To the Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council,

Excellencies,

We, the undersigned survivors and families of the victims of the August 2020 Beirut port explosion, and Lebanese and international organizations, are writing to urge you, during the current UN Human Rights Council session, to support a resolution – or at a minimum a joint statement – at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 56th regular session calling for the establishment of an international, independent and impartial fact-finding mission into human rights violations related to the Beirut port explosion of August 4, 2020.

During the Human Rights Council’s 52nd session in March 2023, 38 States issued a joint statement condemning the pervasive obstruction and interference with Lebanon’s domestic investigation into the Beirut Port explosion. They called on Lebanon “to take all necessary measures to safeguard, in law and in practice, the full independence and impartiality of the Lebanese judiciary,” and to ensure that a “swift, independent, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation into the explosion” be carried out.

More than a year later, an investigation into the explosion remains stalled and continues to be “hampered by systemic obstruction, interference, intimidation, and a political impasse,” as noted in the March 2023 statement. Victims of the blast and their families have been left with no recourse for truth and justice, as Lebanese officials have repeatedly obstructed the course of the domestic investigation.