News briefing
Translated and edited by: Committee for Justice
Geneva: 12 May 2022
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, said that the destructive actions of political and financial leaders in Lebanon are responsible for driving most of the country’s population into poverty, in violation of international human rights law.
The UN expert visited Lebanon to investigate the root causes and implications of the worst economic and financial crisis in the country’s history.
Expected crisis without a solution
“Political leadership is completely out of touch with reality, including with the desperation they’ve created by destroying people’s lives. Lebanon is also one of the most unequal countries in the world, yet leadership seems unaware of this at best, and comfortable with it at worst,” stressed De Schutter.
De Schutter called on the incoming government to place accountability and transparency at the “heart and centre of its actions,” starting with publicly disclosing its own finances and conflicts of interest and demanding the Central Bank officials to do the same.
Interests are the cause of corruption
The UN expert said: “Political connections with the banking system are pervasive, pointing at serious concerns about conflicts of interest in their handling of the economy and people’s savings,” adding: “”There is no accountability built into the latest rescue plan, critical to restoring the lost confidence of the population and the financial sector. We’re talking about national wealth that belongs to the public in Lebanon and that was squandered over decades of mismanagement and misplaced investments by the Government and the Central Bank.”
De Schutter pointed out that the central bank’s policies led to a downward spiral of the currency, the devastation of the economy, the wiping out of people’s lifetime savings and plunging the population into poverty. His report concluded that the Central Bank had brought the Lebanese State into apparent contravention of international human rights law.
Severe lack of social protection mechanisms
De Schutter said there is a serious lack of robust social protection mechanisms. “As it currently stands, it is a system that protects the rich while leaving poor families to fend for themselves,” he said. “Public services, including electricity, education, and healthcare, have been gutted, with a State that heavily subsidises private provisioning of these services. Over a quarter of all public education expenditures go to the private sector, which exacerbates inequality, does not lead to better education, and leads to higher dropouts among children from poor households,” stressed De Schutter.
The UN expert called on the next government to commit to improving its human rights record in all fields by reducing inequality, combating corruption and impunity, building solid and flexible social protection, education and health care systems, and placing the interests of the public above the private sector.