'It's always time to address women's safety' Campaign in crises-weary Lebanon

As Lebanon faces its worst economic crisis on top of a global coronavirus pandemic, women's rights group ABAAD campaigns to remind Lebanese citizens that 'it's always time to address women's safety'.

Women, including Lebanese actresses, reenact every day scenarios showing how grocery prices went up, or the ongoing electricity and hospital crises, and defend the idea that despite the country's multiple crises, gender-based violence should still be addressed.

'When it comes to priorities, there is not one to be favored', is another slogan of the campaign.

According to a recent ABAAD study, 96% of young girls and women in Lebanon who have experienced domestic violence in 2021 said they did not report it.

"It's known that in times of crises, women and girls always become more vulnerable, and the percentage and rates of their exposure to violence increases", said Ghida Anani, director of ABAAD.

"We saw today that violence against women is increasing, but what is more dangerous is that a lot of women are not reporting that they are being subjected to violence," Rana Khoury, the creative director behind ABAAD's campaign told Reuters.

"This leads to maintaining an ongoing cycle of violence without accountability, and this is very dangerous."

Lebanon's Internal Security Forces statistics show that 1,184 domestic violence complaints were made to their hotline between January and November 2021, with 90% of them reporting physical abuse.

When asked about the impact of the campaign, ABAAD said they noticed a 78% increase in the numbers of calls made to the ABAAD hotline, as compared to number of calls made in the previous three months.

 

 

 

 

REUTERS