INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

"No circumstances whatsoever, whether a threat of war, a state of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked to justify enforced disappearances."

-Article 7, Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

International human rights law guarantees to everyone the right to liberty and security of person. Article 9(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which both Syria and Lebanon have ratified, states in its pertinent part: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedures as are established by law." Syrian security forces in Lebanon, by abducting non-Syrian nationals in Lebanon and then not acknowledging that these individuals are in Syrian custody, have flouted international human rights standards with impunity.

International standards impose responsibilities upon both Lebanon and Syria with respect to "disappearances" that occur in Lebanon, and both states are obligated to investigate and prosecute individuals who have perpetrated "disappearances." Article 14 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance states:

Any person alleged to have perpetrated an act of enforced disappearance in a particular State shall, when the facts disclosed by an official investigation so warrant, be brought before the competent civil authorities of that State for the purpose of prosecution and trial unless he has been extradited to another State wishing to exercise jurisdiction in accordance with the relevant international agreements in force. All States should take any lawful and appropriate action available to them to bring all persons presumed responsible for an act of enforced disappearance, found to be within their jurisdiction or under their control, to justice.

Responsibilities of the Syrian Government

Article 9 of the ICCPR requires the government of Syria to maintain various safeguards against arbitrary and unlawful arrest. These include providing information at the time of arrest about the reasons for the arrest, and promptly informing persons arrested of any charges. Moreover, anyone "arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or release."58

The rights set forth in the ICCPR are applicable whether persons are taken into Syrian custody on Lebanese or Syrian soil. In cases where Syrian security forces have detained foreign nationals or stateless Palestinians on Lebanese soil and then transferred these individuals to Syrian territory, possibly illegally and arbitrarily, the Syrian government is bound by the requirements and guarantees set forth in the ICCPR. The Human Rights Committee has found that agents of a state should be held responsible for violations of civil and political rights that have been carried out in the territory of another state. The Committee wrote:

Article 2(1) of the [ICCPR] places an obligation upon a State party to respect and to ensure rights "to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction", but it does not imply that the State party concerned cannot be held accountable for violations of rights under the [ICCPR] which its agents commit upon the territory of another State, whether with the acquiescence of the Government of that State or in opposition to it. According to article 5 (1) of the [ICCPR]:

"1. Nothing in the present Covenant may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms recognized herein or at their limitation to a greater extent than is provided for in the present Covenant."

In line with this, it would be unconscionable to so interpret the responsibility under article 2 of the [ICCPR] as to permit a State party to perpetrate violations of the [ICCPR] on the territory of another State, which violations it could not perpetrate on its own territory."59

The Syrian government is also under an obligation, pursuant to Article 2(3) of the ICCPR, to provide effective remedies to non-Syrian nationals who have been detained in Syria following arbitrary arrest on Lebanese soil. These remedies include immediate release, permission to leave Syria, and compensation for the human rights violations that these individuals have suffered. The Syrian government must also take steps to ensure that similar violations do not occur in the future.

Responsibilities of the Lebanese Government

The U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances noted in its 1997 report to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights that the Lebanese government has a "commitment under articles 13 and 14 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance to investigate thoroughly all cases of enforced disappearance and to bring the perpetrators to justice."60 Article 13 spells out the obligation to carry out independent and effective investigations of "disappearances," and to ensure that complainants are not subjected to "any ill-treatment, intimidation or reprisal." Article 14, quoted above, obligates states to prosecute and bring to justice all persons found responsible for acts of enforced disappearance.

The Working Group also wrote that "while taking into account the legitimacy of derogating from some human rights commitments, in accordance with international law, in times of public emergency," it "wishes to remind the [Lebanese] Government that, under article 7, no circumstances whatsoever may be invoked to justify enforced disappearances."61

The Lebanese government clearly has ceded certain police powers to Syrian intelligence forces inside Lebanon - in practice if not also by some secret agreement. By providing an effective guarantee of impunity for human rights abuses under this arrangement, the Lebanese authorities must bear a measure of direct responsibility for these abuses. Lebanese complicity in abuses by Syrian forces sometimes goes beyond official acquiescence and becomes direct collaboration with Syrian forces in carrying out reported "disappearances." To end complicity in torture, "disappearance," and other abuses by Syrian forces in Lebanon, it is incumbent upon Lebanese authorities to establish enforceable procedures under which Syrian forces present and operating in Lebanon can be held fully accountable for their actions under both Lebanese and international law. Lebanese authorities should begin to address this problem by ending immediately their silence about abuses being committed by Syrian forces on Lebanese territory, and by carrying out independent and effective investigations of "disappearances" in such a manner as to bring the perpetrators to justice.