Youmna Bassem Hachach

Prostitution in Lebanon
1. Abstract

Prostitution is a profession that has been around for centuries, and

Lebanon is no exception. However, in recent decades, it has been

accepted less and less. With this lack of acceptance comes the push of

such an industry underground. There are many key factors that play into

the acceptance of prostitution: such as lack of equal opportunity, socio-

economic conditions, and of geo-politics; albeit, prostitution goes hand-in-

hand with trafficking persons. These people’s conditions are exploited to

better suit the needs of the clientele. How much is the government really

doing about it? Or Medical officials? Or even NGO’s? This qualitative field

research is directed at trying to answer such questions. It is a cross-

sectional study on prostitution in Lebanon using snowball sampling, with

the goal of trying to interview prostitutes in prison. However, researching

such a topic comes with great difficulty. Government officials are scared

of giving out any incriminating evident and scared of being implicated,

and sex workers are scared for their safety. There is also a lack of

transparency within the government and a high risk of underreported

cases.

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2. Literature Review

In recent years, governments and NGO’s have been taking serious

initiatives at trying to understand the phenomenon of prostitution and

trafficking. In doing so, they either find ways for the government to

better improve conditions and standards or try to find out more on the

topics through conducting interviews as well as field research

In the report of Trafficking in Lebanon, the Republic of Lebanon

attempts to prove that in fact the government is doing all it can do to try

and remedy the situation. The report shows that the government is trying

to set standards and is trying to raise awareness on the issue. However, it

also shows that the Lebanese law is faulty. Even though Lebanon is a

member state of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized

Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in

Persons, Especially Women and Children, the law lacks a clear definition of

the terms prostitution and trafficking. The law also lacks a clear and

severe enough sentence for violators.

NGO’s, such as Investor Relations Information Networks (IRIN),

which is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,

have taken it on themselves to try and figure out how people get involved

in such a messy business. They have managed to interview 5 women

from different age groups: Nadine 16, Zeina 21, Rima 31 and the NGO

Worker, and Jaqueline 54. Each had her own story to tell. “At a glance,

Nadine is an innocent, 16 year-old-girl, but a conversation with her soon

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reveals the shocking details of the hard life she endured as a child. ‘I

didn’t choose to work as a prostitute,’ she said. ‘It’s just my luck in life.’

Explaining how she was raped at the age of nine by a neighbor, and

therefore ‘had nothing to lose’ when she accepted money for the first time

in exchange for sex with an older man, Nadine blamed her situation on her

family’s financial needs. ‘My parents needed money so they sent me to

work as a housemaid at the age of 12. Do you know how much I had to

put up with in my situation?’ Nadine asked rhetorically. ‘All men want is

one thing- your body! So I decided to ask for money in exchange for what

I was offering.’ Now in her fourth year of working in the sex trade, Nadine

talks about the abuses she suffered by men she has slept with. ‘I’ve been

beaten up, forced to have unprotected sex, thrown out in the middle of the

night without getting paid… but life goes on,’ she said. ‘I can’t go to the

authorities and file a complaint. What would I say? ‘I slept with this man

and he refused to pay me my money’?’ said Nadine, refusing to say how

much she usually charged customers.”

“Zeina, 21, said she was sold to a man for sex by her mother when

she was just nine-years-old. She has since continued to sell herself.

‘People are very judgmental, but at that age, if your own parents don’t

want you, how are you supposed to survive? Tell me if there is any other

way,’ she said.” “One of the last things that Rima, a 31-year-old

commercial sex worker, said to the staff at Beirut-based NGO Dar al- Amal

was that she wanted to be buried with her mother. Three days later, a

drug addict shot her six times in the shabby room in which she lived and

worked in the Sabra refugee camp on the city’s outskirts, according to Dar

4
al-Amal staff. The women she had been talking to identified her body and

buried her the following evening. The murderer’s motive remains

unknown.” “The man is like God - he can do anything, and beat a woman.

It’s also society - girls have to do what their fathers or husbands say,’ said

Jaqueline, 54, a former sex worker who regularly visits the centre for moral

support. Jaqueline said she married at 18 to escape life with an aunt who

wanted her to prostitute herself: ‘She said I must go out like her and sleep

with Gulf and Saudi men for money,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want to.’ Later,

her husband turned violent, eventually throwing her out but keeping their

five children: ‘I worked in a bar, selling myself,’ she said. ‘I had a

boyfriend who took all the money I earned.’ One of her sons, she added,

now follows his father’s example and beats his own wife.”

