Lebanon: Sexual Harassment Law Lacking Crucial Protections

(Beirut) – Lebanon’s new sexual harassment law falls brief of international expectations by addressing sexual harassment only as a criminal offense and neglecting avoidance, labor legislation reforms, monitoring, and civil remedies, Human Rights Enjoy reported nowadays in progress of Worldwide Women’s Working day on March 8, 2021. The Lebanese federal government must adopt a comprehensive strategy, like by ratifying and applying the Intercontinental Labour Firm (ILO) Violence and Harassment Convention.

On December 21, 2020, Lebanon handed the “Law to Criminalize Sexual Harassment and [for] Rehabilitation of Its Victims.” The regulation is an advance by generating sexual harassment a criminal offense and outlining whistleblower protections. Nonetheless, it falls small of the Violence and Harassment Conference, which says that governments really should deal with violence and harassment at perform by an “inclusive, built-in and gender-responsive technique,” which include as a result of labor regulations, occupational safety and health regulations, and equality and nondiscrimination rules, in addition to felony regulation.

“Making sexual harassment a crime is an vital action to condemn abusive habits that has prolonged been tolerated and normalized in Lebanon, but it’s not enough,” stated Nisha Varia, women’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Enjoy. “Public data strategies, obligatory requirements for companies to avert and react to sexual harassment, checking, and enforcement are all crucial for tackling this really serious issue that affects women’s private and expert life.”

Sexual harassment is a widespread issue in Lebanon. A 2016 report by the Intercontinental Adult men and Gender Equality Study in Lebanon and UN Females located that two-thirds of women respondents described suffering from sexual harassment in general public areas, with a lot of suffering from it in the three months preceding the study.

The legislation defines sexual harassment as “any bad and repetitive behavior that is amazing, unwelcome by the victim, and with sexual connotation that constitutes a violation of the body, privateness, or emotions.” The law notes that sexual harassment can manifest by speech, actions, and electronic usually means. The law also considers solitary or repeated acts that use, “psychological, ethical, economic, or racist force to obtain rewards of sexual nature” as sexual harassment.

The regulation punishes sexual harassment with up to 1 calendar year in prison and fines of up to 10 occasions the minimum wage. In certain contexts, such as in the context of subordination or a operate connection, it is deemed a critical crime, and jail time and fines can be enhanced to up to 4 yrs and 50 situations the least wage.

A good part of the regulation is protection of victims from retaliation, together with in pay back, marketing, transfer, deal renewal, or disciplinary measures. The regulation consists of whistleblower protections and prohibits discrimination, abuse, or disciplinary measures against individuals who report harassment or testify about the abuse. These types of retaliation can be punished by up to 6 months in prison and a fine of 20 occasions the bare minimum wage.

However, numerous women’s rights teams, lots of of which worked for a 10 years on an additional, more extensive version of the invoice that was submitted by the Countrywide Commission on Lebanese Females, expressed disappointment in the limited scope of the authorized legislation, as properly as civil modern society groups’ exclusion from the remaining discussions and assessment of the regulation prior to it was finalized. Inaya Ezzeddine, chair of the women and youngsters committee in the parliament, submitted the variation of the law that was finally adopted.

Karim Nammour, a law firm from the legal rights watchdog Lawful Agenda, raised various considerations that he reported could diminish the law’s efficiency for shielding harassment victims, specifically in the office. “It will also be critical to outline real looking protections for complainants,” he explained to Human Rights Enjoy. “How will you keep going to your work if you filed a criminal complaint towards your employer? Courts get a few to 4 yrs. You might get compensation after, but you will most likely have missing your work.”

Survivors of sexual harassment and violence normally hazard re-traumatization and stigmatization when in search of cures via the felony law program due to discriminatory attitudes at law enforcement stations, and from prosecutors and judges the high load of evidence on the survivors, and the general public character of felony hearings. The International Fee of Jurists identified that several road blocks in the administration of the Lebanese legal procedure impede women’s accessibility to justice for sexual and gender-based violence. They consist of a lack of efficient gender-sensitive investigations, the deficiency of competence by people carrying them out, and of methods, and discriminatory guidelines, procedures, and gender stereotypes by judicial officers.

Even though article 3 of the new law notes that steps ought to be taken to protect the sufferer and witnesses all through investigation and prosecution, the short article continues to be imprecise. Gender-responsive teaching for security companies, prosecutors, and judges is crucial for treating victims sensitively and for giving a secure environment for reporting and pursuing issues.

In an essential step, Lebanon’s legislation establishes that felony prosecution does not avert the pursuit of civil treatments which include for illegal termination of employment and that victims have the right to payment for psychological, ethical, or fiscal hurt. On the other hand, the law does not set out the legal framework by which survivors can seek out a cure via the civil courts.

Lebanon need to offer a very clear route for civil solutions for ladies who may possibly not want to accessibility the criminal justice process or desire to do so along with prison issues, Human Rights Observe said.

The ILO Violence and Harassment Convention sets out least obligations for governments on blocking and responding to violence and harassment at work. It emphasizes prevention actions, together with as a result of required workplace policies and education systems. A 2018 research by the Arab Basis for Freedoms and Equality identified that only 15 per cent of companies surveyed in Lebanon have procedures that protect in opposition to sexual harassment in the office, and the new law will not cure that.

The ILO Conference also addresses prevention by necessitating governments to identify substantial-hazard sectors and marginalized populations specially susceptible to abuse. For case in point, in Lebanon, this could consist of migrant domestic staff, isolated in non-public residences and tied to their companies by means of the kafala (sponsorship) system, Syrian and Palestinian refugee women, who possibly absence lawful residency or who do not have the expected work permits, and transgender girls whose access to work is already limited. Deep power imbalances add to harassment, discriminatory attitudes, and isolation and precarious lawful position spot further limitations to reporting abuse.

Lebanon ought to also perform general public recognition strategies. The ILO treaty’s expectations and the requires of the worldwide #MeToo motion have emphasised the great importance of these kinds of strategies to change social norms, elevate facts about these rights, and inspire survivors to come ahead.  

Report 6 of the regulation needs the Social Affairs Ministry to establish a fund to aid sexual harassment survivors, stop harassment and rehabilitate abusers, via yearly budgetary allocations, donations, and 10 {dcfa4b42334872b3517041d7075c48816e8f617446b245cec30e8949517ffd84} of the fines assessed against all those convicted less than the regulation. Having said that, Nammour observed that earlier resources established along these lines, which includes types to guard victims of family members violence or human trafficking, have not been activated or took yrs to put into procedure due to delays in passing the needed legislative or regulatory decrees.

“Women in Lebanon have earned to get the job done in security and dignity, no cost of sexual harassment and violence,” Varia mentioned. “The federal government should problem decrees to elaborate civil remedies, and set out a national strategy, with input from civil culture, on public strategies to crack taboos and place of work insurance policies to address the full vary of sexual harassment that will take position, not just the worst conditions.”