The Campaign’s principal objective, in the near term, is to encourage a public dialogue about the ways in which a senate might facilitate the dismantling of confessional power structures in Lebanon, helping to pave the way toward the creation of more party-based and ideologically-oriented politics.
In the longer term, our aims are:
- To organize, in partnership with other civil society groups, NGOs, and academic institutions, an international conference to be held in Beirut on the subject of “Bicameralism in Lebanon”. The conference would bring together international specialists with local Lebanese law-makers and academics, in order to explore a variety of proposals for implementing a bicameral legislature.
- To push for the creation of a National Commission on the Establishment of a Senate, composed of law-makers and constitutional experts. Similar to the National Commission on Electoral Law (also known as the Boutros Commission), this would be a panel appointed by the executive branch of the Lebanese government, and tasked with producing a concrete and implementable plan for the establishment of a senate.
- To launch a web and print media campaign, publicizing the recommendations of the National Commission.