3. Design

This qualitative field research is a cross-sectional study of prostitution

and trafficking. It explores the independent factors that contribute to

such an industry: such as the socio-economic conditions - high

unemployment, civil conflict, underdeveloped economies, lack of state

support, poverty, illiteracy, presence of economic crisis - lack of equal

opportunities, and geo-politics. The units of analysis in this research

are the individuals. Non-probability sampling is used, specifically

snowball sampling. The interviews consist of open-ended qualitative

questions.

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4. Analysis

Introduction:

Since the dawn of time and the evolution of the world’s culture,

prostitution has been a prevalent profession. It can be found in ancient

“mythology, art, sculpture, drama, literature, music, and archaeological

structures and ruins” (MNHS). However, in recent centuries, this

profession has been subjected to stigmatism. According to the Merriam-

Webster’s online dictionary, prostitution is “the act or practice of engaging

in promiscuous sexual relations especially for money.” Prostitution falls

under the crime of trafficking of persons, according to the UN Convention

against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent,

Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and

Children. Therefore, in order to discuss prostitution, one must touch on

the issue of trafficking of human beings- either across international

borders or within the state itself.

Prostitution is one of the most profitable industries; earning billions

of dollars yearly. However due to the stigmatization of this profession, the

exact figures are unclear. Prostitution “frequently involves an

economically exploitive relationship with a pimp or a madam; young girls

are at even high risk of abuse and exploitation than their older

counterparts” (Vedder). Factors that affect trafficking usually consist of

“… social conditions, regional geopolitics, and human aspects…” which

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help traffickers dodge the law. Society is faced with a lack of equal

opportunities…” for one (especially women) to improve their “… personal

quality of life and to escape poverty” (RoL).

In trafficking, countries are either listed as origin, transit, or

destination countries. It usually depends on the societies socio-economic

characteristics, namely such as poverty level, illiteracy rate, acute

character of the economic crises, lack of state support, political changes

due to regional and civil conflict, high unemployment rate, lack of equal

opportunities, and underdeveloped economies. There exists a “…

confusion on the definition [which] complicates victim identification…

[which is] further aggravated by the violation of basic human rights…”

(RoL).

Lebanon tends to be more of a destination for trafficked people who

tend to work as ‘artists’, prostitutes, or domestic workers. Due to the

‘black market’ nature of prostitution and the lack of transparency

methods, cases are underreported. Therefore, there are no official

victims, only ‘suspected’ victims. However, Lebanon is the first country in

the region to take measures to fight trafficking. It has established project

LEBR61 which strives to create “measures to prevent and combat

trafficking in human beings in Lebanon [such as] strengthen[ing]

Lebanon’s capacity to draft and implement legislation in compliance with

the Protocol… facilitate[ing] networking nationally and internationally

within the judiciary, the law enforcement, and the civil society… [and]

increas[ing] investigation and prosecution capacities and training of

personnel of the agencies involved”. There exists many limitations when

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trying to research such a culturally taboo topic, and that is due to the “…

lack of a consistent definition of the problem, lack of standardized data…

lack of consistent data collection… lack of legislation determining

trafficking in persons is a crime… [and] lack of available information on

women in prostitution…” (RoL).

Historical Survey:

Prostitution is considered to be one of the oldest professions in the

history of civilization- after hunting and gathering. “[W]herever there

[has] been money, goods, or services to be bartered; somebody has

bartered them for sex” (Head). “Through most of history there were few

professions open for women, especially if they had little family support or

they lacked the education or class status to aspire to the few professions

that respectable women could participate in” (Vedder).

“[P]riestesses of Babylonian temples were prostitutes…” For

example, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest epic in the world, the Harlot

that is paid to sleep with Enkidu and civilize him is actually a priestess of

the temple of nature. In “… ceremonies of Astarte, [Dionysus], Ishtar and

Aphrodite… women entered into promiscuous relationship… at special

celebrations” (CMAJ). Hammurabi’s Code “… includes provisions to

protect the inheritance rights of prostitutes:”

If a ‘devoted woman’ or a prostitute to whom her father has

given a dowry and a deed… then her father die[s], then her

brothers shall hold her field and garden, and give her corn, oil,

and milk according to her portion. If a ‘sister of god,’ or a

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prostitute, receives a gift from her father, and a deed in which it

has been explicitly stated that she may dispose of it as she

pleases… then she may leave her proverty to whomsoever she

pleases (Head).

Prostitution gained ground in its presence within Greek society.

