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| Volume XV, Fall 2008, Number 3 |
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EXCERPT
The Hariri Tribunal: Politics and International law
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| Samar El-Masri |
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Dr. El-Masri is an assistant professor at Prince Sultan University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and research fellow of the Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict Research Group at the University of Western Ontario.
On February 14, 2005, a car bomb shook Beirut, taking the life of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Soon afterward, a series of events unfolded leading to a near-total political paralysis in Lebanon1: a vacant presidential seat, a government whose constitutionality was doubted by a considerable part of the population, and a parliament that failed even to convene. In the middle of the turmoil, the Lebanese government’s proposals to establish an international commission to investigate the Hariri assassination and later a “Tribunal of International Character” to try those accused found an open ear in the UN Security Council, which decided to endorse them under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. But while the Security Council seems determined to push on with the tribunal, many Lebanese — reflecting the views of many of their political leaders — consider the process a serious threat to Lebanon’s sovereignty, question its legitimacy, or are actively working to impede it. However, political viewpoints such as these reflect a denial or a lack of understanding of the constraining influence of international law. Before any position can be taken, therefore, it is important to fully understand the meaning and implications of the Hariri tribunal. The aim of this article is to show that no future Lebanese government or parliament, regardless of its form or the composition of its membership, and no effort by any Lebanese political group, can change or abrogate unilaterally the agreements that were made between the United Nations and the Lebanese government. This is so because of the applicability of the Laws of Treaties under international law and the various UN Chapter VII resolutions that were passed to back up these agreements.
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