NGO Law Monitor: Lebanon

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Last updated 10 September 2013

Introduction

In recent years Lebanon has established one of the most enabling legal and regulatory environments for civil society in the entire Arab world. The Lebanese NGO law is the 1909 Ottoman Law on Associations, which has remained in force for more than 100 years. Although the Ottoman Law is quite liberal, it notably diverges from the French Law on Associations from which it is derived by requiring government notification of the formation of all associations immediately after they are created. "Secret" or undeclared associations are prohibited and subject to immediate dissolution.

For a number of years the Law on Associations was misapplied by Lebanese authorities, who often took months and, in some extreme cases, years to deliver a receipt of notification. Without this receipt, associations could not take full advantage of the rights and privileges afforded to registered legal entities. In 2006, the young attorney and civil society leader Ziad Baroud became Minister of Social Affairs, and in this position circulated a Ministerial Circular putting an end to a number of negative implementation practices -- most importantly, by requiring that receipts be given within 30 days of the date of notification.

Since 2006, very few issues have been reported with regard to implementation of the NGO law. Indeed, the only association which has not been issued a notification receipt upon filing the necessary paperwork is Helem, a nonprofit that advocates for the protection of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders in Lebanon and the Arab world. The Ministry of Social Affairs has stated that it cannot issue a receipt because homosexuality is prohibited under the Lebanese Criminal Code. Helem argues that the Ministry is violating Lebanese law by refusing to issue the receipt. To date, no legal action has been taken against Helem and the organization is able to operate with a relative minimum of government interference.

At a Glance

Organizational Forms	Associations Note: A number of laws govern religious endowments or foundations, but there is no law allowing for the creation of non-religious foundations. A separate law governs cooperatives.
Registration Body	Ministry of Social Affairs
Approximate Number	At least 6,000, including at least 200 local branches of international organizations
Barriers to Entry	Mandatory notification of association establishment.
Barriers to Activities	"Secret" or undeclared associations are prohibited.
Barriers to Speech and/or Advocacy	n/a
Barriers to International Contact	n/a
Barriers to Resources	n/a

Key Indicators

Population	4,140,289 (July 2012 est.)
Capital	Beirut
Type of Government	Republic
Life Expectancy at Birth	Male: 73.67 years Female: 76.88 years (2010 est.)
Literacy Rate	Male: 93.1% Female: 82.2% (2003 est.)
Religious Groups	Muslim (Shia, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite, Nusayri): 59.7%, Christian (Maronite, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Coptic, Protestants): 39%; Other: 1.3%
Ethnic Groups	Arab: 95%, Armenian: 4%, Other: 1%
GDP Per Capita	$15,500 (2011 est.)

Source: The World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2013.

International Rankings

Ranking Body	Rank	Ranking Scale (best - worst possible)
UN Human Development Index	71 (2011)	1 – 182
World Bank Rule of Law Index	30.0 (2011)	100 – 0
World Bank Voice & Accountability Index	34.3 (2011)	100 – 0
Transparency International	128 (2012)	1 – 180
Freedom House: Freedom in the World	Status: Partly Free Political Rights: 5 Civil Liberties: 4 (2012)	Free/Partly Free/Not Free 1 – 7 1 – 7
Foreign Policy: Failed States Index	45 (2012)	177 – 1

Legal Snapshot

International and Regional Human Rights Agreements

Key International Agreements	Ratification*	Year
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)	Yes	1972
Optional Protocol to ICCPR (ICCPR-OP1)	No	--
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)	Yes	1972
Optional Protocol to ICESCR (OP-ICESCR)	No	--
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)	Yes	1971
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)	Yes	1997
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women	No	--
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)	Yes	1991
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW)	No	--
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)	Yes	2007
Key Regional Agreements	Ratification*	Year
Arab Charter on Human Rights	Yes	2011

* Category includes ratification, accession, or succession to the treaty

Constitutional Framework

The Lebanese Constitution was adopted in 1926 and amended following the Lebanese civil war in 1989. According to Article 13, "the freedom to express one's opinion orally or in writing, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of association are guaranteed within the limits established by law."

National Laws and Regulations Affecting Sector

Relevant national legislation includes the following:

Ottoman Law on Associations of 1909 [English] [عربي]
Ottoman Law on Cooperative Societies of 1909
Ministry of Interior and Municipalities Circular 10/AM/2006 of 2006 [English] [عربي]

Pending NGO Legislative / Regulatory Initiatives

We are unaware of any other pending legislative/regulatory initiatives affecting NGOs. Please help keep us informed; if you are aware of pending initiatives, write to ICNL at ngomonitor@icnl.org.

Legal Analysis

Organizational Forms

According to the 1909 Law on Associations, an association is a group composed of more than one individual that combines their knowledge and effort in a permanent fashion to achieve a goal which does not include the distribution of profit.

Public Benefit Status

Lebanese associations may obtain a public benefit designation only by an act of Parliament. Because there is no formal procedure, no associations have been awarded public benefit status in a number of years. Public benefit status allows associations to receive public funds, bid for government contracts, and receive limited tax benefits.

Barriers to Entry

According to Lebanon's 1909 Law on Associations, formation of an association does not require any prior approval. However, it is mandatory that the government be notified of an association's existence once it has been formed. This notification can be submitted by filing two copies of the association's bylaws and the identification cards of the founders to the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities. Since 2006, the Ministry is required to issue receipts of notification within 30 days of receiving the notification.

