BEIRUT: A major international rights group Thursday called on the Lebanese government to reform human rights policies, citing a deterioration of respect for human rights in Lebanon in 2016.

“Amid long-standing human rights concerns, a waste management crisis, refugee concerns, and attacks on freedom of expression and dissent ... the situation deteriorated in 2016,” Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2017 published Thursday. “Some protesters [were] prosecuted before military tribunals. Criminal defamation laws were used against others who spoke out against the government.”

A series of mass anti-government protests took place in 2015, fueled by the garbage crisis. Some descended into violence pitting demonstrators against police.

Yet, the statement noted a positive development in the country when Parliament established a National Human Rights Institute in October 2016.

The 2017 HRW report reviewed human rights practices in more than 90 countries, including Lebanon.

On the Lebanon section, the report also addressed women and Syrian refugee rights. Women also suffer discrimination under the 15 personal status laws, dependent on each individual’s religious affiliation, including unequal access to divorce, custody of children and property rights, HRW said.