Persona non grata

 
 
 
10 
 
 
 
 
     
 
II. RECOMMENDATIONS 
 
To the Government of Israel   
• 
Issue clear directives to all Israeli military and intelligence forces 
operating in the occupied zone of south Lebanon — including Israel’s 
South Lebanon Army (SLA) auxiliary — to refrain immediately from 
taking actions that directly or indirectly effect, authorize, or facilitate 
expulsions of  civilian residents from the zone, actions that constitute 
grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention.   
 
• 
 Publicly announce that Lebanese civilians will no longer be expelled 
from villages and towns in the zone, and that those who have been 
expelled are free to return and recover their property under safe 
conditions, free of any form of coercion or intimidation from occupation 
security authorities.   
 
• 
 Permit independent international monitors to escort expelled families 
and individuals from South Lebanon Army crossing points to their 
homes. 
 
• 
Allow independent international monitors unimpeded and continuing 
access to all residents who return, in order to ensure that any coercion or 
intimidation can be documented and reported to occupation authorities 
and the international community in a timely and effective manner. 
 
• 
Permit representatives of  human rights organizations based in Israel 
and elsewhere access to the occupied zone to carry out investigations of 
violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.     
 
• 
Publicly commit to holding fully accountable any person — Lebanese or 
Israeli — who uses the authority established by Israel's occupation of 
south Lebanon, to coerce, intimidate, or detain arbitrarily any civilian 
resident of the occupied zone, or to impose collective punishment on any 
family.  

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11 
 
• 
Revise restrictions on the freedom of movement of residents of the 
occupied zone to ensure that exit from and entry to the zone is not denied 
in an arbitrary fashion. 
 
• 
Develop transparent administrative mechanisms that will enable all 
residents to appeal any decision that affects their freedom of movement. 
   
• 
Investigate forced conscription of Lebanese adults and children by the 
SLA, and bring this practice to an immediate halt. 
 
• 
Take all appropriate measures to prevent the recruitment of children 
under the age of eighteen into the South Lebanon Army, and in line with 
an emerging international consensus, publicly declare support for a 
minimum age of eighteen for both recruitment and participation in 
armed conflict.   
 
• 
Ratify without delay the new ILO Convention Concerning the 
Prohibition and Immediate Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child 
Labor, and in accordance with its provisions and apply the relevant penal 
sanctions to any individual who forcibly recruits children under the age 
of eighteen for use in armed conflict.   
 
• 
Immediately end the practice of torture or ill-treatment of detainees, 
whether by members of the Israeli security services or by members of  
the SLA.    Investigate past and present reports of torture or ill-treatment 
and bring the perpetrators to justice. 
 
• 
Amend domestic law to be consistent with the absolute prohibition of 
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, 
including by adopting a definition of torture consistent with international 
law. 
 
• 
Ensure representatives of human rights organizations based in Israel and 
elsewhere have access to all prisons and detention centers in Israel and 
the territories Israel occupies where Lebanese civilians are held 
 
 
 

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12 
Persona Non Grata: Expulsions of Civilians from Israeli-Occupied Lebanon 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
To the States that comprise the five-nation Israel Lebanon Monitoring 
Group  
(U.S., France, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel) 
• 
Condemn the targeting of Lebanese civilians for expulsion from the 
occupied zone, which is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions.   
 
• 
Monitor the expulsion of civilians from the occupied zone. 
 
• 
Take steps to press Israel to halt the recruitment of child soldiers for its 
local auxiliary occupation forces.   
 
To the U.N. Secretary-General 
• 
 Provide detailed information about cases of expulsion of Lebanese 
civilians from the occupied zone in the reports submitted every six 
months to the U.N. Security Council on the United Nations Interim 
Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). 
 
To the United States and Member States of the European Union 
• 
Publicly condemn the expulsion of civilians from occupied Lebanon as a 
clear violation of international humanitarian law, and a war crime. 
 
• 
Urge the government of Israel to cease actions in south Lebanon that 
directly or indirectly sanction the expulsion of any civilian residents, and 
to adopt the other recommendations made in this report.     
 
• 
Instruct diplomats at the U.S. and European embassies in Lebanon to 
visit families and individuals who are expelled, and express concern 
publicly about their cases.   
 
• 
Condition financial assistance and other forms of aid to Israeli to an end 
to the practice of civilian expulsions from the occupied zone in south 
Lebanon. 
 

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