Draft resolution on Lebanese detainees in Israel launched ahead of UN rights council bid

BEIRUT — A draft resolution calling for the release of Lebanese detainees held by Israel and international action to establish the fate of Lebanese missing or forcibly disappeared there was launched Tuesday in Beirut, with its organizers, two southern organizations, seeking to bring it before the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The draft has been handed to Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry, according to the organizers, who said they would seek the backing of Lebanon’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva and other countries. No date has been announced for its formal submission or a potential vote.

The draft, prepared by the Khiam Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture and the Qana Observatory for Human Rights, calls for the release of civilians held arbitrarily and prisoners of war once the legal grounds for their detention have ended. Secondly, it calls for humane treatment, protection from torture and ill-treatment, medical care and judicial safeguards.

The initiative comes after the issue of Lebanese detainees was placed on the agenda of the seventh round of direct Lebanon-Israel negotiations in Rome in August. The sides exchanged initial lists of detainees and missing people, while Beirut requested the release of civilian detainees as a first step.

Israel subsequently released five Lebanese detainees in early September, while 38 others were believed to remain in Israeli custody, according to a list issued by Lebanon’s Committee for Prisoners and Detainees.

Additionally, it asks the International Committee of the Red Cross to be granted “immediate and regular” access to all Lebanese detainees to verify their whereabouts, health, legal status and detention conditions. It also calls on U.N. mechanisms to follow the cases and asks the U.N. rights chief to report to the Human Rights Council.

“The draft resolution does not stem from a political position or seek to use a humanitarian issue in any political conflict,” Qana Observatory Director General Mohammad Tay said. “It is based on the human right to freedom, dignity and life, the right of families to know the fate of their loved ones, and the international community’s duty to prevent any person from remaining in a state of unknown absence.”

The next round of Lebanon-Israel talks, originally scheduled for Rome, has since been postponed to October. President Joseph Aoun said Saturday that there were “no new negotiations with Israel at the moment.” Khiam Center Director Mohammad Safa said the draft was intended to move the detainees’ cases beyond local efforts and bilateral negotiations and into a sustained international process.

"We do not want to spread fear among the families of detainees, but rather to sound the alarm,” Safa said, citing concerns over alleged torture, ill-treatment, denial of medical care and other abuses in Israeli detention facilities.

Although there is no clear timeline for the resolution, if adopted, it could establish continued U.N. monitoring and reporting on Lebanese detainees and missing persons and increase international pressure for access to them. It would not, however, guarantee their release or compel Israel to comply.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa said Washington would continue efforts to secure the release of the remaining detainees and that progress could be incorporated into subsequent rounds of negotiations.