The power plant in Zouk, Lebanon, just north of the capital of Beirut. The electricity crisis is one of the key areas of reform HRW has identified. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/L’Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Human Rights Watch on Wednesday sent a letter to major political parties and candidates running in the May 15 parliamentary elections, asking them to disclose their positions on 10 key areas for reform, and urging them to commit to working to achieve these reforms.
Here’s what we know:
• “In order to ensure that human rights issues and concerns receive the attention they deserve in the parliamentary election campaigns, we are submitting the following list of 10 human rights priorities to the main candidates and parties contesting the elections. The goal is to give each of the candidates and parties the opportunity to provide Lebanese voters with their views on human rights priorities in Lebanon and commit to making concrete commitments on these issues. Please let us know which positions you will support,” the HRW letter read.
• In announcing the sending of the letter, the organization said that “all candidates are encouraged to fill out the questionnaire online about these rights issues by April 28.”
• The organization listed the priority reform areas it has identified as “justice and accountability, the economic crisis, the electricity crisis, freedom of expression, military courts, women’s rights, migrant domestic workers, sexual orientation and gender identity, refugees, and rights of persons with disabilities.”
• “Lebanon’s next parliament can play a crucial role in protecting citizens’ rights amid one of the worst economic crises in modern times,” Aya Majzoub, Lebanon researcher at HRW, is quoted as saying in the announcement. “Lebanese voters deserve to know where the candidates stand on these rights issues that affect everyone in Lebanon,” she added.
• “Candidates should use this opportunity to publicly commit to improving the human rights situation in Lebanon,” Majzoub said. “We hope that candidates will give these issues the important consideration they deserve,” she added.
• The United States State Department indicated in its 2021 annual report on human rights, which was published Tuesday, that Lebanon is experiencing "significant human rights problems'' and “serious restrictions on the freedom of expression and the media.”