Gender-based violence: A Lebanese epidemic Part 1 - A legal & political analysis of GBV

Analysis by Farah Termos, Staff Writer

January 3rd, 2021

In Lebanon, domestic abuse is unfortunately a political and legal failure that wreaks havoc on the progression of the country solely as a civil entity, and “developing” nation.  Despite the presence of laws and the emphasis on domestic abuse in Lebanese political campaigns (especially those led by female parliament candidates, like former MP candidate Joumana Haddad), gender-based violence (GBV) remains amongst the biggest issues that Lebanese households continue to face. Lebanon is known for the massive gender gap it conveys on-land: ranking 145/153 in the WEF GGG Index (The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index) in 2019. By April of 2020, KAFA, an NGO that provides a hotline for women that are exposed to domestic violence, noticed a sharp rise in cases reported as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Not only that, but Lebanon is notoriously famous for honor killings, male-dominated murders, domestic violence, and misogyny perplexed in both society and positions of power (for instance, over 80% of members of parliament have been male; women are overlooked; and it took until December of 2020 to pass a law that granted women asylum against sexual harassment, and criminalized sexual harassers).

But to what extent is gender-based violence, no matter its physical scope, covered by the Lebanese law? 

There exists one primitive law on domestic violence in the personal status law; law 293 issued in 2014 (the Law on Protection of Women and other Family Members from Domestic Violence). The law was passed by the Lebanese parliament and its existing members in a step forward to protect women from violence perpetuated in their households and/or deteriorate gender-based violence in families.

The law is constructed in a legal manner which illustrates that women in Lebanon have at least some of their rights covered, however that, in reality and practice, is far from the general case. For instance, there is a lack therein law 293 of the clear definition and incidence of “sexual violence” in the penal code, and there remains a lack of a clear, yet necessary criminalization of marital rape. However, other areas that are covered like assaults that implicate bodily damage along with clear coercion in marriage are issues covered by articles 554-559 of the Penal Code that provide a range of penalties for a range of different injuries resulting from such.

LAW 293/2014 against family violence

On April 1st of 2014, law 293 was drafted and passed to protect women from domestic violence. The law pertains several articles, definitions and somewhat vaguely identified subject matter jurisdiction; and many have criticized the law as one that deems a need to be ratified and amended to cover several aspects, like marital rape. The below summary analysis dissects the articles of the law, and breaches on what occurred as a result of its lack of implementation and emphasis within the legislative and political realm of Lebanon and it’s very vindictive societies.

A Summary Dissection of law 293/2014

The law, rightfully introduced for the sole purpose of “the protection of women and other family members from domestic violence” is defined as “an act, act of omission, or threat of an act committed by any family member against one or more family members... related to one of the crimes stipulated in this law, and that results in killing, harming, or physical, psychological, sexual, or economic harm”(This definition stands until November, 2020, before the December 2020 session of Parliament).

The crimes identified within the law (covered by article 3, amending the Lebanese criminal code) are such as but not limited to: facilitating corruption, forcing minors into beggary, prostitution, committing adultery, threatening the spouse or even forced coercion to exercise your marital rights (this is under assault, hence covered by articles 554-559 against assault and bodily injuries).

Furthermore, articles 2 & 3 of law 293, which identify the terms of “assault” and “violence”, fail to clearly and coherently state rape, assault and sexual harassment as terms under which “gender-based domestic violence” can be identified with.

The identified gaps & disparities of 293

Due to the vagueness and failure of law 293 to identify coherent articles and provisions within itself, this has led to several disparities throughout the judicial courts of Lebanon, along with several divided judicial opinions, causing civil society to urge for amendments to the original draft.  The latest touch on law 293 occurred in a session of parliament in December of 2020, however little was emphasized on the already existing disparities of the law, and only child custody and economic problems faced by abused women were lightly touched on.

The law is yet to be amended to provide protection to refugee women, and the Courts of Urgent Matters have restricted authority in the issuance of orders regarding domestic violence decrees.

After the Law

After the law was issued in 2014, the AUB Policy Brief reported that by 2017 almost 14 Lebanese women were murdered in domestic crimes. And in 3 years since law 293’s issuance, just under 176 official protection orders were filed against domestic abuse; a number too low and too unreal to justify the high reports of Lebanon’s Gender Based Violence.

Laws on protection against gender-based violence

Other than law 293, there exist several laws that aim to generally protect women from abuse, regardless of their relationship to the prosecutor/area of work. Here is a brief checklist on the laws that don’t/do exist, that vouch for protection against gender-based violence.

Ø  Rape:

Rape outside of marriage is punishable by up to 5 years, however, there exist no laws that cover marital rape (Articles 503 & 504)

Ø  Honor crimes:

Honor crimes have, through article 562, had their sentences reduced (the article was repealed back in 2011, but that’s as much of an update as there is on the law.)

Ø  Early Marriage:

There is no law that completely forbids early marriage, setting both married parties’ religion as the main indicator of (mostly the female’s) age to marry. This area is covered by decree 60LR of 936 that grants each isolated civil community the right to control its community’s personal status laws.

Ø  Domestic Workers:

Domestic workers, who are also subject to gender-based domestic violence in the areas at which they work, are completely excluded from the Lebanese labor law, and are not subject to any written protections of the Kafala System.

Ø  Sexual Violence:

Sexual Violence is not defined by neither the penal code, criminal code, or even remotely characterized by any of the sessions of parliament. However, certain articles identify the illegality of minors being coerced into sexual/obscene acts (Articles 506, 509, 510, 519, 520, etc.), yet none clearly define what sexual violence is, or the extent to which it is criminalized. By December of 2020, the Lebanese parliament passed a law against sexual harassment, yet did not define other aspects of sexual violence that gender based violence can undertake. 

The recent Malek Maktabi episode discussed the societal construct of domestic violence, with some women approving the presence of domestic violence; supporting the action of “being violent if the woman does something wrong”. Yet, domestic/gender-based violence must be seen as not only a societal construct that has infiltrated itself amongst generations of already struggling lebanese cultures and families, but a local pandemic on it’s own that Lebanon continues to face till this day. Thus, laws like 293/2014 should be implemented and attended to wholeheartedly and immediately, to save women in the future from having to yet again not trust the legal and judicial entities that unfortunately lead this country astray.