The National Human Rights Commission, including the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, welcomes the progress achieved by the draft law aimed at abolishing the death penalty in Lebanon and considers it a highly significant legislative and historic step towards strengthening the protection of the right to life and consolidating respect for human dignity.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the Commission believes that reform of the Lebanese penal system cannot be achieved solely through the abolition of the death penalty. It also requires a review of other punishments that are based on concepts no longer compatible with contemporary international human rights standards, foremost among them hard labour sentences. Accordingly, the Commission calls for the abolition of both the death penalty and hard labour sentences from Lebanese legislation and their replacement with custodial penalties that meet the requirements of justice and accountability while respecting human dignity and the rehabilitative purpose of punishment.<\/p>\n
The Commission considers the right to life and the right to human dignity to be two fundamental pillars of any modern criminal justice system. A State that refrains from taking life in the name of the law should likewise refrain from maintaining within its penal system punishments based on forced labour or on punitive concepts that have been overtaken by modern legislation and successive developments in international human rights law.<\/p>\n
This reform is of particular importance in Lebanon, which has not carried out any execution since 17 January 2004. Lebanon is also a State Party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and has committed itself, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to ensuring that all persons deprived of their liberty are treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, the Commission views the proposal to abolish the death penalty as a historic opportunity not only to bring this punishment to an end permanently in Lebanon, but also to initiate a comprehensive review of the country\u2019s penal policy in order to ensure its full compliance with the Lebanese Constitution, Lebanon\u2019s international obligations, and contemporary human rights principles. Since 17 January 2004, the Lebanese authorities have not carried out any executions, placing Lebanon in practice among the States that maintain a de facto moratorium on the death penalty. Nevertheless, the continued existence of this punishment in Lebanese legislation has left dozens of individuals under the threat of an irreversible and final sentence. According to official data issued by the Directorate of Prisons at the Ministry of Justice, 85 individuals were under sentence of death as of the end of January 2026.<\/p>\n
The Commission considers that the continued retention of the death penalty within Lebanon\u2019s legislative framework is incompatible with the right to life, which constitutes the foundation of all other rights and freedoms. It is also inconsistent with the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Furthermore, international experience and comparative studies have not demonstrated any direct link between the application of the death penalty and a more effective deterrence of crime when compared with custodial sanctions.<\/p>\n
The Commission further emphasizes that the global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty has become firmly established. The majority of States worldwide have abolished the death penalty either in law or in practice. Lebanon has also repeatedly voted in favour of United Nations General Assembly resolutions calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, reflecting a growing political will to move from a de facto moratorium to complete legal abolition.<\/p>\n
The Commission notes positively the decision reached by the Administration and Justice Committee to endorse the principle of the complete abolition of the death penalty and its automatic substitution for all persons sentenced to death, thereby ensuring that those currently under death sentences will benefit from the effects of the law immediately upon its entry into force.<\/p>\n
The Commission considers that the automatic and retroactive commutation of all death sentences is consistent with the human rights philosophy underpinning abolition. A punishment cannot be regarded as incompatible with human dignity while its consequences continue to be imposed on individuals who were previously sentenced under it. The Commission also welcomes the Committee\u2019s decision to abandon the proposal to condition the application of the abolition on the position of victims\u2019 relatives, given that the determination, amendment, and execution of criminal penalties fall within the exclusive competence of the State and the judicial authorities. Linking such matters to individual positions could undermine the principles of equality before the law and the coherence of criminal policy.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the Commission considers that the adoption of life imprisonment with hard labour as an alternative to the death penalty raises a number of legal and human rights concerns that should be addressed during the discussion of the bill in the plenary session of Parliament.<\/p>\n
Historically, hard labour has been based on the concept of forced labour as an integral component of punishment. This concept is no longer compatible with developments in international human rights law or with modern principles of criminal justice, which place human dignity and rehabilitation at the centre of penal policy.<\/p>\n
Lebanon has also ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted in New York on 10 December 1984. This commitment should be progressively reflected in domestic criminal legislation through the review of penalties that contain elements of forced labour or physical coercion.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, the Commission believes that the abolition of the death penalty should be accompanied by a broader legislative reform aimed at abolishing hard labour sentences from the Lebanese Penal Code and replacing them with imprisonment for the same duration, without any element of forced or compulsory labour.<\/p>\n
Such a reform is consistent with contemporary human rights principles, which reject the imposition of forced labour on any individual, and aligns with developments in many comparative legal systems that have abandoned the concept of hard labour as a punitive legacy no longer compatible with human dignity and the modern objectives of punishment.<\/p>\n
This amendment would also strengthen Lebanon\u2019s compliance with Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that \u201call persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person,\u201d and that the essential aim of the penitentiary system should be the reformation and social rehabilitation of offenders.<\/p>\n
In this context, the Commission considers that replacing hard labour sentences with imprisonment for the same duration would achieve the necessary balance between the requirements of justice and accountability on the one hand, and respect for human dignity and Lebanon\u2019s international obligations on the other.<\/p>\n
More broadly, the Commission believes that the proposed law represents a historic step towards the humanization of the Lebanese penal system and the consolidation of a concept of justice founded upon respect for human beings and their fundamental rights. It also sends a clear message that a modern State does not respond to crime through execution, nor does it rely on punishments that undermine human dignity, but rather upholds the rule of law within a framework that respects the fundamental rights of all persons.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, the National Human Rights Commission, including the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, calls upon the Lebanese Parliament to adopt the draft law abolishing the death penalty at the earliest possible opportunity, while amending the provision concerning the alternative punishment so that hard labour sentences are replaced with imprisonment for the same duration, in conformity with the Lebanese Constitution, Lebanon\u2019s international obligations, and contemporary human rights standards.<\/p>\n
The Commission further calls upon the Lebanese authorities to complete this process by considering accession to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, thereby strengthening the protection of the right to life and reaffirming Lebanon\u2019s continuing commitment to the international human rights system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Human Rights Commission, including the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, welcomes the progress achieved by the draft law aimed at abolishing the death penalty in Lebanon and considers it a highly significant legislative and historic step towards strengthening the protection of the right to life and consolidating respect for human dignity. At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-statements-and-speeches-en"],"yoast_head":"\n