Structure

The Institute for Human Rights is a specialized body within the Beirut Bar Association. Headed by the President of the Bar Association, the Institute is run by a member of the Bar Association known for his competence and experience in the field of human rights. The director is appointed for a period of three years by the executive board of the Bar Association.

Objectives

The Institute aims at promoting universal values stated in the Lebanese constitution and in the United Nations conventions of human rights. The Institute strives to distribute the texts of these conventions, monitor their implementation in Lebanon by publishing special reports, as well as to prepare draft laws designed to harmonize the internal legislation with the above-mentioned conventions. It also seeks to establish a series of precedents and special legal opinions which, in due time, will lead to the integration of principles of the conventions in local legislation.

In this perspective, the Institute offers, in cooperation with international organizations and institutes specialized in human rights, training sessions on the subject of human rights, to all members of the legal, administrative and judicial professions. These sessions include practical training on the implementation of the principles of international conventions on human rights in the internal judicial system; training to study, in a comparative perspective, the judicial practices in other countries; and training sessions to understand the monitoring mechanisms and regulations adopted by human rights treaties in order to promote their implementation.