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Today In History |
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On September 8, 1907
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Pius X publishes encyclical Pasceni dominici gregis (anti-modernism)
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Gov't urged to combat trafficking in human beings |
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 BEIRUT, 22 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Lebanon needs to review its domestic laws
and policies to conform to international norms in order to combat
widespread trafficking in human beings, especially women and children,
a United Nations expert said.
"Lebanon’s victims of trafficking
are often invisible because they suffer in places that remain hidden to
the public eye such as private homes or hotel rooms," Sigmu Huda, the
UN Special Rapporteur on human trafficking told reporters following a
fact-finding mission that lasted from 8-15 September.
"Much remains to be done for the government to implement Lebanon’s
international obligations related to human trafficking. A number of
domestic laws procedures and policies have to be brought in conformity
with international norms and standards," Huda, who is a human rights
activist and lawyer from Bangladesh, said on Friday.
She noted,
however, that the Ministry of Labour had indicated they intended to
present legislation on domestic migrant workers one month from
September.
Another project started in July by the Ministries
of Justice and Interior with technical cooperation from the UN Office
on Drugs and Crime and the UN Children's Fund, is in the process of
assessing the trafficking situation.
While no official
statistics on the crime exist, experts say thousands of people have
been smuggled into Lebanon. Women and children, who often end up as
domestic labourers and prostitutes, are particularly prone to abuse.
"One
survey brought to my attention found that at least one out of every
three Lebanese employers beats his or her domestic worker," Huda told
reporters in the capital, Beirut, on Friday. "Some victims personally
related incidents of traumatic sexual abuse to me."
Some of the
abused workers had arrived in Lebanon from Asia or Africa to find they
were bound by a contract with a local employment agency written in
Arabic, a language they did not understand, and completely different
than the one they signed in their home country.
"It is this
second contract that is considered valid and binding by the Lebanese
authorities," said Huda, who met government officials, diplomats, NGO
leaders and visited correction facilities and safe houses for abused
workers.
The rights of domestic workers, she added, were
practically nonexistent in the Lebanon since they remain excluded from
labour protection laws such as the 1946 Labour Code. They also do not
have access to labour courts.
Apart from physical, sexual and
psychological abuse, most of the labourers had to endure 16 hour work
days, seven days a week. Sometimes, their wages were withheld.
According
to UN estimates, between 150,000 and 200,000 domestic workers in
Lebanon, mostly from Asia and Africa, have suffered because their
employers refused to renew their work permits.
Also falling
victim to trafficking are Eastern European women who signed contracts
to work as dancers in adult clubs or "artistes", only to find
themselves coerced into work as prostitutes.
"Their
vulnerability is exacerbated by the fact that the Lebanese Penal Code
criminalises prostitution. A woman engaging in acts of prostitution may
be subject to prosecution, detention and deportation," Huda said.
"At
the same time, the people who operate the nightclubs, to which the
women are brought to find their clients, are operating legally
according to administrative rules set by [the authorities]," she added.
INSUFFICIENT LAWS
The
Lebanese Parliament ratified in August the UN Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress, and Punish Trafficking but it has yet to introduce new laws
or amendments that would clamp down on the crime.
According to
the US State Department's 2004 report on human trafficking, Lebanese
law does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons.
"The
Lebanese Penal Code stipulates that, ‘any person who deprives another
of freedom either by abduction or any other means shall be sentenced to
temporary hard labour’; however, during the year the government did not
apply this code to trafficking cases," the report noted.
Some of
the women who were trafficked, the report added, came to Lebanon
voluntarily with legitimate work permits, and an unknown number also
entered the country illegally. However, many of those with work permits
ended up working illegally in the sex industry.
According to the
UN Office on Drugs and Crime, trafficking in human beings has reached
epidemic proportions across the world in the past decade. It is fuelled
by economic disparity, high unemployment and the disruption of
traditional livelihoods; and traffickers face few risks and can earn
huge profits.
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