{"id":30880,"date":"2023-06-03T18:26:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T16:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=30880"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:07:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T21:07:05","slug":"in-memoriam-walid-slaiby-co-founder-academic-university-college-for-non-violence-human-rights-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=30880","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: Walid Sla\u00efby, co-founder Academic University College for Non-Violence & Human Rights (Lebanon)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION .<\/p>\n

An article from the Global Campaign for Peace Education<\/a> (translated by The Global Campaign for Peace Education from the original French version by Anne-Marie El-HAGE in L\u2019Orient Le Jour <\/a>, May 8, 2023)<\/p>\n

He was one of those followers of non-violence who made Lebanese society and the Arab world better.\u00a0A thought that he developed during the civil war, in the same way as secularism, in reaction to the destructive consequences of the Lebanese intercommunity conflict on the social fabric.\u00a0Walid Sla\u00efby is no more.\u00a0He died on Wednesday, May 3 at the age of 68, overcome by a cancer that had been eating away at him for more than 20 years. His name, inseparable from that of his companion in life and struggle, the sociologist Ogarit Younan, will forever be linked to activism for the right to life within the framework of the fight for the abolition of the death penalty.\u00a0Civil rights will also be at the heart of his fight for a Lebanese personal status law.\u00a0Along with workers\u2019 rights and social justice, from the early 1980s.<\/p>\n

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\nWalid Sla\u00efby, follower of non-violence and death penalty abolitionist, died on May 3 at the age of 68. (Photo courtesy of Aunohr Media Services)
\n(Click on photo to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nAn immense legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

From his commitment to the service of Lebanon, he will leave an immense legacy. A multitude of books, publications, translations, bills, associations, tangible progress on the ground, always with Ogarit Younan. With the crowning achievement in 2015 of\u00a0the Academic University College for Non-Violence & Human Rights (Aunohr), an educational institution dedicated to non-violence that continues to train generations of students, activists, trade unionists ready to take over. This course will see the duo rewarded several times, in particular by the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic in 2005, the Fondation Chirac Prize in 2019 and the Gandhi Prize for Peace awarded in 2022 by the Indian foundation Jamnalal Bajaj, named after the disciple of Mahatma Gandhi.<\/p>\n

It is in his fight against the death penalty that Walid Sla\u00efby initiated the most tangible progress.\u00a0\u201cHe was a silent soldier against capital punishment.\u00a0But his work was very important,\u201d says Wadih Asmar, president of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH).\u00a0After federating several associations around the National Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, the activist rallied part of the political and judicial class to the cause, during shock events that were highly publicized.\u00a0In 1998, when two burglars, one of whom had committed a double murder, were hanged in Tabarja in the public square, he openly proclaimed during a nocturnal sit-in \u201cmourning for the victims of the crime and for those of capital punishment \u201c.\u00a0As a result, the last executions date back to 2004 in Lebanon,\u00a0even if justice continues to pronounce the death sentence.\u00a0\u201cLebanon is now classified as a de facto abolitionist country.\u00a0In 2020, for the first time in its history, it spoke out for a moratorium at the UN General Assembly, alongside 122 other states.\u00a0A position recently reiterated\u201d, welcomes former minister Ibrahim Najjar, a committed abolitionist.\u00a0The lawyer did not personally know the deceased, but he said he was \u201crespectful and admiring of the courage of Walid Sla\u00efby and his companion Ogarit Younan, who behaved as convinced abolitionists\u201d.\u00a0\u201cBecause the fight is not easy.\u00a0It is so easy to confuse revenge with capital punishment,\u201d he points out.\u00a0for the first time in its history, it came out in favor of a moratorium at the UN General Assembly, alongside 122 other states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Article continued in the column on the right)<\/p>\n

(Click here for the original version in French<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Questions related to this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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Where in the world can we find good leadership today?<\/a><\/p>\n

How can we carry forward the work of the great peace and justice activists who went before us?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(Article continued from the column on the left)<\/p>\n

A position recently reiterated\u201d, welcomes former minister Ibrahim Najjar, a committed abolitionist.\u00a0The lawyer did not personally know the deceased, but he said he was \u201crespectful and admiring of the courage of Walid Sla\u00efby and his companion Ogarit Younan, who behaved as convinced abolitionists\u201d.\u00a0\u201cBecause the fight is not easy.\u00a0It is so easy to confuse revenge with capital punishment,\u201d he points out.\u00a0for the first time in its history, it came out in favor of a moratorium at the UN General Assembly, alongside 122 other states.\u00a0A position recently reiterated\u201d, welcomes former minister Ibrahim Najjar, a committed abolitionist.\u00a0The lawyer did not personally know the deceased, but he said he was \u201crespectful and admiring of the courage of Walid Sla\u00efby and his companion Ogarit Younan, who behaved as convinced abolitionists\u201d.\u00a0\u201cBecause the fight is not easy.\u00a0It is so easy to confuse revenge with capital punishment,\u201d he points out.\u00a0but he says he is \u201crespectful and admiring of the courage of Walid Sla\u00efby and his companion Ogarit Younan, who behaved as convinced abolitionists\u201d.\u00a0\u201cBecause the fight is not easy.\u00a0It is so easy to confuse revenge with capital punishment,\u201d he points out.\u00a0but he says he is \u201crespectful and admiring of the courage of Walid Sla\u00efby and his companion Ogarit Younan, who behaved as convinced abolitionists\u201d.\u00a0\u201cBecause the fight is not easy.\u00a0It is so easy to confuse revenge with capital punishment,\u201d he points out.<\/p>\n

