Wadad Halwani Carmen Abou-Jaoude Ziad Achour
On Friday, June 28th, 2024, the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara hosted a webinar to introduce the Lebanese Civil War and the phenomenon of enforced disappearances. This was the first episode in a planned longer series created to give space for scholarly and activist interventions and debates focusing on the issue of memory and dealing with the past in Lebanon through the lens of the missing and forcibly disappeared of the Lebanese wars. The series will host representatives from the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon, the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, and civil society actors, including local and international NGOs, as well as artistic and cultural actors. It will introduce viewers to the phenomenon of enforced disappearances and missing persons in Lebanon during the 1975-1990 war and today. The webinar showcased what has been accomplished on the ground through the work of families, local and international CSOs, and Lebanese government initiatives, with a focus on the passing of Law 105 and the formation of the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared. Headlining this first webinar was Wadad Halwani, who focused on the struggle of the Committee of the Families and the achievements that led to the passing of Law 105/2018. Carmen Abou-Jaoude introduced the general framework of the issue from the perspective of transitional justice and the Right to Know. Ziad Achour discussed the National Commission for the Missing’s mandate since its establishment in 2020 and the current status of the cause and the Commission itself.
Historical Context of the Lebanese Civil War and Enforced Disappearances
Omar began by outlining the complex history of the Lebanese Civil War, challenging the typical portrayal of it as a single, cohesive conflict. Instead, he described the war as a series of interconnected battles between various Lebanese factions and external actors. These factions are often divided along sectarian lines and complicated by both internal and external influences, with Lebanese militias usually aligning with international powers like Syria, Israel, Iran, and various Palestinian groups. The war had a devastating effect on Lebanese society
The war, which officially lasted from 1975 to 1990, caused immense devastation, leading to an estimated 144,000 deaths, hundreds of thousands of people injured, and the displacement of about one-third of the population. Crucially, the war also left approximately 17,000 people disappeared. Omar emphasized that this number remained contested but reflected the scale of loss and trauma inflicted upon Lebanese society.
To understand the phenomenon of enforced disappearances, Omar highlighted, it is essential to grasp Lebanon’s historical and political landscape. The country’s governance had been based on a fragile sectarian system established during the French mandate. This structure, meant to balance power between Christians and Muslims, became increasingly rigid and unadjusted to demographic changes. Internal dissatisfaction, particularly around Lebanon’s identity—whether to align with Arab nationalism or maintain a unique Lebanese identity—fueled tensions. External crises, like the 1958 conflict over President Camille Chamoun’s pro-Western policies and the arrival of Palestinian fighters following the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, exacerbated the situation.
Dynamics of the Civil War
The Civil War was not a simple Muslim versus Christian conflict, as it is often generalized. Instead, it was a war between the status quo and shifting alliances, where both internal and external actors played significant roles. The sectarian explanation is more problematic, as it dovetails with hardened stereotypes about Arabs in general and Lebanon in particular. Dozens of militias operated across the country, often motivated by political, sectarian, or class-based concerns. Omar stressed the internal complexity of the war, where intra-sectarian conflicts, foreign interventions, and class struggles all contributed to the violence.
Within this chaotic environment, enforced disappearances became a widespread phenomenon. Disappearances were often linked to political motives, sectarian cleansing, and acts of retaliation for massacres. While the war brought on indiscriminate forms of violence, such as sniper attacks, bombings, and massacres, enforced disappearances added a new layer of terror. The reasons for abductions were multifaceted: political blackmail, revenge, cleansing of specific areas, or intimidation. If negotiations for the release of abductees failed, militias would often eliminate the evidence by executing victims and dumping their bodies in mass graves or the sea. Many such mass graves remained undiscovered and unexcavated, leaving families in a state of perpetual uncertainty regarding the fate of their loved ones.
