Background and Context

 

In March 2023, Lebanese Members of Parliament (MPs) made statements on social media surrounding various themes inspired by different days, which included International Women’s Day (March 8), Teachers’ Day (March 9), Cedar Revolution Day (March 14, 2005), Kamal Jumblatt Assassination Day (March 16, 1977), and Mothers’ Day (March 21).

 

However, only statements related to International Women’s Day are included in this report, as SKF's monitoring only focuses on human rights-related topics. Thus, statements related to the other days are not added to this report.

 

In particular, statements that are not included in this report are those that do not relate to human rights. For instance, on March 23, 2023, Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced the decision to delay the switch to daylight saving time in Lebanon from March 25-26 to April 20-21. While some Lebanese supported Mikati, others were provoked and angered by the decision after the publication of a video showing Mikati and Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri hastily discussing the need to make this decision. Several MPs made public statements opposing the decision.

 

Additionally, there were clashes between Al-Ahed and Al-Ansar football teams during a match held in Fouad Chehab Stadium in Jounieh, which MPs discussed on social media. Moreover, concerns were raised by MPs regarding the educational sector and the country’s pollution. This included the degrading situation in Tripoli and the working conditions of school teachers, particularly in public schools.

 

Starting March 24, 2023, Lebanon experienced internet cut-offs in most regions due to a strike by employees of the state-run telecoms company Ogero. This resulted in a violation of the right to information. However, no MP made any statement in this regard.

 

This month, there were several instances of state repression of freedom of expression. Within 48 hours, security services summoned two Lebanese media outlets for questioning. Jean Kassir, one of the founders of the online media outlet Megaphone News, was summoned by State Security, while the editor-in-chief of the investigative journalism outlet The Public Source was summoned by the Anti-Cybercrime Bureau.

 

In this context, 57 MPs made a total of 89 statements related to human rights during the month. The statements covered various themes, with the majority inspired by International Women’s Day (61 out of 89 statements, or 68%).

 

Unlike the previous month when six political parties remained silent, all political parties, except for Hezbollah, made human rights-related statements during this month.

 

Methodology

 

Throughout the month of March 2023, 89 statements were made on Twitter and Facebook by MPs from their personal accounts. The data was monitored from March 1 to 31, 2023.

 

The statements were categorized into the following themes:

 

• Women's rights
• Repression of free speech
• Syrian refugees’ rights
• Palestinian refugees’ rights
• Human rights and democracy
• Prisoners’ rights
• Child sexual harassment

 

Data Display

 

While gathering this data, we recognize that the information provided may not be comprehensive. However, it can enable us to propose possible hypotheses about how issues and opinions related to human rights, particularly free speech, were addressed in the public political discourse during March 2023.

Figure 1. Distribution of data across Members of Parliament

 

During this month, eight out of 47 MPs (17%) who made statements related to human rights had never made such statements since their election. These MPs are Adnan Traboulsi (Independent), Assaad Dargham (Free Patriotic Movement), Gebran Bassil (Free Patriotic Movement), Hadi Aboul Hosn (Progressive Socialist Party), Hagop Pakradounian (Tashnag), Jean Talouzian (Independent), Kassem Hachem (Amal Movement), and Nada Boustany (Free Patriotic Movement). Notably, three out of the eight MPs are from the Free Patriotic Movement.

Figure 2. Distribution of data across political parties and groups

Figure 3. Distribution of data across non-sectarian opposition political parties and groups

Figure 4. Distribution of data based on group type

Figure 5. Distribution of data across theme of statement


Figure 6. Disaggregation of the theme “Repression of free speech”

Figure 7. Disaggregation of the Theme “Women’s Rights”

 

