The State of Prisons in Lebanon
A disgrace and dark record of
Lebanon in the field of human rights
Over the years Lebanese and International
Human Rights NGOs
have repeatedly reported that Lebanese
prisons do not meet the minimum international standards. The prisons are a disgrace and dark record of Lebanon in the
field of human rights. They are badly managed and severely neglected. They are packed to twice their capacity; the actual
capacity of Lebanon's prisons is around 3600 inmates, currently detaining more
than 5300 prisoners. The prisoners are detained in cruel and inhumane conditions. An important number of inmates constitute
cases of arbitrary detention, detained for excessive periods of time pending
trial. Numerous illegal migrants, asylum
seekers and refugees often spend months languishing in cells past their release
due date. On top of all these
conditions, there are many reported cases of death, use
of torture and ill-treatment in prisons.
These problems are
regularly brought to the attention of the Lebanese authorities by the concerned
NGOs during their works on individual cases. These organizations feel the
urgent need to assess the global situation on the issue of detention in Lebanon
and to find solutions to the problems. The reports of these organizations about the
prisons in Lebanon are useful not only to their works, but also and foremost to
the state authorities, as well as to the institutions whose works are more or
less related to prisons.
Although there is a broad consensus in Lebanon about the
description of the miserable prison
conditions, until now there is no serious formal approach to address
this issue.
The Lebanese Government is failing in its obligations and its
responsibility to find an adequate solution to the above mentioned problems and
to improve the detention conditions in prisons. The Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights which is supposed to have a monitoring role and
legislative is failing to turn up for
work and to make an effective approach to the issue of prisons despite the fact that from time
to time members of the Committee visit a number of Lebanese prisons, and after
the visit, they are out to public through media flashes by giving information
about the miserable and inhuman conditions in prisons and the need to develop
emergency plans for treatment.
The issue of Lebanon’s prisons should be a priority for the Lebanese
government, not only for its humanitarian importance and because it makes a
staggering blow to prisons and to the Lebanese community in general, but
because it shows as if the Lebanese government is unwilling to fulfill its international
obligations concerning human rights. The
Lebanese government has to address the issue and find real and concrete
solutions to all related problems.
However, as a first step it has to accelerate without delay in the
formation of the national preventive mechanism to monitor prisons and to start
the serious treatment.
