Sexual harassment and rape will perdure so long as rape culture does

Opinion Analysis by Mounia El Khawand, Staff Writer

December 30th, 2020

Since its last review regarding compliance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2015, the Lebanese government has been accused of terrible passivity in the fight for women’s rights. Up until the end of 2020, extremely narrow domestic violence regulations, a complete failure to criminalize perpetrators of harassment, and an absolute permissiveness for marital rape has allowed sexual offenders to run amok with little to no fear of legal repercussions.

However, on December 21, 2020, a tweet from the official account of UN Women’s offices in Lebanon took the social media platform by storm. “BREAKING: Parliament just passed 2 laws: one to criminalize sexual harassment and rehabilitate its victims, being the first law in Lebanon to penalize [perpetrators] of sexual harassment & abuse,” started popping up on screens all across the country. Her Excellence, Dr. Amal Mudallali, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the UN shared her own response to the post, saying: “Good news from Lebanon. Parliament passes a law to criminalize sexual harassment and rehabilitate its victims. Major victory for women’s rights and those who have been working for years to make it happen.” 

Indeed, following a year that saw a critical increase in reports of harassment, this new law comes as a welcome step forward in the fight for equality of genders. However, the legislation came with its fair share of contentious points, and rights activists have openly voiced their dissatisfaction with it. In order to understand the points of view from the various shareholders, it is first important to review the implications of the legal text. 

The law passed on Monday not only devises a multitiered punishment scheme, but also extends protection to both victims and their witnesses, in addition to establishing a fund in the Ministry of Social Affairs, dedicated to providing the victims with means to seek support, rehabilitation, and compensation, as well as spread awareness regarding sexual harassment.  

Punishments have been separated into three distinct categories, and thus adopt various degrees of severity. They range from one month to one year in prison with a fine of three to ten times the minimal wage of 675,000 LBP for the most benign offenders, to four years and fifty times the minimal wage for those who wield “material or moral power” over the victim, according to ­Al-Jazeera. In parallel, the 2014 law against domestic violence was amended to expand its scope, thus providing additional protection to the abused. 

The new regulations were met with notable resistance from MPs who viewed them as impeding on personal status laws, inscribed within Lebanon’s many religious courts, and in which women often face blatant discrimination.  

While the masses and numerous officials have hailed the landmark law – the first of its kind – as a triumph, and a step forward in the right direction, many activists do not share the sentiment, and believe that it does too little too late. Activist Reem Haidar expressed her dissatisfaction with the law to The Media Line, stating that discussing such a law in 2020 rather than years ago is “shameful, humiliating and embarrassing for a country like Lebanon, which presents itself globally and locally as a modern and developed state,” and adds that the listed punishments are “silly,” claiming instead that a victim who would need twenty years to recover from their ordeal should see their harasser behind bars for an equal duration. Haidar adds that this law does little more than provide Lebanon with a modicum of credibility when participating in international conferences against sexual harassment. 

Indeed, the legislative actions taken by Parliament still hold blatant gaps and constitute major hindrances against those they were devised to protect. For instance, there are still no punishments for marital rape, which Human Rights Watch qualifies as a “glaring omission.” Furthermore, victims would be forced to take action in the criminal rather than the civil courts, meaning the case – and therefore, their name – would be made public. Karim Nammour, a lawyer with Legal Agenda, said that, “This is a major obstacle for victims and does not give them the incentive to file complaints.”

Moreover, several other points that are intimately connected to the question of gender equality and sexual harassment have yet to be introduced into the country’s legislation. Women remain abysmally underrepresented in the workplace and the public service, particularly in positions of power. Let us not forget the matter of the nationality law, a long-standing controversy amidst Lebanese citizens, reprised during the Thawra of October 2019, which prohibits Lebanese women from passing down the citizenship onto their children. 

Furthermore, it is important to remember that women (including transwomen, which have been treated monstrously, by being detained in male cells in prison, for example) are not the sole victims of sexual harassment. While the cases are scarcer, we should not forget that young boys and men have also fallen prey to sexual offenders, and, for them, seeking justice and restitution is rendered nearly impossible by a society that has absorbed toxic masculinity into its mores and customs. 

Truly, the battle is as socio-cultural as it is legal. While this law is a first nudge in the right direction, many people fear that MPs will rest on their laurels, believing to have effectively eradicated sexual harassment and domestic violence. Not to mention that several decisions that have been passed on paper have failed to be implemented in the past. “In 2014, when the domestic violence law was passed, they said they would create a fund for victims, but seven years later, there is still no fund. And now they also created a new fund for sexual harassment victims,” reminds us Leila Awada of the Kafa NGO. In a few years, hence, it will be imperative to review the effect of the new law and amend it accordingly. 

However, the brunt of the work lies in exercising a holistic societal and cultural reform, to normalize the matter of sexual harassment – which has long-since been taboo amongst the population – to abolish the notion of victim shaming, to foster a safe environment for the abused and their witnesses to come forward, and to hold perpetrators accountable legally, economically, and socially. The challenge is daunting, yet the undertaken efforts are minimal. True change will most likely fail to be enacted for several years still, but measures must be pursued on all levels of governance. Sexual harassment and rape will perdure so long as rape culture does.