This blog of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) aims at granting the public opinion access to all information related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon : daily press review in english, french and arabic ; UN documents, etc...

Ce blog du
Centre Libanais des droits humains (CLDH) a pour objectif de rendre accessible à l'opinion publique toute l'information relative au Tribunal Spécial pour le Liban : revue de presse quotidienne en anglais, francais et arabe ; documents onusiens ; rapports, etc...
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PRESS REVIEW

Feltman stresses urgency of Hariri tribunal

Daily Star, Feltman stresses urgency of Hariri tribunal, May 4, 2007

By Rym Ghazal

BEIRUT: The US Thursday framed as urgent the establishment of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri and other crimes, a day after a UN envoy seeking to broker a Lebanese agreement on the issue reported failure to the UN Security Council. "We are running out of time," US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman said of the tribunal in an interview with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
A UN spokesman told The Daily Star Thursday the international body had not determined its next step on the tribunal.
A report Wednesday by Nicolas Michel, UN undersecretary general for legal affairs, that his mediation initiative on the court had failed was the latest twist in a months-long course in which tribunal backers have tested the possibility of its establishment by UN fiat.
"Members of the UN council are still discussing the matter but have not yet decided on anything concrete," the spokesperson said on the eve of the latest council report on UN Resolution 1559.
Lebanon's opposition has objected to the formation of the court under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which would effectively bypass Parliament.
Government sources told The Daily Star that the next Cabinet session would focus on the tribunal and the question of what pertinent documents to send UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
Ban is not expected to address the issue until after his return from a conference on Iraq security in Sharm el-Sheikh Friday.
Feltman warned Thursday that if Lebanon's major political camps fail to agree on the court, the UN could take action under Chapter 7, which deals with threats to international peace and security and authorizes a range of measures from breaking diplomatic and trade relations to military intervention.
Feltman denied reports that the court issue would be discussed in Egypt.
"Lebanon is not on the agenda of the Sharm el-Sheikh conference," he said, also denying reports that the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch had met Thursday with Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir in Rome.
Feltman expressed regret that Lebanese politicians had not reached an agreement over the court.
"The speaker has no intention of opening Parliament for the court issue to be settled," said Feltman, referring to opposition leader Nabih Berri, who has declined to convene the legislator in 2007.
"It is not a US decision alone," said Feltman of the court. "The US is just one of 15 countries that will make a decision on this issue."
Feltman said his visit with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on Thursday had been "routine" and that he agreed with Aoun's point that Lebanon would benefit from popular presidential elections.
Local daily Al-Hayat quoted a French source Thursday as saying France had already prepared a summary on how to establish the court under Chapter 7 and that the US had agreed to it.
Separately, Russia's envoy to the UN objected to the idea of a Chapter 7 resolution, despite reports that Russia would not veto such a resolution.
MPs from the ruling majority announced Thursday they would sign a petition calling for an "extraordinary" parliamentary session to circumvent Berri's refusal to convene the body.
Former Premier Salim al-Hoss, who has been actively involved in efforts to resolve the country's five-month political deadlock, called on the rival politicians to meet and discuss the court before the issue further divides the country.
"There is an urgent need for a national dialogue to occur over the court issue ... and on the formation of a government of national unity," Hoss said.

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Background - خلفية

On 13 December 2005 the Government of the Lebanese Republic requested the UN to establish a tribunal of an international character to try all those who are alleged responsible for the attack of 14 february 2005 that killed the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others. The United Nations and the Lebanese Republic consequently negotiated an agreement on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Liens - Links - مواقع ذات صلة

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, David Schenker , March 30, 2010 . Beirut Spring: The Hariri Tribunal Goes Hunting for Hizballah


Frederic Megret, McGill University, 2008. A special tribunal for Lebanon: the UN Security Council and the emancipation of International Criminal Justice


International Center for Transitional Justice Handbook on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, April 10, 2008


United Nations
Conférence de presse de Nicolas Michel, 19 Sept 2007
Conférence de presse de Nicolas Michel, 27 Mars 2008


Département d'Etat américain
* 2009 Human Rights report
* 2008 Human Rights report
* 2007 Human Rights report
* 2006 Human Rights report
* 2005 Human Rights report



ICG - International Crisis Group
The Hariri Tribunal: Separate the Political and the Judicial, 19 July, 2007. [Fr]


HCSS - Hague Centre for strategic studies
Hariri, Homicide and the Hague


Human Rights Watch
* Hariri Tribunal can restore faith in law, 11 may 2006
* Letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, april 27, 2006


Amnesty International
* STL insufficient without wider action to combat impunity
* Liban : le Tribunal de tous les dangers, mai 2007
* Jeu de mecano


Courrier de l'ACAT - Wadih Al Asmar
Le Tribunal spécial pour le Liban : entre espoir et inquiétude


Georges Corm
La justice penale internationale pour le Liban : bienfait ou malediction?


Nadim Shedadi and Elizabeth Wilmshurt, Chatham House
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon : the UN on Trial?, July 2007


Issam Michael Saliba, Law Library of Congress
International Tribunals, National Crimes and the Hariri Assassination : a novel development in International Criminal Law, June 2007


Mona Yacoubian, Council on Foreign Relations
Linkages between Special UN Tribunal, Lebanon, and Syria, June 1, 2007