'17,000 missing in Lebanon,' a sign referring to Lebanese who went missing during the country's Civil War. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — The Committee of the Families of Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon Saturday condemned Lebanon's abstention in the UN General Assembly vote on forming an institution on missing persons in the Syrian Arab Republic. The resolution was passed Thursday evening with 83 votes in favor, 11 against and 62 abstentions.
In a statement, the committee said it "strongly condemns using this humanitarian file, which is supposed to be above everything, in open political bazaars internally and externally."
"We wished that the foreign minister did not justify his act by saying that he coordinated it with the prime minister," the statement also said.
The foreign ministry issued a press release Friday, clarifying its decision to abstain from the vote.
"If Lebanon had voted for the resolution, the work of the Arab ministerial committee, of which Lebanon is a member, to resolve the crisis in Syria would have been impacted."
This committee was formed last May after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers, shortly before the Jeddah summit, marking Syria's return to the Arab fold 12 years after the start of that country's civil war.
"The decision to abstain was taken after consultation with [caretaker] Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in line with near-unanimous Arab support," the ministry added. Lebanon "does not wish to politicize a human issue par excellence, in favor of its policy of distancing itself," the Foreign Affairs Ministry added. "[Nor] does it wish to make a choice that will not resolve the crisis of the Lebanese disappeared."
The committee praised the UN resolution and saluted the 83 countries that voted for the decision.
"We cannot but affirm that the case of the missing in Syria is a humanitarian case that should be resolved without delay," the committee's statement concluded.
During Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War, rights organizations estimate that some 17,000 people were kidnapped or disappeared. Some of the missing are believed to have been arrested or captured by the various forces and militias involved in the conflict — Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian and Israeli.
