In the midst of the wars in Lebanon a group of Lebanese from all regions and communities called to hold meetings since 1980 at the conference center in Ayia Napa (Cyprus), perforated barriers in order to protect civil peace, and solidarity.
Out of these meetings, in 1987, the Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace was established.
The Foundation, far from any politicized competition and mobilization, principally focuses its attention on the problems of civic culture which is considered as the infrastructure of permanent civil peace, especially in the case of Lebanon whose history is rich in negotiated regulation of conflicts.
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The Foundation is directed by an executive committee of six members elected for three years: Mr. Wassef Haraké, lawyer; Mr. Hassan Kawas, judge; Mrs Marie-Thérèse Khair-Badawi, professor of Psychology at Saint Joseph University; Mr. Sami Makarem, professor of Philosophy at American University of Beirut; Mr. Antoine Messarra, professor at Lebanese University; Mr. Ibrahim Traboulsi, lawyer and professor at the Faculty of Law at Saint Joseph University.
The General Secretary is a post alternatively assumed on a six-month basis according to Article of the Statutes.
The Foundation is regulated by Statutes (12 Articles) and Internal Regulations (17 Articles).
The works of the Foundation, edited in academic and university publications, are diffused and applied in various domains.
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The Lebanese foundation for Permanent Civil Peace is today considered as one of the most active NGOs in Lebanon and the Arab world.
The Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace received an award from the UNDP and the Joseph and Laure Moghaizel Foundation for "Civil peace and human rights" on May 16, 1997. Twenty foundations were nominated for the award. In the reasons for giving this award to the foundation was the following:
"The arbitral committee made its decision based on three factors:
First: The nomination of the Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace is in conformity with the two bases of the award: civil peace and human rights.
Second: The contribution of the Foundation through its works to the founding and development of a national culture in terms of civil peace and human rights, starting from theory to field work and vice-versa.
Third: The quantity and quality and national context of the Foundation's achievements which are continual and global".