Information on this subject is scarce.

According to The Toronto Star of 12 August 1997, the Lebanese Council to Fight Violence Against Women (LCFAW) provides assistance to battered wives:

The council, formed in April, this month launches its first public awareness campaign telling Lebanese women they can get help and legal consultation if they are abused.

The council also organizes hearings at Lebanon's first "listening centre" in Beirut.

Counsellors and a hotline are available with numbers advertised on television.

The idea of listening centres where a group of women get together to share painful experiences and discuss ways out of their dilemmas was first introduced to the Arab world in North Africa.

"In recent weeks, we received 10 cases on the hotline, almost all related to domestic violence and beating," activist Dia Saleh said.

"Women asked for appointments with our lawyers who gave them consultancy on their legal options," she said.

The council includes social workers, psychiatrists, journalists and lawyers, who volunteer their time to help women.

"We want to tell women they have options. The issue at stake here is the right of human beings to life, to free choice, to self-determination," Saleh said.

In May, the council held its first public hearing in Lebanon at which a battered woman told of her experience.

"She managed to overcome her fear and . . . stand in front of an audience to urge women to stand up for their rights and reject constant humiliation," activist Hanan Ghazi recalled.

The LCFAW is composed of 35 activists from 18 different non-government organizations (NGOs) who participate in the committee of the council, "which aims to improve women's legal literacy, update laws to protect women and provide statistics on violence against women" (ibid.).

The Toronto Star added that

In Lebanon, mere discussion of domestic violence is considered taboo, but in private, women exchange endless stories of wife-beating or express horror at rape incidents occasionally buried in local newspapers (ibid.).

The newspaper also points out that

A judge at a Beirut Muslim religious court said around 10 per cent of 5,000 divorce lawsuits filed by women over two years were the result of physical violence by their husbands (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Reference

The Toronto Star. 2 August 1997. "Lebanese Women Breach 'Taboo' Subject of Wife-Beating." (NEXIS)

Additional Sources Consulted

Jeune Afrique [Paris]. 1996-2000

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1996-2000

La Lettre heddomadaire de la FIDH [Paris]. 1996-2000

Al-Raida [Beirut]. 1996-1998.

The Daily Star [Beirut]. 1998-2000.

L'Orient-le-Jour [Beirut]. 1998-2000.

Les Cahiers de l'Orient [Paris]. 1999-2000

Resource Centre country file. Lebanon. 1996-2000

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

World News Connections (WNC)

WIN News [Lexington, Mass.]. 1997-1999.

Afshar, Haleh [...et al]. 1993. Women in the Middle East: Perceptions, Realities and Struggles for Liberation. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

Nasir, Jamal. 1990. Status of Women Under Islamic Law and Under Modern Islamic Legislation. London: Graham & Trotman.

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