Enforced Disappearances as a Unique Case in Lebanon
Omar delved into the uniqueness of Lebanon's case, noting the contrast between militia-led disappearances in Lebanon and state-controlled disappearances in places like Algeria or Argentina. Lebanon’s weak state during the war allowed militias to operate with near impunity. Disappearances were not centrally controlled by the state but were rather a symptom of the fragmented power structures. The intervention of external actors, particularly Syria and Israel, further complicated the situation, as Lebanese citizens were also abducted and disappeared outside Lebanon’s borders, notably in Syria and Israel. He provided examples of how sectarian motivations often transformed over the course of the war. While early abductions were often sectarian, by the time of Syria's military involvement, disappearances had more political and military objectives. Syrian forces, for instance, abducted people from all religious sects and political affiliations, blurring the lines of sectarian violence. Similarly, inter-sectarian abductions occurred even within the same religious communities, showing how alliances shifted constantly throughout the war. Omar cited the abductions of political opponents of the Syrian presence, to show how abductions became a tool of political repression, especially after 1982, with the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, the Lebanese Christian leader.
Post-War Disappearances and State Neglect
Following the official end of the Civil War in 1990, families of the disappeared continued to fight tirelessly to uncover the truth about their loved ones. Omar described the work of the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared, a grassroots group of families who refused to give up, despite the Lebanese government’s policy of neglect. While the families expected the situation to improve after the war, Omar revealed that the Lebanese government chose to ignore the issue of disappearances, citing fears that addressing the past would "reopen old wounds" and destabilize the country. This "state-sponsored amnesia" saw the government deliberately avoid dealing with the war’s legacy to maintain a fragile peace. This policy of forgetting created immense challenges for the families, as the state refused to excavate mass graves or provide information about the disappeared. Despite these challenges, Omar emphasized the families’ resilience and ongoing struggle. He ended his talk by stressing the importance of memory—both personal and collective—in preserving the history of the disappeared and continuing the fight for truth and justice.
The Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared
Wadad Halwani, the founder and president of the Committee for the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon, as well a leading figure in Lebanon’s struggle for truth and justice began with her personal story; the story which launched this movement more than 40 years ago. She presented a brief overview of her organization, bringing us up to speed for our later conversations about Law 105 and the National Commission that came out of it.
“The tragedy of missing persons in Lebanon began with the war and did not end with its official conclusion. I am the wife of a missing person—my beloved husband and father of my child was kidnapped on September 24, 1982, during the war. As I searched for him, I soon found myself looking for dozens, then hundreds, and eventually thousands of others like him. We, the families of the missing, came together within a framework we called the Committee of Families of the Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Lebanon. We formed this committee on November 24, 1982, amidst the war as a women’s movement against war, calling for the release of all who were kidnapped and went missing.” - Wadad Halwani
The ongoing war presented countless problems, and subjected Wadad and the other mothers to horrible pains as activists and women. “We were subjected to financial extortion, emotional blackmail, sexual harassment, and even attempted rape, stated Wadad.
“We encountered officials who cited their weakness in the face of militia power, using it as an excuse for inaction. When the official end of the war was announced in 1990, we hoped for peace and believed that it would bring back our loved ones. However, we were faced with new challenges. The state and other authorities acted as if the war had never happened, trying to close the curtain on its history. The leaders of the war became leaders of the peace, but this peace was merely an extension of war by other means. The government, rather than addressing our concerns, sought to silence us, and the amnesty law passed in 1991 pardoned criminals while marginalizing the victims. This move only added to our repression, as the leaders divided the country’s resources amongst themselves, neglecting the families of the missing.” - Wadad Halwani
The post-war reconstruction era was a painful one, and another challenge. “As families of the missing, we were often told to move on and focus on the future. But how could we, when parts of our flesh and blood were still buried in the past? We had no doubt that many of our people’s bones were crushed under the bulldozers of reconstruction,” said Wadad. The period of Syrian guardianship in Lebanon further marginalized the issue of missing persons. At this point in time, Syria had established a “guardianship” occupation of Lebanon, and Lebanese officials claimed that the Syrians were preventing any investigation into these disappearances, and many Lebanese and non-Lebanese people who were arrested on Lebanese soil ended up in Syrian custody. The crime of enforced disappearances continued and increased in complexity with the involvement of the Lebanese militias, the Syrian army, and the Israeli occupation forces.
