Sexual harassment in Lebanon: A crime that goes unnoticed
At the end of 2020, Lebanon finally passed a law making sexual harassment a crime. But while the milestone legislation, called Law 205, is considered a step forward, human rights groups say it does not meet international standards and protects women who dare to speak out.
Lara * was sleeping at home at four o’clock when she heard a knock on her door.
“I woke up scared and had no idea who was standing at my door in the middle of the night,” she said. “I asked, ‘Who is it?’ Behind the closed door. Marwan Habib, who was a neighbor at the time, answered and asked if he could sleep with me because he had lost his keys.”
“I refused and asked him to go, but he did not want to. I told him I would report him but he laughed and told me to relax and spend the night with him. Never in my life have I felt so humiliated and since then I have been a part of me, [my sense of security] was crushed, “she added.
Lara * is one of many women who fell victim to Habib. At the end of 2019, more than 50 women reported that they had been harassed by him and one even said that she had been raped. In 2020, Karim Majbour, a Lebanese lawyer, filed a lawsuit against him.
“The things Habib has done would have put him in jail for several years. A woman on television even reported that he raped her. The problem is not that the system could not convict him – it did not want to,” Majbour told FRANCE 24.
“Because a harasser in Lebanon can escape punishment, survivors had to wait for another country to punish him to feel they deserved justice,” he added, referring to Habib’s conviction earlier this month in Miami, Florida. for having tried sexually. abuse a woman in her own hotel room.
The Miami police report stated that the defendant was known to “persecute women for having sex or dating them, even after they advised him to stop doing so on several occasions.”
Habib is being held in custody due to immigration and risks being deported back to Lebanon, according to US media.
A new law with “many loopholes” At the end of 2020, Lebanon adopted Law 205, which defines sexual harassment as a form of offense, without calling it a crime. Majbour said the law was introduced in 2014, but was ignored by lawmakers until it was passed six years later due to pressure from women – especially in response to Habib’s crime.
“A harasser is someone who has the potential to become a rapist. That’s how I see it,” said Majbour. “Habib is not the only harasser in Lebanon, and although this law is a step forward, it has many loopholes.”
Majbour says the law downplays the psychological and physical effects that harassment can have on survivors.
In addition, the law does not protect women who file lawsuits. Majbour explained that if, for example, a woman reports harassment in the workplace, the law does not protect her from retaliation.
In addition, the punishment for what the law calls “offense”, especially when it takes place in a public space, remains insignificant.
According to the law, sexual harassment in public is punishable by up to one year in prison and / or a fine of up to 10 times the minimum wage. If harassment occurs in the workplace, the fine is increased and can reach up to 50 times the minimum wage and a prison sentence of up to four years.
“In its current form, the law only seems to serve the government’s interest in presenting Lebanon positively to the international community. But from a legal perspective, the loopholes are too many for it to actually be able to convict harassers,” Majbour said.
Claudine Aoun, chair of the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW), stated that she did not consider the law itself problematic, but the main issue was its implementation. “Round table talks and workshops with judges and public prosecutors across Lebanon to raise awareness of the law and the correct ways to implement it,” said Aoun.
Obstacles to saying “I was six years old when my adult cousin decided to introduce me to a world I would not know. It started with the content of a pornography [nature] and from there, it [escalated] to actions and coercion [me to do] things, “Noor Tofailli told FRANCE 24.” It just stopped because his mother came in one day and tried to do certain things. I was nine years old at the time, but she blamed me and kicked me out of the house. “
Tofailli repressed this memory for several years and it was not until she turned 19 that she shared her story publicly.
“For a long time I felt guilty for doing something as a child and it took me a long time to realize that it was not my fault. I shared my story to tell people that sexual harassment occurs, and it is never the victim’s fault, says Tofailli. “It is the fault of the harasser and society.”
Due to her strong belief in a woman’s right to be free from harassment and her own experience as a child, Tofailli now works as a project manager with an NGO and trains people in gender-based violence. Through her work, she hopes to redefine the stories used to discuss harassment and support survivors by ensuring that they follow proper routines to protect themselves after being harassed and to report any incidents, if they so wish.
“We have reached a point in Lebanon where almost everyone recognizes that sexual harassment is a problem. But there is not enough knowledge about how women should act when they are subjected to harassment,” Tofailli said, stressing the importance of educating the public.
Salwa, who used his Twitter account to share survivors’ stories and expose harassers, identified legal and societal barriers as the main reasons people do not speak out.
“Women do not believe in the judicial system in Lebanon, so they do not report their cases to the authorities. They are also afraid of the guilt of society, so they do not speak out,” she said.
Majbour said it was important to speak out, not only to protect herself but also other women, who could fall victim to the same harasser.
“Submit complaints, talk to a lawyer, talk on social media … do anything, but do not be silent,” he said.
(* Lara is a pseudonym used to protect her identity.)