There existed three classes of prostitutes: slave prostitutes (pronai),

freeborn (street) prostitutes, and educated prostitutes (hetaera). Pornai

and street prostitutes were either male or female. Hetaeras were

entertainers to the high class society (CMAJ). They “… enjoyed a level of

social influence that was denied to nearly all non-prostitute women.” They

were never men- always women (Head). These women were “… admired

for their mental and social talents. Government-supported brothels were

established in certain areas- usually busy urban areas. They were “…

staffed with inexpensive pornai that all men, regardless of their income,

could afford to hire. These women “… set their seal on the fashions of

hair, dress and jewelry” (CMAJ).

There also existed a great presence of male prostitutes. They have

been “… attached to the temples of the Canaanites and [are] mentioned

in the Old Testament… [and] seem[ed] to have had in view the transfer of

blessings to the worshippers.” Even though prostitution continued into the

Roman period, they started to feel the wrath of persecution. The common

prostitute was treated with disdain. They were forced “… to dye [their]

hair or wear a wig, to clothe [themselves] in garments which made [their]

profession easily recognizable…” It was strongly frowned upon during the

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Christian Roman Empire, but tolerate; the Christian church pushed for

abstinence (CMAJ).

In 590 AD, there was an attempt to ban prostitution in Spain. This

was done to try and bring it closer to the Christian Ideology. There was

“… no punishment for men who hired or exploited prostitutes, but women

found guilty of selling sexual favors were whipped 300 times and exiled…”

In about 1161, it made another appearance in Europe. It was regulated

within society. “[P]rostitutes must be single and ordered weekly

inspections of… brothels to ensure that other laws were not being broken”

(Head). In 1269, brothels were destroyed in France. This resulted in “…

prostitutes mix[ing] more freely than ever with the general population and

their baneful influence increase” (CMAJ).

In 1358, prostitution was declared, by the Great Council of Venice,

to be “absolutely indispensible to the world” (Head). In medieval Europe,

prostitution was “… licensed and regulated by the law, but by the 16th

century an epidemic of venereal disease and post-Reformation mortality

led to the closure of brothels”(Britannica). By 1751 in Vienna, Marie

Theresa “… imposed fines, imprisonment, whipping and torture for

violations of the prohibitory law.” She even enforced rules that prevented

“… the wearing of short dresses and… remove[d] all female servants from

public houses and restaurants” (CMAJ). France had also experienced

tighter control on prostitution. In 1802, the Bureau of Morals was

established. It was created as a “… police force [which was] responsible

for monitoring houses of prostitution in order to ensure that they complied

with the law, and did not become center of criminal activity…” (Head).

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 In Japan, a geisha “… occupies a position in society comparable to

the European actress, with her free artistic existence (CMAJ). In WW II in

Japan, women living in occupied areas were forced into prostitution

(“comfort battalions”), in militarized brothels. In 1956, India had created

and enforced anti-prostitution laws; albeit, it tolerated it in specific areas

(Head).

In recent years, in many countries around the world, prostitution

has been de-criminalized and regulated. Some believe that this would

better ensure the safety of the women who enter into this profession.

They also believe that by doing so, it would help decrease the other

crimes that tend to be related to prostitution - such as drugs and weapons

trading. All-in-all they believe it creates better control.

Human Rights, Convention, and Protocol:

Trafficking prostitutes violates numerous amount of the basic

human rights that many people tend to take for granted. It infringes on

their

“Right to be born free and equal in dignity and rights… right to

life, liberty and security... right not to be subjected to torture or

inhuman treatment… right to work (and receive pay)… [and their]

right to health.”

This crime also violates these people’s right not to be enslaved;

right to be equal before the law anywhere is the world, and to a fair trial

while not being subjected to arbitrary arrest; right to privacy and respect

of honor and reputation; right to freedom of movement; right to rest and

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reasonable working hours; right to participate in cultural life; and their

right to social and international order (Refer to Appendix E). Violations

come in the forms of “… rape, torture, forced abortion, starvation, murder

and/or torture of family members (RoL).

Lebanon has signed and ratified the UN Convention against

Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and

Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children which was

ratified by 96 other member states. The Protocol requires that the crime

of human trafficking be clearly stipulated in the member state’s law.

Article 3(a) defines trafficking as

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or

receipt of persons, by mean of threat or use of force or other

forms of coercion, or abduction, or fraud, of deception, of abuse

of power or of a position of vulnerability or of giving or receiving

of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having

control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the

prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced

labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery,

servitude or the removal of organs (Refer to Appendix G).