	Women's Rights	Syrian Refugees’	Free Speech Repressions	Palestinian Refugees' Rights	Human Rights & Democracy	Prisoners' Rights	Child Sexual Harassment	Total
Change	10		10					20
Independent MPs	12	4		1			1	18
Lebanese Forces	13	1	1			1		16
Free Patriotic Movement	6	5						11
Kataeb	4	3			1			8
Amal Movement	5							5
Progressive Socialist Party	3							3
Tashnag	2							2
Independence Movement	2							2
Ex-Future Movement	2							2
Marada Movement	1							1
National Liberal Party	1							1
Total	61	13	11	1	1	1	1	89

Table 1. Distribution of data across theme of statement and group name

 

Analysis

 

In March 2023, there was a noticeable decrease in MPs' online statements related to human rights compared to previous months. Out of the 89 statements, a significant majority of 61 (68%) were about women's rights, followed by 13 statements (15%) related to Syrian refugees, 11 (12%) about free speech repressions, and only one statement (1.1%) about each of the following: Palestinian refugees' rights, prisoners' rights, democracy and human rights, and child sexual harassment.

 

It is worth noting that there are two methods for ranking these statements: the first compares the total number of statements made by each political group (as shown in Table 2 below), while the second method compares the percentage of MPs within each group who made statements. In other words, SKF tallied the number of MPs who made statements and belonged to a particular group, then calculated their percentage in comparison to the total number of MPs in that group (as shown in Table 3 below).

 

1	Independent MPs	14
2	Lebanese Forces	13
3	Change	7
3	Free Patriotic Movement	6
4	Kataeb	3
4	Progressive Socialist Party	3
4	Amal Movement	3
5	Independence Movement	2
5	Tashnag	2
5	Ex-Future Movement	2
6	Marada Movement	1
6	National Liberal Party	1
7	Hezbollah	0

Table 2. Ranking based on absolute numbers - from the political group with the most statements to the one with the least

 

According to the table, Independent MPs shared the highest number of statements related to human rights in March 2023, with 14 statements. The Lebanese Forces ranked second with 13 statements, and the Change MPs ranked third with seven statements.

 

1	Independence Movement	100%
1	National Liberal Party	100%
2	Kataeb	75%
3	Lebanese Forces	68%
4	Tashnag	67%
5	Change	64%
6	Independent MPs	56%
7	Marada Movement	50%
8	Progressive Socialist Party	37%
9	Free Patriotic Movement	35%
10	Ex-Future Movement	25%
11	Amal Movement	20%
12	Hezbollah	0%

Table 3. Ranking based on relative numbers - from the political group with the highest percentage of members who made statements to the one with the lowest percentage

 

As per the table, Adib Abdel Massih and Michel Moawad both made statements during the month of March, and as both from the Independence Movement, their party ranked first with 100% participation. The same can be said for Camille Chamoun, the sole MP from the National Liberal Party (100% participation). Similarly to February, three out of four Kataeb MPs made statements (75% participation). Other parties that had notable participation rates include 68% of Lebanese Forces MPs, 67% of Tashnag MPs, 64% of Change MPs, 56% of Independent MPs, and 50% of Marada Movement MPs.

 

Rank	MP	Nbr of Statements
1	Mark Daou	22
2	Halimé Kaakour	21
3	Ashraf Rifi	17
4	Ibrahim Mneimneh	15
5	Samy Gemayel	12
5	Said El Asmar	12
6	Elias Hankache	11
6	Ihab Matar	11
6	Michel Moawad	11
6	Paula Yaacoubian	11
6	Ragy El Saad	11
6	Selim Sayegh	11
7	Michel Douaihy	10
8	Waddah Sadek	9
9	Fouad Makhzoumi	8
9	Hassan Mourad	8
9	Imad Hout	8
9	Inaya Ezzedine	8
10	Adib Abdel Massih	7
10	Firas Hamdan	7
10	Pierre Bou Assi	7

Table 4. Top 10 Ranking of MPs who shared most statements from June 2022 till March 2023

 

Mark Daou, Halimé Kaakour, and Ashraf Rifi continued to hold the top three positions in terms of the total number of statements shared by MPs since June 1, 2022, as they did in January and February 2023. During March 2023, MP Kaakour shared the most statements out of all MPs, with a total of seven statements.