Media workers, lawyers and other Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Lebanon report a situation of constant crisis during 2025, with multiple threats challenging their work, says a new report by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), published with the support of Maharat Foundation and IFEX.
The report, Constant Crisis: Human Rights in Lebanon in 2025, is based on in-country research by Brian Dooley, a GCHR Advisory Board member. He says, “In the past 12 months, Human Rights Defenders in Lebanon have endured the constant expectation of another full-scale war. Much of their work is geared towards preparing to survive and cope in another conflict. Despite this context, they are achieving remarkable things in advancing the human rights of others.”
Although a ceasefire with Israel was agreed in late 2024 to end the 13-month conflict, extensive violations of the truce were reported within days, and since then there have been regular Israeli missile and other attacks on Lebanon. At the end of November 2025 Israel bombed the capital Beirut, killing five people and injuring dozens more.
Local journalists and other activists fear the agreement is so fragile it risks breaking down completely and suddenly, which will send the country back into a large-scale conflict. Many assume that such a conflict is coming, either imminently or very soon. Many noted that in the event of full-scale conflict with Israel, much of their work will again revert to emergency service provision and crisis response.
They also report that a worsening economic situation threatens Lebanon, and drastic cuts in international funding of human rights organisations has severely damaged their work.
One veteran journalist says, “We are caught in an ongoing, cyclical crisis of war and economic depression.”
Many journalists report a lack of protection from international mechanisms supposed to support them, and cite damage to their physical and mental health. They also report ongoing frustrations in accessing information which should be publicly available.
Many media workers and other HRDs continue to face chronic financial difficulties, and a lack of insurance and protective equipment. There are hopes that a new proposed media law, long in development and whose progress was halted by the war, could bring some necessary clarity and progress to the media landscape.
Activists and other international agencies report that the new Lebanese government, formed in February 2025, is hampered by a lack of resources, and some question its political will to make significant progress on human rights. The deepening economic crisis is damaging various human rights, including the right to a clean environment, where activists say dirty water is being pumped into the sea, and most garbage is now just being burned.
Despite these formidable challenges, media workers and other human rights defenders in Lebanon continue to provide vital services, whether during full-scale conflict or through economic crises.
In January 2026 Lebanon’s human rights record is due to be scrutinised at the United Nations Human Rights Council, as it is the country’s turn to be examined by the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism. In 2025, GCHR and Maharat Foundation in partnership with IFEX and OMCT made a joint UPR submission for Lebanon’s review.
Parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2026 also offer some prospects for change, and possibly progress, although local human rights activists note that election campaigns are often periods when hate speech and disinformation peak.
This report was prepared by GCHR with support from Maharat Foundation, and IFEX. The report was prepared as part of a project on Crisis Prevention, Stabilisation, and Peacebuilding in Lebanon through Freedom of Expression Rights, implemented in partnership with IFEX and Maharat Foundation, and supported with German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), zivik Funding Programme.
Read the full report “Constant Crisis” here.
Recommendations
GCHR, Maharat Foundation and IFEX make the following recommendations:
To the Lebanese government:
- Ensure that the new media law complies with international standards and civil society-endorsed reforms, including the decriminalisation of publication and expression offenses, transparency of media ownership, an independent National Media Council.
- Provide clear protections for journalists under the new media law, confirming they must be allowed to carry out their profession without intimidation or pressure.
- Put an end to military court trials for civilians, and lift all remaining legal and practical restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom.
- Strengthen fact-based journalism and media literacy to counter misinformation and disinformation.
- Give journalists in Lebanon special status due to the nature of their work, which is vital for the public interest. Such a status should provide for additional protections in the law.
- Accept all recommendations made to support media freedom, and the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly, during the UPR Process in January 2026.
To the international community:
7. Donors should allocate urgent resources to Lebanese NGOs working on media freedom as well as to support independent media.
8. International NGOs and UN member states should use the opportunities afforded by Lebanon’s 2026 UPR to press for reform to protect human rights activists, including media workers.
9. International human rights experts, including UN Special Rapporteurs with mandates covering freedoms of expression, assembly and association, HRDs, and accountability should visit Lebanon and report on progress and failures.