According to the Protocol, member states must protect victims’

identities and privacies by providing confidential legal proceedings. States

are required to provide victims with “… information on relevant court and

administrative proceedings; or assistance to enable their views and

concerns to be presented and considered at appropriate stages of criminal

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proceedings against offenders, in a manner not prejudicial to the rights of

the defense.” They must provide measures for the “physical,

psychological and social recovery…” for victims. The states must also “…

take into account the age, gender and special needs of victims… including

appropriate housing, education and care.” Other organizations, such as

NGO’s, can go a step further by providing “… appropriate housing…

counseling and information, in particular as regards to their legal rights, in

a language that the victims… can understand… medical, psychological

and material assistance… employment, educational and training

opportunities” (RoL).

Lebanese Law:

Under the Lebanese law, human trafficking is not a specific crime.

However, the components of this crime are visible in the law. Therefore,

under the law, there are no official victims, only ‘suspected victims’. The

Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labor, and Ministry of Interior are

attempting to take steps in order to remedy this problem - such as

creating Complaint Offices and General Directorate. NGO’s are also taking

an initiative to help by creating programs to tend to the victims’ needs.

According to a law passed in 2/6/1931, “[p]rostitution is legal in

Lebanon. Women in prostitution must be registered and must undergo

medical examinations.” Article 17 (as amended) stipulates that “[t]o be

legal, women in prostitution cannot be virgins, and they must be older

than 21.” Article 12 allows brothels to exist “… providing that they are

owned by a woman over the age of 25.” However, article 7 limits the

existence of brothels to “… be located in specific areas and be completely

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separated from all neighboring buildings.” While at the same time, article

51 prohibits streetwalkers and ‘secret prostitutes’. Article 273 of the

Lebanese criminal law dictates that “… if it is established before the court

that the act took place and that it is a criminal act; and if it is proven that

the defendant is guilty, then he is incriminated and sentenced to a

determined time. The court shall also rule that compensations shall be

paid to the plaintiff if he required that…” (RoL).

According to the Lebanese Penal Code, “any person who forces

someone other than his companion, by means of violence and threat into

sexual intercourse shall be sentenced with hard labour for 5 years at least,

the sentence shall be strengthened whenever the aggressed is under 15

years of age or any person who cannot resist due to a physical or mental

disorder or due to the trickery used against him if the sexual intercourse

takes place with a minor, the perpetrator shall be sentenced with

temporary hard labour or jail according to the age of the aggressed, even

if the aggressor does not exercise any trick or violence or deceit and even

if he does not resort to trickery or does not benefit from a physical or

mental disorder.” This gives the husband the right to prostitute his wife.

If a person is not his wife or is a minor, then the person is ‘held’

accountable to the law.

Article 523 of the Penal Code states that “any person who is used to

instigate one person or more, whether a male or a female, under21 years

old, to prostitute or corruption or to facilitate them for him or help him to

do them…[and] any person who practices secret prostitution or facilitates

it shall be sentenced with imprisonment from a month to a year…[also if]

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any person who earns his life or some of it, from the prostitution of others

shall be sentenced with imprisonment from 6 months to 2 years.”

To protect the public from prostitution, article 73 establishes that

“any person who seduces a women or a girl under the age of 18 into

committing prostitution and embellishes for her the road to wrongdoing

and corruption by the means of promises or threats or misleading or

coercion shall be sentenced with imprisonment from 3 months to 2 years.”

These threats are also punishable under article 573 which dictates that

“any person who threatens another person with a felony punishable by the

capital punishment. Life in prison with hard labour or more than 15 years

in prison or life in prison, either by means of a written document, even if it

was an implicit one, or through a third party, shall be sentenced with

prison from 1 to 3 years if the threats include the order to perform an act,

even if it is legal to refrain from performing it. If the threat with any of the

felonies does not include an order or if it does include it but happens

verbally without a third party mediation, it shall be sentenced with prison

from 3 months to 2 years.”

The Criminal Court Code stipulates that under article 7, “… the

victim may take legal action before the examining magistrate in serious

crime or misdemeanor… The victim may as well join the public lawsuit

before the criminal court.” It must be noted that article 53 does not “…

establish that taking legal action is limited to one kind of victims not

taking into account the nationality or the type of damage… [however, it]

guarantee[s] the confidentiality of the investigation.” And article 59

expresses that “… the examining magistrate starts the investigation

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proceedings according to a direct charge by which the victim has taken

personal legal action.”

