Committee on Administration and Justice Refers Two Files to Subcommittees

The Committee on Administration and Justice convened before noon today, chaired by its president, MP George Adwan, with the attendance of the session’s rapporteur, MP Bilal Abdullah, and committee members MPs Bilal Abdullah, Imad Al-Hout, Marwan Hamadeh, Hussein Al-Hajj Hassan, Ali Hassan Khalil, Ali Khreis, Ghada Ayoub, Osama Saad, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Amin Sherri, Adnan Traboulsi, Melhem Khalaf, Poulette Yacoubian, and Jamil Al-Sayyed.

Also present at the session were Suhair Al-Ghali, representing the Ministry of Social Affairs, and Nadia Badran, head of the Syndicate of Social Work Specialists.

The committee began by discussing the draft law submitted under Decree No. 607 dated 24-4-2017, which seeks approval to conclude a mutual legal assistance agreement in criminal matters between the government of the Lebanese Republic and the government of the Federative Republic of Brazil. For this purpose, the committee reviewed the report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, the agreement’s provisions in Arabic, and the text of the agreement in French.

Following discussion, particularly concerning some articles including Article 11, the committee concluded that "this agreement requires further study" and decided to "postpone its consideration to a later session."

The committee then examined a draft law proposing an amendment to Article 93 of the law implemented by Decree No. 10434 dated 14-6-1975, related to the implementation of the draft law referred to Parliament under Decree No. 8085 dated 31-5-1974 concerning the system of the State Council and its amendments. The committee heard an explanation from the bill’s sponsor, MP Ibrahim Mneimneh, and reviewed the justifications provided.

After discussion and reviewing the current status of the implementation of the State Council’s provisions, and considering the proposal in light of constitutional texts, the committee found that the proposal "requires in-depth study based on relevant legal texts." Consequently, it decided to "assign a subcommittee to study the proposal and submit its report to the Committee on Administration and Justice within two weeks for further consideration."

Subsequently, the committee addressed a draft law aimed at regulating the profession of social work specialists in Lebanon. After reviewing the report of the Parliamentary Health Committee and the justifications, and hearing the opinions of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Syndicate of Social Work Specialists, the committee began examining the articles of the draft law.

As it became apparent that the proposal required detailed and precise examination of certain issues, the committee decided to "assign a subcommittee to study the proposal and present its report to the Committee on Administration and Justice to continue its review and approval."

The session was then adjourned, with plans to continue its work in the next meeting.