Over the past three years, Lebanon has witnessed compounded crises that affected the population, especially women, girls, and marginalized groups.
According to a Gender Alert published by UN Women, Fe-male, and KAFA, which pulled together recent national resources and data on missing women and girls, during the spread of COVID-19, incidents of gender-based violence (GBV) increased, with women and girls unjustly affected, as for the last three years Lebanon saw more reporting of domestic violence and an increase in the emergency of these incidents.
Based on the Gender Alert, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) data reflect an increase of 241 percent in domestic violence reported during the spread of COVID-19 compared to the 18 months before. In contrast, in 2020, more than half of Lebanese and Syrian women and girls reported feeling less safe at their homes (44 percent) and in communities (57 percent).
In the numbers, in 2021, 81 women and girls were reported missing to the ISF, of which 62 percent were Lebanese, and 30 percent were Syrian. Based on this, the number increased by about one-third to 129 women and girls disappearing in 2022, as 67 percent were Lebanese and 24 percent were Syrian.
According to ISF reports, most of them went missing for unknown reasons and reasons associated with mental health, escaping domestic violence, family disputes, and other reasons, said the Gender Alert.
"As per UN Women's Lebanon Media Monitoring between March 2021 and June 2022, the number of reported cases of missing females is more than twice that of males during the same period," added the report.
Further, there are many challenges regarding this issue, including reporting, investigations, accountability, and justice for missing persons, made more complex concerning the current context of the Lebanese crisis, as the judicial paralysis and the lack of resources for police stations "hinders the police's ability to follow-up and investigate cases of missing women and girls."
Regarding the Gender Alert's observed trends, the cases of missing women and girls can indicate murder or femicide, as "a total of 50 femicides were investigated by ISF in 2021 and 2022," stating that since 2021, incidents of human trafficking into and across Lebanon increased, with women and girls, especially migrants and refugees, likely to be the victims.
Women and girls are trafficked into Lebanon and locally, leading to their disappearance. According to KAFA's Anti-Trafficking and Exploitation Unit, "most of the human trafficking incidents within Lebanon involving women and girls are for sexual exploitation and violence."
Evidence also shows that kidnapping for forced marriage or early marriage may also be linked to women and girls being reported missing by their families. Other links include the disappearances and a family's refusal to marry their daughter to a man she wants to marry for many reasons.
"Early marriage of girls and young women has been consistently identified as an issue among Syrian refugees, where 22 percent of Syrian girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 19 were married compared to 2 percent of Syrian boys and young men. At the household level, 1 percent of Lebanese, PRL, and migrant households had at least one child in early marriage."
Lebanon also saw kidnapping for ransom concerning the economic crisis, as the ISF reported that female kidnapping for ransom increased from one reported case in 2021 to 15 in 2022.
Additionally, populations receiving humanitarian assistance, namely refugees, are concerned about the kidnapping, since almost 1 in every 7 Palestinian refugee households and nearly 1 in every 10 Syrian refugee households reported that girls' kidnapping as a safety concern.