Work still to do on Lebanon rape laws
While politicians agree to discuss updating the legislation, campaigners warn the battle has not yet been won
BEIRUT // Campaigners against gender violence in Lebanon have voiced caution after MPs agreed to work to revoke a nearly 70-year-old law allowing rapists to avoid prosecution if they marry their victim.
A parliamentary committee agreed on Wednesday to work to scrap article 522 of the penal code, which forgives rape, statutory rape and kidnapping if the perpetrator marries their victim.
The decision was applauded by politicians and citizens including prime minister Saad Hariri, who tweeted: “We will be waiting for the completion of the civilised step at the beginning of the first parliamentary session.”
While there is consensus to abolish the controversial law, no actual vote on scrapping it has taken place. The committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss how to proceed on the issue, as well as on other articles in the penal code’s section on sexual violence.
“They have not voted yet, so we cannot say it has been repealed,” said Maya Ammar, communications coordinator of Kafa, which works against gender violence and the exploitation of women.
She was worried that aspects of the article might not be repealed, or may be tacked on to other pieces of legislation. She said some MPs had discussed the possibility of perpetrators avoiding prosecution through marriage in cases involving the kidnapping of a minor or sexual activity with a minor. About a dozen Lebanese women, dressed in white wedding dresses stained with fake blood, held a protest against the law on Tuesday outside government buildings in Beirut.
Article 522 is part of a set of old Lebanese laws aimed at protecting the “honour” of families and victims of sexual violence. The laws are based on assumptions that a woman is not fit for marriage if she has suffered sexual violence and that rape and extramarital affairs, among other things, tarnish family names. Some of the laws have been overturned, but only recently. It was not until 2011 that article 562 of the penal code – which limited punishments for people who murdered relatives to protect their family’s “honour” – was revoked.
Despite being outlawed, these killings still take place.
Meanwhile, marital rape is not yet fully criminalised.
Lebanon is not alone in the Middle East in still allowing rapists to go free if they married their victim: Tunisia, Syria, Libya, Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain all have similar laws.
Morocco repealed such a law in 2014. While there are campaigns across the region to remove these laws, just last month Turkey’s ruling AK Party introduced a draft legislation that would allow men jailed for raping minors to be pardoned if they married their victim.
The proposal sparked street protests in Turkey and condemnation internationally.
Within days, the draft law had been withdrawn.
Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim defended the draft, saying “the proposal aims to remedy unjust suffering” caused when those ignorant of the law get married as minors and see their husbands carted off to prison.
In October, a popular Tunisian talk show was suspended after its host encouraged a young rape victim to marry her attacker to “close the case” and “contain the situation”.