Despite the attempts to silence the families—whether through intimidation or bribery offers to close the case without a resolution—they remained united and committed to the cause. Continuing their struggle, and in collaboration with individuals, civil society associations, artists, writers, and media professionals—the Committee launched multiple national campaigns. This ongoing struggle led to the first official recognition of the missing persons’ case in 2000, when a committee was formed to investigate their fate. Although the committee’s representation was flawed, it acknowledged the existence of mass graves. “We considered this a small victory, as it marked the first official acknowledgement of war crimes,” said Wadad. Justice in Lebanon is, after all, a continuous process. After decades of further and relentless struggle, Law 105 was passed in 2018, which established an independent national body dedicated to tracing missing persons and determining their fate. Despite the numerous challenges and delays in implementation, Wadad and the Committee are proud of this work and continue to push towards the justice they have been fighting for for too many decades.
Transitional Justice and the “End” of the Lebanese Wars
Carmen abou-jauode spoke from a transitional justice perspective, and reflected on what has happened in Lebanon since the end of the war, asking: has the war truly ended? Carmen made it clear that “Lebanon is not in a post-conflict setting. The country is still affected by conflict.” This is not only true regionally, but internally, within Lebanon in the South, Israeli attacks have killed hundreds of Lebanese people. Our view of conflict must also be expanded, according to Carmen. Conflict is multi-layered and encompasses more than just physical violence, but it is political, economic and social – all of which plague Lebanon today, and have since the “end” of the civil war.
With regards to the missing and forcibly disappeared, Carmen again stressed an expansion of our timeline to deal with those “who went missing during the Civil War, which can also be described as an international war between 1975 and 1990, but also the continuation of the pattern of disappearance between 1990 and 2005 during the Syrian and Israeli occupation, where enforced disappearances, torture, and killings continued,” said Carmen. The term “post-conflict,” then is used to designate a time after the official end of the civil war, but Lebanon is not in a transitional phase as per the transitional justice understanding.
Nevertheless, there are initiatives and entities that were created that can be addressed and linked to the concept or the principles and mechanisms of transitional justice. One such example is the Taif Agreement, signed in October of 1989, which ended direct violence, and, according to Carmen, introduced political reform and began to address the legacy of violence and human rights violations. “Of course, these reforms and initiatives were largely not implemented - with administrative decentralization, abolishment of sectarianism, or even the revision of the history textbook to include the history of conflict and wars. The Taif Agreement was a compromise to end the hostility, not a peace treaty. It didn't include in its development or in the negotiation, civil society or the victims groups,” said Carmen. The Agreement was accompanied with a general amnesty law; a blanket law that awarded legal pardon on crimes committed during the 1975-1990 wars, with exceptions for crimes committed against political leaders, religious leaders, and foreign diplomats. Immediately, then, the post-war “peace” era began with a hierarchy of victim classes.
There is much left to be desired. Another example - while most militias were disarmed after the civil war, Hezbollah remained armed, and no proper rehabilitation of ex-combatants took place. Thousands of former fighters were absorbed into the security forces without vetting, while warlords accused of war crimes were rewarded with high-level government positions. “To this day, some of them serve as MPs and ministers, controlling key departments like the Ministry of Displaced Persons and the Ministry of Social Affairs,” said Carmen. Weary from fifteen years of brutal conflict, the Lebanese people accepted these political settlements—backed by international and Arab actors—despite the lack of accountability and reconciliation.
Victims, civil society and rights groups, including the families of missing and forcibly disappeared persons, were left out of the settlement. We know from Wadad’s talk that the families refused to be silent and continued their struggle. As Wadad mentioned, at this time, the priority for Lebanon’s government was reconstruction and economic prosperity. If you want peace, forget about truth; If you want stability, forget about justice. A new era of Syrian political domination and military occupation began, with the continuation of human rights violations, abductions, arbitrary detentions, torture and the execution of hundreds of Lebanese. This era also brought in collaboration, clientelism, and corruption, all of which have continued until today and delivered the major economic, social and political crises we see in Lebanon today.
Carmen’s commentary on the families provided insights into the evolution of their struggle from something more emotional in its beginnings in the 1980s to a movement “adopting a strategy and structure that we know today as transitional justice principles and mechanisms,” said Carmen. Various campaigns from 1999 through 2005, including the first in 2000 mentioned by Wadad, resulted in significant “solutions,” yet they persevered in their struggle for truth and justice. It is necessary to note that Wadad and the families were not only pursuing truth and justice for themselves, but for all of Lebanese society, and they operate as the only victim organization doing so.
