Open letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: On the occasion of the UNSG visit to Lebanon

Opinion Analysis by Dr. Antonios Abou Kasm, Professor of International Law, Counsel pleading before International Criminal Courts, Visiting Contributor

January 26th, 2022

Mr. Secretary General,

Your visit at this sensitive time in Lebanon's history has a major importance, as state institutions have begun to collapse, amid a sovereign, social, economic, financial and monetary crisis, making the Lebanese people on the verge of starvation. According to the ESCWA study titled "Multidimensional poverty in Lebanon (2019-2021): Painful reality and uncertain prospects", poverty affects more than three quarters of the population in Lebanon, while it mounts up to 82% of the population living in a multidimensional poverty, if other factors are taken into consideration other than income, such as education, access to health, and public services.

With regard to the recent urgent Syrians residing in Lebanon,

The Syrian neighbours in Lebanon are either migrants or immigrants, not refugees, since Lebanon is not a party to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Therefore, you cannot deal with this issue as if the Lebanese State is a country for their asylum, nor could it burden the implications of the Syrian migration.  The fact that UNHCR cares for Syrian citizens living on Lebanese soil does not entitle them to acquire any right to obtain the Lebanese citizenship. Do not rely on the results of the ‘integration experiments’ as a step towards establishing their settlement, due to the fact that the Lebanese society is a pluralistic one, it accepts the other and is a hospitable society, raised on respect to the Human Rights and non-discrimination. Take the lesson from the civil war, they wanted it to be sectarian, as the Lebanese people proved that they have the courage to reconcile, and that the political alliances that emerged after the civil war and after the withdrawal of the Syrian troupes from Lebanon are mixed alliances.

If you have a sincere desire to save Lebanon, save its cultural identity, and strive to respect the dignity of the Syrians refugees by returning them to their homes in Syria, to exercise their democratic role where they may enjoy their inherent right of self-determination in their country.

The endeavour to naturalize the Syrians in Lebanon constitutes a project of Sunni-Shiite strife that may destroy the image of Lebanon, and only lead to the emigration of the rest of the Lebanese and particularly the Christians. Nevertheless, the naturalisation of Foreign Nationals constitutes a breach to the Lebanese Constitution (Preamble, para. H).

If the goal of your visit was to provide humanitarian assistance to those living on Lebanese territory, including the Lebanese citizens, although not surprising, but what is required in reality is to save Lebanon and preserve its sovereignty, not feeding the poor in exchange for the settlement of the Syrians and Palestinians, and not seek to disarm Hezbollah through their settlement. Also, bartering the survival of Hezbollah’s arms in exchange for their settlement as a result of dividing the areas of influence on the Mediterranean between the regional powers, does not equal “Iranization”, as it cannot be imposed on the Lebanese people as a result of the US-Iranian agreement or as a result of their disagreement.

As for State territorial sovereignty and integrity and the disarmament and disbanding of illegal weapons,

One of your most important tasks is to monitor the implementation of Security Council Resolutions. With regard to Lebanon, we have not heard any call for the disarmament of the non-Lebanese militias. Is not disarming the Palestinian camps a priority to liberate Lebanon from the first category of security islands? Are the weapons of the camps and the stores of weapons in the Burj Shemali camp in Tyre within the "1701 Resolution" used to resist the israeli occupation? Why did israel launch its aggression in July 2006, immediately after the national dialogue sessions in the Parliament, in which it was decided to disarm the Palestinians?

The extension of State authority over all the Lebanese territory starts with disarming the non Lebanese militias and the terrorist organizations, before discussing disarming  the “Hezbollah”. Supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces shouldn’t be conditioned in return of disarming Hezbollah, nor the funding of the LAF.

Why not implement the Security Council resolutions that obligate israel to respect Lebanese sovereignty without any prejudice and discretion, which may lead to the obliteration of the need for arms to resist the occupation? Is the United Nations really seeking to withdraw the enemy(israel) from the Lebanese territory? Or the remaining of Hezbollah’s weapon constitutes a regional card that should not be neglected?

As for the matter of delimitation of the maritime and terrestrial borders,

The appropriation of Lebanon's marine resources by israel in the absence of a clear position of the United Nations is reprehensible. Although Lebanon respects international law and is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the bias is clear towards israel, which is not a party to the Montego Bay Convention and does not recognize the international law of the sea. The United Nations is invited to demarcate the southern maritime boundaries in accordance with international law, and the Secretary-General should propose to the Security Council the assignment of a UN committee to demarcate these boundaries in addition to the northern boundaries with Syria, as he did regarding other cases. The role of the United Nations should not be limited only to interest in the Eastern borders of Lebanon in terms of preventing weapons from entering to Hezbollah, but rather it should be expanded to include the prevention of the smuggling of terrorists who participated in the wars from Afghanistan through Iraq and Syria, and most importantly, the United Nations should be concerned with the issue of the Lebanese-Syrian boundaries’ demarcation in order to be officialised.

As for the role of the United Nations in putting an end to impunity in Lebanon,

The experience of the United Nations to reduce impunity has failed in Lebanon, precisely because of the performance of the international tribunal established to trial the murderers of the martyr Rafik Hariri and others. Although the Secretary-General appoints its judges and the heads of its main organs, and is the Supervisor of its management and funds, this court was characterized by long procedures and mismanagement, and its failure was crowned by not arresting any accused or convicted, to become a court that prosecutes ghosts whom are stronger than the State and the United Nations.

The United Nations repeated its failure in the occasion of the investigation of the Beirut Port explosion, perhaps because it was afraid of re-experiencing the failure of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The United Nations ended in not dispatching a fact-finding commission and did not help in providing evidence, and ended by allowing the political authority to tamper with justice.

As for saving Lebanon, the State and the Population, 

Mr Secretary-General, you may seek to absolve Lebanon from its international debts, and to punish the corrupt in Lebanon instead of handing a group of them the portfolio of fighting corruption and to lead reform projects. You should seek the establishment of a Compensation Fund for the damages caused by repeated israeli invasions and aggressions, as you did with regard to Kuwait as a result of the Iraqi aggression.

Please, do not seek for an international conference that would aim at amending the Lebanese constitution, but rather to respect its application, especially since you have bitter experiences in both Syria and Libya. Rather, what is required is holding a conference for the return of the Syrian migrants to their homes with dignity according to the rules of international law, and studying a plan to bring back the young Lebanese immigrants to participate in rebuilding their State. The establishment of the new State is made by the new generation and should not be discussed with the corrupt political class (or its representatives) that destroyed Lebanon, plundered its money and killed its youth.