LBCI joins the campaign against rape, creates new blogger project

We only hear testimonies such as this one from “Samia” behind closed doors. In fact, talking about rape in Lebanon is almost forbidden, considered taboo, and Lebanese laws do not provide the victims with proper protection. By bringing this horrible reality to light, it is no longer acceptable that rapists in Lebanon remain unpunished. A number of bloggers as well as civil society movements have raised their voice to show the atrocity of this reality.        

For instance, Abir Ghattas published, through her Twitter account, an infographic displaying figures and photos of countries that penalize sexual harassment and marital rape. Sadly, Lebanon is not one of them. She also examined the articles of the Penal Code that exempt rapists from charges if they marry the victim and those that allow husbands to compel their wives to fulfill all their sexual fantasies whenever they want. Meanwhile, the law does not protect women from violence and, in fact, punishment for female adulterers is twice as severe as those given to men.        

People joined the Nasawiya association to launch a campaign against rape, using Facebook to call for a demonstration on Saturday at noon in Beirut to voice rejection of this crime and the necessity to severely punish the perpetrators.             

Finally, the Internet allowed victims of rape in Lebanon to express their suffering, as they made public the crimes that took place.           

LBCI realized the importance of these campaigns and launched the LBC Blogs project from its official website, where each blogger can post their story and be a part of the news, just like Paola Salwan who posted her article against rape entitled The last fight is ahead of us.