Challenging Amnesia and Hegemonic Narratives in Lebanon

Announced by the University of Pittsburgh

*Note this time zone is in PDT*

Description:
This webinar addresses the role of international and local NGOs, highlighting their crucial contributions to the cause of the missing and forcibly disappeared in Lebanon. Audiences will be introduced to these organizations and our speakers will tackle a set of questions around how they worked to support the families of the missing and forcibly disappeared; how they contributed to the passing of Law 105/2018 and the creation of the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared; and finally, what have been, and still are, the greatest challenges in this work.

Speakers:
Ghada Al-Sayegh is the Lebanon Missing File Responsible for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Lebanon, with over a decade of experience in managing missing persons cases. She is a certified data protection officer in the humanitarian sector and a frontline negotiator. Ghada also holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Business Administration.

Dima Smaira is the Executive Director of ‘ACT for the Disappeared’, a human rights organisation working on transitional justice and dealing with the past in Lebanon, particularly on the issue of the missing and disappeared from the Lebanese civil war. Dima holds a PhD in International Relations from Durham University (UK) and is also a university lecturer in Peace and Conflict studies.

Nour El-Bejjani Noureddine is Program Expert and the Head of Lebanon and Yemen programs at the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) bringing nearly two decades of experience in governance, human rights, and transitional justice to her role. Prior to joining ICTJ in 2014, Nour served as a regional project officer at UNDP’s Programme on Governance in the Arab Region, where she played a key role in fostering democracy and strengthening institutions. Throughout her career, Nour has worked closely with governmental institutions, civil society organizations, and victims’ groups in Lebanon and the wider Arab region. Her expertise has spanned a range of critical issues, including transitional justice, parliamentary development, civil society reform, electoral reform and gender equality. Nour holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Public Law from La Sagesse University, complementing her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the Lebanese University.

Dr. Carmen Hassoun Abou Jaoudé is a political scientist with over 13 years of policy and academic experience in the field of human rights and transitional justice. She worked between 2011 and 2015 with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) as head of its office in Beirut. She was appointed in 2020 as a member of the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared. She is currently a lecturer in conflict resolution and transitional justice at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the University Saint-Joseph of Beirut (USJ). Her field of research focuses on Lebanon’s post-war memory, transitional justice, and the issue of missing persons.