Relatives of civil war missing speak out
84 views · Published 3 December 2018 · 4:01 · Indexed 8 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(28 Nov 2018) LEADIN: Lebanon's parliament has approved the formation of an independent commission to help determine the fate of thousands of people who went missing during the country's civil war. Relatives gathered in Beirut to welcome to move. STORYLINE: Relatives are left with only photographs of their loved ones. People who will never return. But the families have gathered here today in the hope that the Lebanese government's newly formed independent commission will give them some answers. Thousands disappeared during the country's 1975-90 civil war. The Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons says more than 17,000 people are estimated to have gone missing during this time. But earlier this, Lebanon's parliament approved the formation of a commission to determine their fate. The long-awaited law would empower an independent national commission to gather information about the missing, collect DNA samples and exhume mass graves. Families and rights groups have been campaigning for the law since 2012, when it first went to parliament. "The commission will give each family the satisfying answer on the fate of their missing loved one and this is what the families want," says Wadad Halwani, founder of the Committee for the Missing and Kidnapped in Lebanon, at a press conference in Beirut. "We don't want anything more and we won't accept anything less. She's surrounded by relatives of war missing, many holding portraits of someone they loved. Lebanon held national elections in May but it has not formed a cabinet yet. Many of Lebanon's political parties are led by former warlords implicated in some of the civil war's worst fighting. In 2016 the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) began compiling biological reference samples to be used to extract DNA from relatives of the disappeared. They interviewed more than 2,000 families to help a future national commission. The samples are stored by the ICRC. The law may also allow Lebanese security forces to take part in the sample collection and storage. "The expected government has to expedite measures to implement this law starting with the formation of the independent national commission and naming its candidates. We hope that they choose the members efficiently, with integrity and credibility and show no favouritism, either of sectarian and political divisions. " said Halwani. But for many, there is little hope left. Siham Abdul-Karim, now 54 years-old, lost both her father and one of her brothers during the war. Now too much time has passed for her to be able to collect the remains of her loved ones. "I am certain one million percent that they will not return. That is it. They are gone," she says. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/af7fbeb0be50f5c17d76baf8d47b6742
