Background and Context

In May 2023, a total of 27 Lebanese Members of Parliament (MPs) took to social media to make 44 statements regarding human rights.

This report does not include statements pertaining to Labor Day (May 1), International Nurses’ Day (May 12), Press Martyrs’ Day (May 6), and Liberation Day (May 25), as these topics were not directly related to human rights. Additionally, statements regarding the election of a president have been excluded from this report due to their redundancy and excessive number.

On the other hand, World Press Freedom Day (May 3) stood out remarkably when compared to other topics highlighted in May. Out of the 27 MPs, a notable 12 of them made 14 statements, accounting for the highest percentage (32%) of statements made in relation to journalists’ rights.

Methodology

In May 2023, Lebanese MPs made a total of 44 statements on Twitter and Facebook from their personal accounts. The statements were monitored throughout the entire month, from May 1 to 31, 2023.

The statements were categorized into various themes, which include:

• Journalists’ Rights on World Press Freedom Day
• Security - Kidnapping of a Saudi Arabian Citizen
• Women’s Rights
• Syrian Refugees’ Rights
• Impunity and Judicial Independence
• Prisoners’ Rights
• Freedom of Expression

Data Display

During the process of gathering this data, we acknowledge that the information provided may not be entirely comprehensive. However, despite any limitations, this data allows us to put forward hypotheses regarding the discussion of human rights issues, particularly concerning journalists’ rights and freedom of speech, within the public political discourse throughout May 2023.

Figure 1. Distribution of data across Members of Parliament

Figure 2. Distribution of data across political parties and groups

Figure 3. Distribution of data based on group type


Figure 4. Distribution of data across theme of statement

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

Analysis

In May 2023, there was a decrease in online statements by MPs concerning human rights compared to the previous two months, with 89 statements in March and 100 statements in April. Out of the 44 statements made in May, a majority of 14 were focused on journalists’ rights on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. There were also 10 statements addressing security concerns in light of the kidnapping of a Saudi Arabian citizen in Lebanon, seven statements regarding women’s rights, and six statements discussing the rights of Syrian refugees.

Notably, the statements can be ranked using two methods. The first method compares the total number of statements made by each political group, as shown in Table 2. The second method compares the percentage of MPs within each group who made statements. To calculate this, we determined the number of MPs who made statements within a specific political bloc and then calculated their percentage relative to the total number of MPs in that bloc, as illustrated in Table 3.

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, all Independence Movement MPs and seven Change MPs made statements during the month of May. It is noteworthy that Kataeb MPs had consistently made statements related to human rights throughout the monitoring period. However, surprisingly, they did not issue any statements during the month of May.

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  

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

In May 2023, MP Mark Daou made the highest number of statements, totaling 6. MPs Halimé Kaakour, Ihab Matar, and Tony Frangieh ranked second, with each of them making 3 statements.

In terms of the cumulative number of statements shared since June 1, 2022, MPs Mark Daou, Ibrahim Mneimneh, and Halimé Kaakour maintained the top three positions, as they did in January, February, March, and April 2023.

The consistency of MPs’ statements is an important factor to consider. MP Daou has consistently made statements related to human rights in 10 out of the 12 months of monitoring, while MP Mneimneh and MP Kaakour have done so in eight out of the 12 months.