Former judge and lawyer with a legal and judicial career spanning more than four decades. He holds law degrees from Saint Joseph University and the University of Lyon in France. He joined the Beirut Bar Association in 1970 and practiced law until 1994, when he entered the judiciary.

During his judicial career, Judge El Usta held a number of positions, including Head of the Judicial Department and Enforcement Department and Personal Status Judge at the Jdeidet El Metn Court. He subsequently served as a counsellor on the Indictment Chamber and as President of the Arbitration Labour Council in Beirut, before serving as a counsellor at the Civil and Criminal Chambers of the Court of Cassation. From 2010 to 2014, he presided over the Fifth Chamber of the Civil Court of Appeal in South Lebanon, before retiring from the judiciary. He was subsequently granted the honorary rank of Chamber President at the Court of Appeal.

Judge El Usta was appointed to the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in 2021 was elected President of the Commission that same year. He resigned from the Commission in 2022.

University professor, lawyer and legal expert specializing in human rights and public freedoms. He holds a degree in Law from the Lebanese University, a postgraduate diploma in Public Law from the University of Nancy in France, obtained in 2002, and a PhD in Public International Law from the same university, obtained in 2008. He has been a member of the Beirut Bar Association since 1999.

Dr. Achour teaches at the Faculty of Law and Political and Administrative Sciences at the Lebanese University and has been active in the field of human rights since 2008. His work has included the development and implementation of programmes supporting marginalized groups in Lebanon, as well as initiatives aimed at strengthening criminal justice through legal and policy reform and advocacy against the death penalty. From 2009 to 2014, he served as a legal expert at the Ministry of Economy and Trade. In 2022, he also obtained a specialized certificate in international principles of personal data protection from Maastricht University.

He was appointed to the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in 2020 and was elected Vice-President of the Commission the same year.

Lawyer specializing in criminal matters, Mr. Zakaria holds a degree in Law from the Lebanese University and has undertaken specialized training in domestic and international arbitration.

He has been active in social and human rights work and is a founder and member of several social associations in Akkar and Tripoli. He also served as Vice-President of the Association of Lebanese Political Detainees in Syrian Prisons and was himself detained in Syria from 1987 to 1992.

He was appointed to the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in 2022 and was elected Secretary of the Commission in 2023.

Physician and expert in emergency medicine, forensic medicine and legal medicine, with specialized qualifications from the Universities of Montpellier and Paris in France. He is a recognized expert with European bodies specializing in forensic and legal medicine and has also served as an expert with the World Health Organization in emergency and disaster medicine.

Dr. Souaiby has taught at the Faculty of Medicine at Saint Joseph University and at the Higher Institute of Business in Beirut. He has conducted research and published studies in forensic anthropology in Lebanon and abroad. He has also served on national and ministerial committees addressing domestic violence, human trafficking, accidents, emergency medicine and legislative reform, and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Journal of Emergency Medicine.

He was appointed to the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in 2022 and was elected Treasurer of the Commission in 2023.

Long-standing advocate on the issue of missing and forcibly disappeared persons and founder and President of the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon since 1982. As the wife of a missing person, she has played a prominent role over several decades in advocating for families’ right to know the fate of their loved ones and in the efforts that led to the adoption of Law No. 105/2018 on Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons and the establishment of the National Commission.

Ms. Halawani holds a degree in Geography from the Lebanese University and a teaching qualification from its Faculty of Education. She worked as a secondary-school teacher within the Directorate General of Education and also served as a controller at the Directorate General of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

She is a founding member of several networks and initiatives concerned with missing persons and the rights of victims and their families, including the Euro-Mediterranean Federation against Enforced Disappearances (FEMED) and the International Network of Victims and Survivors of Serious Human Rights Abuses (INOVAS), and has participated in a number of human rights and civil society organizations in Lebanon.

She was appointed to the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in 2020.

Researcher and university lecturer specializing in transitional justice. She holds a degree in Journalism from the Lebanese University and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Montpellier in France. She has taught transitional justice at the American University of Beirut and Saint Joseph University and has conducted research and published studies on transitional justice, missing persons and memory in Lebanon.

Dr. Hassoun Abou Jaoudeh served as Head of the International Center for Transitional Justice's Lebanon Office from 2011 to 2015. She was a member of the Executive Committee of Act for the Disappeared from 2016 to 2022 and a founding member of the Forum for Memory and Future. In 2022, she obtained a specialized certificate in international principles of personal data protection from Maastricht University.

She was appointed to the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in 2020.

Lawyer registered with the Tripoli Bar Association and an expert in development and human rights. He holds a postgraduate diploma in Social Sciences and a degree in Philosophy and History.

Mr. Nehmeh has extensive professional experience in development, poverty reduction, and global development policies and agendas. He worked for twenty-five years with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). He has also worked as a consultant on development and poverty reduction and as an adviser to the Arab NGO Network for Development.

He was appointed to the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in 2020.

Archaeologist, physical anthropologist and heritage conservation specialist with field experience at archaeological sites in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and France. She has also led a number of rescue archaeological excavations in Beirut.

Dr. Nassar has participated in programmes concerning persons missing in connection with armed conflicts and collaborated with the International Committee of the Red Cross on forensic anthropology projects related to the identification of persons missing from the Lebanese Civil War. She has also worked to integrate archaeological and anthropological methodologies into forensic science and forensic dentistry programmes at the Lebanese University and with security institutions.

She was a researcher at the French Institute of the Near East in Beirut from 2019 to 2023 and currently works with the National Heritage Institute in Paris. In 2022, she obtained a specialized certificate in international principles of personal data protection from Maastricht University.

She was appointed to the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in 2020.

Lawyer and international arbitrator, registered with the Beirut and Paris Bar Associations, specializing in international and European law, particularly disputes before international courts and arbitral tribunals, including the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr. Sakr lectures at Saint Joseph University in Beirut and at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in London and is a member of several international legal associations. He also co-founded the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) and the Association for the Defense of Rights and Liberties (ADL).

He has authored publications on international law and procedure, as well as the law governing associations, public and electoral law, and public freedoms.

He was appointed to the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in 2022.