12
Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law Against Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

We have all domestic violence facts known to us all around the globe, and Lebanon passing a law against domestic violence is the latest of all positive steps taken in this direction.Here is a news item published on April 2, 2014: Lebanon passes law against domestic violence Beirut (AFP) – Lebanon’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law making domestic violence a criminal offence, after a years-long campaign by civil society groups in a sectarian Arab country steeped in conservativism. Large sectors of Lebanese society have traditionally regarded beatings of women and children as religiously and socially acceptable. New York-based Human Rights Watch described the bill as “historic,” but pointed to gaps which did not ensure full protection for women. For its part, leading Lebanese women’s rights organisation Kafa was critical of the law in its current form. It fails to specifically enshrine protection for women, said Kafa, adding that the law used religious terminology in place of rights-based terms. Ghassan Mkhayber, an MP who played a key role in lobbying for the law, told AFP: “It is a big step forward in protecting women, we should be proud. “We now have a law that provides effective protection for women.” Although the law fails to make marital rape a punishable offence, it does give the Lebanese women legal protection from the most barbaric form of the domestic violence on women, i.e., beatings by their husbands. At least it is a first step taken in the right direction in protecting women from the menace of inhuman behavior by their spouses. The law is not going to take care of sexual abuse, controlling, intimidation, neglect and above all economic deprivation. The fact is that the definition of domestic violence changes from land to land, country to country and culture to culture with their perception of what exactly constitutes the right behavior between the two genders. After all in its present concept and structure, human society is widely a patriarchal society in which the male is socially and culturally, if not legally in the developed countries, given the first preference in many spheres of life. How many women head the states in which they are living? Hardly only a few! What percentage of business establishments have women as their CEOs? You get my point! If we wish to take a revolutionary step against all types of domestic violence, we certainly need to empower women in all walks of life including the most out of their reach in a cultural sense, i.e., the politics, the business and the army. Once they empower themselves, the menace of domestic violence will die its own death on earth!

Citation preview

Page 1: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law

Against Domestic Violence

Page 2: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

Beirut (AFP) - Lebanon's parliament on April 1 passed a law making domestic violence a criminal offence.

Page 3: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

It was after a years-long campaign

by civil society groups…

Page 4: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence
Page 5: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

…in a sectarian Arab country steeped in conservatism.

Page 6: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence
Page 7: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

The law passed after a Kafa-led campaign which saw thousands of demonstrators take to the streets of Beirut on March 8, International Women's Day.

Page 8: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

It came after several women died allegedly from beatings by their

husbands.

Page 9: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

Lebanese women's rights organization Kafa is critical of the law in its current form.

Page 10: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

Kafa's Faten Abu Shakra, who led the campaign said the law "does not specifically focus on women."

Page 11: Domestic Violence Facts: Lebanon Passes Law against Domestic Violence

She opposed the introduction "by religious men of

religious language" into the bill, which fails to specifically

refer to marital rape as a crime.