Lebanon's Legacy of Political Violence
Lebanon’s modern history is rife with conflict. Well before it gained independence in 1943, its people suffered regular bouts of violence, most notoriously class-based insurrections and inter-sectarian fighting that sometimes resulted in mass killings and forced displacement of populations. Political, economic, social, ideological, and religious factors contributed to this history of conflict. The collective memory of traumatic events, transmitted between generations in each community but seldom addressed, was a significant factor in the regular flare-up of violence.
Since fighting formally ended in 1990, the people of Lebanon have suffered from reemerging political violence, sporadic armed conflicts, and two foreign occupations—with a near-total lack of official acknowledgment, reparation, truth, or justice for the thousands of victims over the years.
This report compiles information on hundreds of incidents, highlighting the pattern and nature of the violence that took place from 1975 to 2008 in all parts of Lebanon. Based on information collected from existing sources, the report does not necessarily offer new information, but rather, it aims to present, in one place, incidents of violence in a manner that may feed into a broader, long-term process of acknowledging what has happened to people in Lebanon, across the country and across social divides. The report also provides a legal analysis that enables readers to see the incidents of violence in relation to international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The report’s aim is to contribute to the debate in Lebanon on how to break the cycle of political violence and serious violations of human rights and bring about accountability, the rule of law, and sustainable peace in the country.
As outlined in this document’s introduction, this report is not a comprehensive mapping, but a key resource on which future research and investigative work can be built. It was reviewed by ICTJ experts as well as a scientific committee established by Université Saint-Joseph. Recognizing the limitations of producing such a work in a restricted timeframe, the authors note that this report is not a scientific work falling within the province of social sciences. It does not, nor can it, claim the exhaustiveness of targeted situations, qualitative and quantitative resources, or bibliographic sources.
The mapping report is one of a set of complementary publications produced by ICTJ as part of a two-year European Union-funded project, “Addressing the Legacy of Conflict in a Divided Society.” The other publications include a study of the needs and expectations of people in Lebanon regarding dealing with the past and a report highlighting the impact of ongoing impunity in Lebanon. Together, these publications will serve as resources that can support and inform debates about the past in Lebanon by civil society and policymakers alike. In close coordination with a consortium of academics, civil society representatives, and victims’ groups, ICTJ will develop findings into a policy brief outlining recommendations for dealing with Lebanon’s past in a way that can support accountability, rule of law, and sustainable peace.