BySCEME
“Azwajuna”
A Call to Action:
Join our Efforts to Criminalise Family Violence
People wonder why women stay in abusive relationships. A rude comment here, a push there, can eat away a woman’s self-confidence, especially if there are no legal protections available to her.
Domestic violence is a huge problem all across the Arab world. It is also a huge taboo and accurate statistics are not available. Only a few countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, such as Jordan and Israel, have laws on family violence.
In Lebanon, for example, Marital Law does not provide any protection to women.
- “He raped you? Well, marry him!” This slogan is a reality in Lebanon, where the law says that an abuser can be innocent if he marries the victim!
- At least 3/4 of Lebanese women experience domestic abuse.
- Domestic violence is not part of the Lebanese Penal code and Marital Rape is legalised.
- The judiciary consider domestic violence natural phenomena within families.
- The religious courts are not mandated to protect women from violence.
- The Lebanese are split over a draft law on Violence against Women (VAW). The bill criminalises family violence, including rape within marriage. The bill creates family violence units to work with police, and allows women and children to seek restraining order.
Dar al-Fatwa in Lebanon opposes the draft law and describes it as a “Western idea” that would “undermine the position of the man in his family”. But why is it taboo to seek protection against violence?
We at SCEME (www.sce-me.org ) emphasise that women have a Right to: A Private Life; to live Free from Violence and that the integrity of their Bodies should be Respected.
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