Barriers to Operational Activity

"Secret" or undeclared associations are prohibited and subject to dissolution by government authorities. However, the Lebanese government has not attempted to dissolve any association on these grounds since at least 2006.

Barriers to Speech / Advocacy

There are no legal barriers to speech or advocacy activity. Associations are free to engage on issues of public policy concern.

Barriers to International Contact

There are no legal barriers to international contact or communication.

Barriers to Resources

There are no legal barriers to resources, whether from domestic or foreign sources.

Reports

UN Universal Periodic Review Reports	Universal Periodic Review: Lebanon (2010)
Reports of UN Special Rapporteurs	Lebanon
USIG (United States International Grantmaking) Country Notes	Not available
U.S. State Department	2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Lebanon Advancing Freedom and Democracy Reports, 2010: Lebanon
Failed States Index Reports	Foreign Policy: Failed States Index 2012
IMF Country Reports	Lebanon and the IMF
International Commission of Jurists	Not available
International Center for Not-for-Profit Law Online Library	Lebanon

News and Additional Resources

While we aim to maintain information that is as current as possible, we realize that situations can rapidly change. If you are aware of any additional information or inaccuracies on this page, please keep us informed; write to ICNL at ngomonitor@icnl.org.

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon protest against UNRWA (September 2013)
Palestinians in Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon protested against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees two days in a row. Political factions, commitees and organizations in the camp are on an open strike against "oppressive" procedures implemented by UNRWA, local leaders said. Palestinians in the camp say UNRWA implemented a new policy on Sept. 1 which ended emergency healthcare for refugees, affecting people with chronic illnesses who will no longer be eligible for free treatment.

Major new institute on civil society and citizenship in Arab region to be established at American University of Beirut (November 2012)
The American University of Beirut (AUB) and the UK-based Asfari Foundation are creating a major new institute at AUB that will focus on civil society and citizenship in the Arab world. It will be the first of its kind in the region.

Civil society leaders call for dialogue (November 2012)
Prominent civil society leaders gathered to throw their support behind President Michel Suleiman’s call for National Dialogue and to call for the implementation of the Baabda Statement and Taif Accord. “Civil society stands behind the president in calling all parties to implement the Baabda Statement, issued during the Dialogue Session on June 11, 2012.” the group, Civil Society’s Dialogue Table, said in a statement at the Press Federation.

Employees at the Casino of Lebanon protest (November 2012)
Employees working in the Casino of Lebanon protest defending their right to receive long term contracts.

Security Forces harass protestors sexually (October 2012)
Security forces are performing sexual verbal and physical violence against protestors.

Students protest against increased tuition fees (October 2012)
Students of the Lebanese University protest against trebling the tuition fees and assure that they will not pay their fees if the raise remains effective.

Protestors are beaten and insulted (September 2012)
Few young people who gathered to demand the adoption of civil marriage were exposed to attacks by the police.

Workers on Strike (July 2012)
Day workers at EDL are protesting and are on hunger strike for the third day asking for their demands to be heard.

Public Sector Employees and Educational Bodies on Strike (July 2012)
Upon the invitation of the trade union coordinating body, public sector employees and educational bodies protest defending their rights.

Labor laws in Lebanon heat up on heels of ILO signing (July 2012)
Despite government ministers’ assertions that civil servants were wrong to engage in protests, the recent signing of the International Labor Organization convention by the labor minister guarantees the “Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize.” A source close to Labor Minister Salim Jreissati said that international conventions supersede local laws, and that the Cabinet had committed itself to the convention after the minister signed it. The source noted that local laws contradicting this convention should be amended.

NGO works to teach armed groups about humanitarian law (June 2012)
Although many armed groups are initially reluctant to work with Geneva Call, an independent organization dedicated to engaging non-state actors about international humanitarian law, the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon actually approached the NGO themselves. “They asked us to help in ... disseminating among their cadres and among the security forces in the camp, humanitarian standards,” Armin Kohli, Geneva Calls’ program officer for the Middle East, told The Daily Star in an interview Monday.

Stopping the Strike of Workers (June 2012)
The head of the General Federation of Trade Unions warned the Lebanese government that inviting security forces to stop the strike of electricity workers is a violation of public freedoms.

NGOs call for approval of electoral law and reject postponing elections (May 2012)
A group of NGOs called on the government to approve a new electoral law before June and rejected attempts to postpone next year's parliamentary elections. The Civil Campaign for Electoral Reforms, a group of about 40 domestic NGOs, held a news conference at the UNESCO Palace to review various proposals for a new election law, particularly a draft law based on a system of proportional representation and the right of Lebanese in the Diaspora to vote. The group said that "although the parliamentary polls are 13 months away, there is only one month left from the deadline set by the government to speed up measures to adopt an electoral law at least one year ahead of the election date in 2013" and that "postponement of the elections is unacceptable because it constituted a violation of the most basic principles of democracy which calls for a rotation of power."

Teachers on Strike (April 2012)
The Association of Secondary School Teachers decided to strike and protest during April and May if their demands are not met.

Bakeries impose their conditions on the government (April 2012)
Bakeries stop their strike after being informed that their demands will be fulfilled as the government will pay 70 thousand LP for each ton of flour they use in the production of bread.

Restrictions on freedom of expression in the new Law on Information Technology (March 2012)
The new law places many restrictions which violate the right to freedom of expression. Social Media Exchange Organization actively encourages the public to form pressure against the new law.

The foregoing information was collected by the Organization for Civil Activities in Tripoli, Lebanon.