For a Lebanese Personal Status Law<\/strong><\/p>\n

The personality of Walid Sla\u00efby is no stranger to his great popularity.\u00a0\u201cWalid was a man of dialogue, attentive to his friends.\u00a0It is through debate and acceptance of the other that he succeeded in laying the foundations of the culture of human rights in Lebanon, and in particular of non-violence\u201d, affirms Ziad Abdel Samad, friend of the couple, engineer and teacher in political science.\u00a0\u201cDespite the divisions of Lebanese society, he managed to go beyond the militias and the borders to lead an avant-garde struggle and achieve remarkable progress\u201d, he observes, referring to the efforts of the deceased to raise awareness among young people and bring closer Lebanese of different faiths and backgrounds.\u00a0It is also in the institutionalization of the fight that Walid Sla\u00efby drew his strength.\u00a0\u201cWhen I met him in the early nineties,\u00a0he organized human rights training against religious discrimination, remembers activist Rima Ibrahim.\u00a0Despite his illness, he never stopped dreaming of changing Lebanese society, to the point of institutionalizing the fight.<\/p>\n

Several associations were then created, linked to the Lebanese Association for Civil Rights (LACR), notably Chamel and Bilad.\u00a0In 2011, the militant couple launched their campaign to demand a Lebanese law on personal status which advocates, among other things, civil marriage.\u00a0In Lebanon, family laws are governed by religious communities.\u00a0They discourage inter-religious unions and discriminate against women.\u00a0\u201cFor the occasion, we organized a sit-in and set up a tent for 10 months, place Riad el-Solh, in downtown Beirut.\u00a0We have also prepared a bill,\u201d recalls Rafic Zakharia, lawyer, teacher and member of the association.\u00a0Signed by MP Marwan Far\u00e8s, the text is presented to Parliament and transferred to the joint commissions.\u00a0\u201cThe law has not been adopted.\u00a0But our mobilization has never weakened\u201d, assures the activist, whose \u201clife has changed\u201d since he met Walid Sla\u00efby.\u00a0\u201cNon-violent thinking has become a way of life for me, not just a fight,\u201d observes this death penalty specialist.<\/p>\n

The happiness of having given hope to the Lebanese<\/strong><\/p>\n

The militant, the thinker, the humanist endowed with superior intelligence and a good dose of humor left with modesty and elegance, as he has always lived.\u00a0\u201cWalid Sla\u00efby was both a great humanist and a man of science.\u00a0Very solid in his convictions, he was flexible when it came to discussing.\u00a0Never giving lessons, he was not a man to show off, but on the contrary was very discreet, \u201ddescribes the lawyer and former minister Ziyad Baroud, member of the board of directors of Aunhor, who knows him. for over 25 years.\u00a0Multi-graduate, the disappeared was indeed a civil engineer (ESIB), a graduate in physics (UL) and in economics (AUB).\u00a0Studies he completed with a DEA in social sciences (UL),<\/p>\n

He will be missed by human rights defenders, starting with abolitionists around the world who pay tribute to him and his companion.\u00a0\u201cIt was a star of light and reason in a world of shadow and madness\u201d, sums up Rapha\u00ebl Chenuil-Hazan, director general of the international association ECPM (Together against the death penalty).\u00a0\u201cWith Ogarit, they formed this incredible duo who have devoted their lives for more than 40 years for a modern Lebanon\u201d, he continues, congratulating himself on having had \u201cthe chance to send him love before his death of the abolitionist community around the world.\u00a0Walid Sla\u00efby will especially be missed by his alter ego, his soul mate, Ogarit Younan, with whom he was to celebrate 40 years of love and activism.\u00a0\u201cWe were expecting the weather to improve a bit.\u00a0We wanted a nice party.\u00a0We didn\u2019t think he was so close to death.\u00a0He loved life so much.\u00a0He had so much humor,\u201d she regrets sadly.\u00a0And if the disease occupied a good half of their life together, he will at least have had \u201cthe happiness of serving his country and giving hope to the Lebanese\u201d.\u00a0\u201cLebanon must be happy, we have served it, consoles Ogarit Younan.\u00a0But if Walid had not fallen ill, without a doubt, Lebanon would have been different\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION . An article from the Global Campaign for Peace Education (translated by The Global Campaign for Peace Education from the original French version by Anne-Marie El-HAGE in L\u2019Orient Le Jour , May 8, 2023) He was one of those followers of non-violence who made Lebanese society and the Arab world better.\u00a0A … Continue reading In memoriam: Walid Sla\u00efby, co-founder Academic University College for Non-Violence & Human Rights (Lebanon)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,74],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-30880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information","category-mideast","tag-mideast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37813,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30880\/revisions\/37813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}