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Summary: General overview of Lebanon's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights Status of the CRC in national law Constitution: Chapter II of the Lebanese Constitution contains a number of rights provisions, but only one specifically addresses the rights of children: Legislation: there is no comprehensive Children's Code in Lebanese law, rather legislation of particular relevance to children is found in a number of Codes, Laws and Decrees. Personal status laws are particularly fractured, as they are placed under the jurisdictions of the confessional groups. Legislation of particular relevance to children includes, but is by no means limited to: Legal Research Case Law Case Law Research Compliance with the CRC In depth analysis Discrimination against children, and against groups of children, also featured prominently in the Observations. The Committee highlighted the variation in the minimum age of marriage between the religious and confessional groups in Lebanon, and urged the State to ensure that early and forced marriage is prohibited in all communities. The Committee also raised concern over the scope of the Constitutional ban on discrimination, which was limited to Lebanese children. Furthermore, the Committee criticised the discriminatory law on the inheritance of nationality which prevents Lebanese women passing their nationality to their children. Several aspects of national law on juvenile justice also emerged from the Observations as falling short of the standards set by the Committee. The Committee was particularly critical of the low age of criminal responsibility, that children were liable to be tried under the same penal procedures as adults, that prison facilities were overcrowded and fell far short of international standards. The Committee urged the State to address these criticisms, including by amending legislation to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility, by introducing alternatives to detention and by strengthening the quality and availability of specialised juvenile courts, judges and other justice professionals. Current legal reform projects
The preamble to the Lebanese Constitution provides that the State must abide by UN treaties. The Conseil Constitutionnel (Constitutional Council) has ruled that this provision means that these treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, have superior force to national legislation and can be applied by the courts. In practice, however, domestic courts rarely apply the Convention.
The Lebanese Constitution is available in English through the website of the International Constitutional Law Project (http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/le00000_.html) and in French through the website of the Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) (http://www.conseilconstitutionnelliban.com/sub-fr.aspx?id=169). The Lebanese Parliament maintains a website, but was unavailable at the time of writing (http://www.lp.gov.lb/). The International Labour Organisation website, NATLEX, provides access to a selection of legislation in Arabic, French and English (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=LBN). In addition, the GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Lebanon (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Lebanon.htm) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/2762.html) and the US Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/lebanon.php) provide a selection of links to legal and governmental resources.
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The website of the Constitutional Council (Conseil Constituitonnel) publishes the decisions of the Council in French (http://www.conseilconstitutionnelliban.com/decisions-main-fr.aspx) and Arabic (http://www.conseilconstitutionnelliban.com/decisions-main-ar.aspx).
In its Concluding Observations of 2006, the Committee on the Rights of the Child acknowledged that the State had taken steps to amend legislation related to children, and had prepared a number of bills, but expressed concern “at the slow progress made in this regard”. The Committee urged the State to expedite its efforts to harmonise legislation with the Convention, and to provide the necessary resources to ensure that legislation is effectively implemented.
A large number of the recommendations that emerged from the Committee's Concluding Observations of 2006 focused on the need to reform legislation. With regards to violence against children, the Committee highlighted a number inadequacies in the Penal Code, including the definition of rape which did not provide protection for boys and the mitigation allowed for “crimes permitted in the name of honour”, under article 562. The corresponding recommendations focused on prohibiting all forms of violence against boys and girls, including putting in place effective complaints and investigation procedures, and reviewing provisions that view “honour crimes” as less severe. Article 562 has subsequently been annulled.
At the time of its 2006 report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the State expressed its intention to raise the age at which compulsory education ends from 12 to 15 years.