The Lebanese parliament’s Administration and Justice Committee agreed Dec. 7 to abolish Article 522 of the penal code, which allows rapists to avoid prosecution if they marry their victims. The committee is currently discussing a draft law that will be presented later on to parliament, and it is considering amending articles 503-522 about misdemeanors and honor violations, by adding penalties and forcing stricter punishments.
Civil society and feminist organizations have been asking for the abolition of Article 522 of the penal code, nicknamed the “rape law,” for years. The first step taken by Lebanese lawmakers not only invalidates it but also improves the law for women and against rape in general. This was made possible by a very strong advocacy campaign led by the nongovernmental organization ABAAD, which gathered data and statistics on public opinion in Lebanon about that law and talked with lawmakers.
For example, only 1% of the Lebanese knew about this law, according to a 2016 survey by ABAAD. “Article 522 is from the French mandate,” Soulayma Mardam-Bey, the communications officer for ABAAD, told Al-Monitor.
“It provides that in the event of a regular marriage between the perpetrator of a rape and his victim, all proceedings against him shall be suspended and, if conviction is pronounced, the execution of the sentence shall also be suspended. We consider that this article is a violation of human rights and questions women's and girls' rights to dignity. Through this campaign, we want the repeal of Article 522, to emphasize that rape is a crime and as such must be punished, and to insist on the fact that it is the right of every woman to refuse to marry her rapist and that it is necessary to put an end to the stigmatization. Some women are actually forced by their family to marry their rapist for a question of honor,” Mardam-Bey explained. Although no statistics can be found on how many women are affected in the country, around three women per week reported sexual abuse in 2016, according to the Internal Security Forces.
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