CKDL, Lebanon’s only victim group advocating for the whole society, have pushed for a national day of commemoration, marking April 30th as the start of the war. In a country with no official memory work or efforts to confront its past, these families, supported by civil society, continue to seek truth and justice. Here, justice does not mean accountability but is pragmatic, as many warlords and political figures involved in past violations still hold power. While some activists push for criminal justice, the primary focus for the families remains uncovering the truth about their missing loved ones. In this case, the truth is the justice. This is the case in Law 105, which Ziad Achour talked about – it doesn't mention accountability, but on the “right to know.”
The Historical Context of Law 105
Ziad’s talk focused on the legal and institutional aspects of the fight for justice for Lebanon’s disappeared. As a member of the National Commission for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons, Ziad’s role is to explain the legal framework surrounding the issue and to discuss the progress and challenges faced by the commission in its efforts to fulfill its mandate.
Ziad began by placing the issue of missing persons within the broader historical context of Lebanon’s civil war. He acknowledged the importance of the efforts made by Wadad and the other families, emphasizing that their struggle laid the foundation for the legal and institutional recognition of the issue. However, he also stressed that the transition from grassroots activism to formal legal structures was a crucial shift in the movement. This transition began with the adoption of Law 105 in 2018, which Ziad describes as a pivotal moment in the history of the issue.
The law provides a clear legal framework for addressing the issue of missing persons, establishing the National Commission as the primary body responsible for investigating their fate. Ziad underscored that the commission is not merely a continuation of the families' activism but represents a new, institutional approach to the issue. It is tasked with documenting cases, identifying mass graves, and ultimately providing answers to the families of the disappeared.
Three Phases of the National Commission’s Work
Ziad identified three key phases in the work of the National Commission: The Pre-1990 Phase corresponds to the civil war period (1975-1990), during which thousands of people were abducted and disappeared. Systematic documentation was not possible in this time period. The Post-Taif Agreement Phase: After the signing of the Taif Agreement in 1990, Lebanon entered a fragile peace, which saw the gradual internationalization of the issue, with the involvement of regional organizations and the international community. However, the government was largely reluctant to address the issue of missing persons, as we know from Wadad and Carmen, preferring to prioritize reconciliation and stability over accountability. Finally, Ziad identified the Post-2018 Phase, which began with the adoption of Law 105 in 2018: a "qualitative political decision" that opened a new chapter in the fight for justice. The establishment of the National Commission marked a turning point, as it provided a formal, legally recognized structure for investigating the fate of missing persons. This phase represents the current stage of the movement, where the focus is on implementing the law and ensuring that the commission can carry out its mandate effectively.
Challenges Facing the National Commission
Ziad acknowledged that the National Commission faces significant challenges, particularly in terms of resources and political support. The commission, which was officially formed in 2020, operates with limited financial and administrative independence. Despite these constraints, Ziad emphasizes that the commission has managed to make some progress. For example, it has worked with judicial and security bodies to investigate a mass grave discovered in Bekaa in 2023, following due process as outlined in Law 105.
Ziad also discussed the independence of the commission, which he views as critical to its success. He stressed that the commission must remain neutral and cannot be used as a tool for political manipulation or populist rhetoric. Its mandate is humanitarian, not political, and it must focus solely on uncovering the fate of the missing, without becoming entangled in broader political debates. Ziad believes that the commission’s independence is its greatest strength, allowing it to operate effectively in a highly politicized environment.
The Role of the Law and Moving Forward
Ziad concludes by reiterating the importance of Law 105 as a tool for justice. The law establishes the right to know for the families of the disappeared, and the commission is responsible for ensuring that this right is fulfilled. This includes documenting cases, locating mass graves, and providing justice for the victims and their families. However, Ziad was careful to point out that the law is only the beginning. The true challenge lies in its implementation, which requires continued support from the government, civil society, and the international community.
➔ To watch the full webinar, click on the following video:
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