[Side Event] The Role of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Promoting Human Rights and Combating Torture in Lebanon

#PartnerEvent

The Geneva press club is pleased to host a side event organised on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) by the Cedar Centre for Legal Studies.

Speakers

• Maeva Réné-Barry is a human rights lawyer currently serving as UN Program Manager at IRCT, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. Her work focuses on international advocacy, with particular expertise in engagement with the UN human rights system.
• Saadeddine Shatila is Executive Director of the Cedar Centre for Legal Studies. He works on human rights advocacy, legal empowerment, and access to justice in Lebanon, with a particular focus on torture prevention, arbitrary detention, refugee rights, and engagement with United Nations human rights mechanisms, including the Universal Periodic Review process.
• Mohamad Sablouh is a Lebanese lawyer and Head of the Legal Support Program at the Cedar Centre for Legal Studies. He previously served as Rapporteur of the Prisons Committee at the Tripoli Bar Association and Director of the Prisoners’ Rights Center.
• Michael Khambatta is the Geneva Representative for the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, which supports and protects human rights defenders in the MENA in order to promote human rights, including but not limited to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. He focusses on engaging United Nations human rights mechanisms in Geneva, usually in partnership with civil society partners from the MENA region and based in Geneva. 
• Moderator: Ms. Mayssa Achek is an International Advocacy Officer at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS). Her work focuses on international advocacy and engagement with United Nations human rights mechanisms.

Simultaneous interpretation English and Arabic.

To participate, please register using the following links :

Torture and other forms of ill-treatment remain persistent violations despite their absolute prohibition under international law. Survivors continue to face long-term physical, psychological, legal, and social consequences, while access to justice, rehabilitation, and effective remedies remains limited in many contexts.

In Lebanon, although Law No. 65/2017 criminalising torture represents an important legal milestone, its implementation remains weak and inconsistent. Allegations of torture and ill-treatment in detention settings continue to be documented. In practice, accountability remains limited, investigations are rarely initiated in a systematic manner, and prosecutions leading to effective redress remain exceptional.

Key procedural safeguards, including those under Article 47 of the Lebanese Criminal Procedure Code relating to early access to legal counsel and protection during interrogation, are not consistently applied in practice. Legal practitioners and monitoring work continue to document coercive practices during arrest and investigation phases, alongside weak judicial oversight. These structural gaps contribute to a persistent environment of impunity.

These challenges reflect broader deficiencies within the justice and detention systems, including limited independent oversight, weak enforcement of safeguards, and insufficient protection for detainees and survivors.

Against this backdrop, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (26 June) provides a key moment to reaffirm the absolute prohibition of torture and to emphasize the need to translate legal frameworks into effective protection in practice. It also offers an opportunity to strengthen survivor-centred approaches to rehabilitation, accountability, and prevention.

This discussion takes place in the context of Lebanon’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR), one of the principal mechanisms through which the international community assesses states’ compliance with their human rights obligations. The UPR provides an important opportunity to evaluate progress made in preventing torture, strengthening detention safeguards, ensuring accountability, and implementing recommendations issued during previous review cycles. Civil society organisations continue to play a critical role in documenting violations, informing the review process, and advocating for concrete reforms that translate international commitments into effective protection on the ground.