights<\/p>\n Helem<\/p>\n Human Life Foundation for Development and Relief (Yemen)<\/p>\n Human Rights Research League<\/p>\n Human Rights Solidarity (HRS)-Geneva<\/p>\n Human Rights Watch (HRW)<\/p>\n Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF)<\/p>\n Impunity Watch<\/p>\n International Commission of Jurists<\/p>\n Justice and Equality for Lebanon<\/p>\n Justice for Lebanon<\/p>\n Khaddit Beirut<\/p>\n Kulluna Irada<\/p>\n Lebanese-Swiss Association<\/p>\n Legal Action Worldwide<\/p>\n Legal Agenda<\/p>\n Liqaa Teshrin<\/p>\n Mada Network<\/p>\n Media Association for Peace (MAP)<\/p>\n Meghterbin Mejtemiin (United Diaspora)<\/p>\n Mwatana for Human Rights<\/p>\n National Youth for Lebanon Movement<\/p>\n PAX (Netherlands)<\/p>\n Peace Track Initiative<\/p>\n Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)<\/p>\n Refugees=Partners Project<\/p>\n Samir Kassir Foundation<\/p>\n SEEDS for Legal Initiatives<\/p>\n Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression – SCM<\/p>\n The Alternative Press Syndicate Group<\/p>\n The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH)<\/p>\n The International Center for Transitional Justice<\/p>\n The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH)<\/p>\n The Lebanese Diaspora Network (TLDN)<\/p>\n Tunisian League of Human Rights defense (LTDH)<\/p>\n UMAM Documentation & Research<\/p>\n \n Individuals:<\/p>\n Christophe Abi-Nassif \u2013 Lebanon Program Director, Middle East Institute<\/p>\n Nasser Saidi – President Nasser Saidi & Associates; Former Lebanese Minister of Economy & Industry<\/p>\n Randa Slim \u2013 Senior Fellow and Director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute<\/p>\n \n Survivors and Families of the Victims:<\/p>\n \n \n \n Alexandre Ibrahimcha, lost his mother Marion Hochar Ibrahimcha<\/p>\n Anthony, Chadia, Ava and Uma Naoum<\/p>\n Antoine Kassab, lost his father<\/p>\n Aya Arze Salloum<\/p>\n Carine Farran Sacy<\/p>\n Carine Tohme<\/p>\n Carine Zaatar<\/p>\n Carole Akiki<\/p>\n Cecilia and Pierre Assouad<\/p>\n Cedric el Adm, lost his sister<\/p>\n Charbel Moarbes<\/p>\n Charles Nehme, lost his father<\/p>\n Cybele Asmar lost her aunt Diane Dib<\/p>\n Fouad Rahme, lost his father<\/p>\n Georges Zaarour, lost his brother<\/p>\n Jean-Marc Matta<\/p>\n Jihad Nehme<\/p>\n Joanna Dagher Hayek<\/p>\n Karine Makhlouf, lost her mother<\/p>\n Karine Mattar<\/p>\n Laura Khoury<\/p>\n Lyna Comaty<\/p>\n Mireille el Khoury, lost her son<\/p>\n Myrna Mezher Helou, lost her mother<\/p>\n Nadine Khazen, lost her mother<\/p>\n Nicolas and Vera Fayad<\/p>\n Nicolas Dahan<\/p>\n Olga Kavran<\/p>\n Patrice Cannan, lost his brother<\/p>\n Patricia Haddad, lost her mother<\/p>\n Paul and Tracy Naggear, lost their daughter Alexandra Naggear<\/p>\n Reina Sfeir<\/p>\n R\u00e9ni\u00e9 Jreissati<\/p>\n Rima Malek<\/p>\n Rony Mecattaf<\/p>\n Sara Jaafar<\/p>\n Sarah Copland, lost her son Isaac Oehlers<\/p>\n Tania Daou Alam, lost her husband<\/p>\n Tony Najm, lost his mother<\/p>\n Vartan Papazian, lost his daughter-in-law<\/p>\n Vicky Zwein<\/p>\n Zeina Sfeir<\/p>\n \n Families of the following firefighters:<\/p>\n Charbel Hetty<\/p>\n Charbel Karam<\/p>\n Elie Khouzamy<\/p>\n Joe Akiki<\/p>\n Joe Andoun<\/p>\n Joe bou Saab<\/p>\n Joe Noun<\/p>\n Joseph Merhy<\/p>\n Joseph Roukoz<\/p>\n Misal Hawwa<\/p>\n Najib Hetty<\/p>\n Ralph Mellehy<\/p>\n Ramy Kaaky<\/p>\n Sahar Fares<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" June 15, 2021 To the Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Excellencies, We, the undersigned Lebanese and international organizations, individuals, survivors, and families of the victims are writing to request your support in the establishment of an international, independent, and impartial investigative mission, such as a one-year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":192024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scm-statements","post-wrapper"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n