The Two Wings: Peace and Justice

Peace and justice represent the two wings of a nation and they are inseparable; a flaw in one factor can lead to a flaw in the other. To be precise, the Lebanese government seems to have failed to ensure both of these factors, since justice isn’t reached due to the overflowing impunity present in the country and consequently puts the peace in Lebanon on an edge of a cliff. Kofi Annan (2010) once declared: “The parallel pursuit of peace and justice does present challenges, but it can be managed (par. 10)”, however Lebanon continually faces a preliminary problem which is that the Lebanese government has grown immune to justice and to top it off the government is struggling to ensure peace, which is detrimental for the society.

The injustice in Lebanon led to the loss of authority of the security forces and consequently resulted in the deterioration of security in our country. Impunity in Lebanon has reached its peak to the extent that peace is threatened. Even the individuals, such as police officers, security forces or the army, who are the ones in charge of maintaining peace in the country, aren’t doing so anymore. The police fears punishment from senior officials which discourages them from enforcing the law. The punishments by these officials vary to the extent that police officers may be fired or drafted to work somewhere far such as Tripoli. The officers don’t even have a say in this issue because drastic measures will be taken if they actually do their job properly and stop the injustice. On the contrary, they are unable to act decisively or intervene effectively.

The injustice in Lebanon led to disregarding proper investigations for the well-connected and the rich, leading to even more chaos and danger. One thing that concerns most Lebanese citizens is that no proper measures are being taken to control the unethical and immoral acts. Lebanon has failed to “properly investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for torture” (Pledge Action on Rights, 2015, par.6). This results in the failure of identifying the individuals who are in charge of these acts, which puts the country in constant danger. Lebanese citizens are always paranoid of robbers, rapists or criminals since our culture is known to be a culture which hardly ever follows the law. We can acknowledge that the weak Lebanese judiciary allowed the individuals who have committed crimes or acts against the law to wander the streets. By not investigating to find out who the law-breakers are, more people would actually start committing unlawful acts since no measures are being taken to stop them.

The injustice caused by impunity has also led to social fragmentation, which subsequently shakes the peace in the nation. When citizens of low or a middle class witness citizens of a higher class getting away from committing unlawful acts, hatred will form from the lower class towards the higher class. Abou Jaoude (as cited in Knutson, 2014) reported that “victims’ voices were often silenced so as not to perpetuate conflict” (par. 16). As stated, in a society over-flowing with impunity where only the voices of the rich and the well-connected are heard, the unheard individuals would want to stop this injustice by also committing acts which increase the danger in the nation. As seen in Lebanon, the “You Stink” movement was established to make the minorities’ voices heard and all of this created an imbalance in the security due to severe fights between the security forces and the protesters. And if the citizens aren’t trying to stop the injustice, they are enhancing it through seeking to be one of the individuals who are privileged to be immune from the law. Since some individuals view immunity from the law as something to seek for, then the more disorder the nation would encounter by the days. Social fragmentation either makes the individual in a nation aim to stop the injustice or aim to be one of the people benefiting from it.

It seems that the Lebanese authorities truly don’t know the meaning of peace. They claim that “If you want peace, it is better not to talk about justice” (Knutson, 2014, par. 15). It is inferred that peace only exists when there is injustice, since talking about ways to ensure justice will cause chaos and disruption from the well-connected and the privileged citizens currently. But where is the peace these authorities are talking about? Robbers are getting away from thefts, criminals are getting away from inhumane murders, and rapists are also getting away from numerous rape incidents. All I see is a country lacking security and over-flowing with injustice. All of this proves that no peace can be ensured without the presence of justice.

Annan, K. (2010, May, 30). Justice vs. impunity. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://nytimes.com/2010/05/31/opinion/31iht-edannan.html

Knutsen, E. (2014, March 5). State-sponsored amnesia has created ‘culture of impunity’. The Daily Star. Retrieved from http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Mar-05/249265-state-sponsored-amnesia-has-created-culture-of-impunity.ashx

Lebanon: Pledge action on rights. (2015, October, 29). States News Service. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA433038342&v=2.1&u=lau&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=6c71e3040cb40e6b9047ccc14b626e62