When presenting a charge before the magistrate, article 68,

paragraph 2 stipulates that “…if the plaintiff is a foreigner he is required to

submit a monetary or real estate guarantee…” Paragraph 3 “… exempts

the plaintiff from an advance payment if the offence is a serious crime.”

But one must ask, what is considered a serious crime? Paragraph 4 “…

stipulates that the plaintiff may be exempted from an advance payment if

his financial condition does not allow him or her to pay it if the offence is a

misdemeanor. The foreigner plaintiff may be exempted from the advance

payment for the same reason.” Article 70 gives the general prosecutor

permission to “… contend with the plaintiff before starting the

investigation.” If the interrogated victim does not understand Arabic, then

a sworn translator would be appointed to them.

According to the Decree for Organizing the Work of Foreigners no.

17 561 article 2, “… each foreigner wishing to enter Lebanon to work

therein, with or without wage, shall get an authorization in advance from

the Ministry of Labour prior to his or her entry, unless he or she is an

artist. Then, the approval is issued by the Directorate of General

Security.”

Interviews:

‘Suspected’ female victims come from specific regions of the world:

Lebanon, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Romania, Ethiopia,

Philippines, Sri Lanka, and from many more underdeveloped states all

16
over the world. They are generally restricted by “… work permits and

conditions for entry… [which are] enforced on all foreign workers…” They

must “… respect the working hours of 22:00 until 5:00; remaining at their

hotel from 5:00 until 13:00, being allowed to leave the hotel daily from

13:00 until 19:00; and being prohibited from marrying a Lebanese

national.” Those who have “… worked as [an] artist… [are] not permitted

to enter the country for tourism or even employment purposes in a

different field until 12 months have elapsed since cessation of their artistic

activities in Lebanon.” Due to these factors, “… it is difficult to find

victims of trafficking related to this vulnerable group, especially when one

‘artist’ complains about sexual exploitation, her contract is [terminated]

immediately and she is deported.” Therefore, the victim very rarely gets

prosecuted. Usually the sponsor is held responsible. “Measures can be

administrative such as: restriction from (importing) bringing in artists… or

orientation complaints to the judiciary” (RoL).

Most of these groups of women (especially Eastern European) enter

on an artist visa which stipulates that they are “… permitted [to enter]

only after signing a contract [(an employment contract)], upon prior

approval by the General Directorate of the General Security…” According

to the General Security, “… approximately 5,500 women [enter] Lebanon

each year working as ‘artist’…” The problem of trafficking and prostitution

seems to be a small one. Only about 60 cases are reported per year,

which is a greatly under-estimation of the actual amount of cases.

Traffickers deceive victims by promising them a better life in order to

convince them (RoL).

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 The following interview was conducted with Dr. Joseph Hallit, a

doctor at World Medical Center (WMC) and a prison doctor. The interview

revealed that what these doctors do is check the health of the prisoners.

They check on three prisons a week. They have been doing so for a few

years now. They don’t get into their medical history, because then it raises

problems. They don’t practice preventive medicine; they deal with every

issue as it happens - primary health.

There are about 4,500 people in prison involved in trafficking.

There are around 1,200 women from all backgrounds - Arabs, Africans,

and some Europeans. The number of men trafficked into Lebanon is more

than the women. Over the years, they have been catching less and less.

There do exist some cases that of prostitution. However, there aren’t that

many cases of ‘artists’. That is because their employers have enough

money to pay for required ‘legal work’. According to what they know,

there is no abuse that goes on in prisons. The prisoners are able to make

one phone call when they first arrive. And they can send a message with

people who are released. The minimum sentence for an illegal is 1 month

plus a fine - he is not sure how much. If they are unable to pay, then they

stay in prison until their debt is paid off. Every night they spend in prison

is about 35,000 L.L. (about US $23.30) off their sentence. When their

sentence is put, they are then deported. Once, authorities put a group of

Egyptians on a boat and sent them back. If you want to work in Lebanon,

you need to have the proper permits. The government needs to crack

down some more (Refer to Appendix B).

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 The following interviews were conducted by Investor Relations

Information Networks (IRIN), which is part of the UN Office for the

Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The translations are reported as

done and are not edited. “At a glance, Nadine is an innocent, 16 year-old-

girl, but a conversation with her soon reveals the shocking details of the

hard life she endured as a child. ‘I didn’t choose to work as a prostitute,’

she said. ‘It’s just my luck in life.’ Explaining how she was raped at the

age of nine by a neighbor, and therefore ‘had nothing to lose’ when she

accepted money for the first time in exchange for sex with an older man,

Nadine blamed her situation on her family’s financial needs. ‘My parents

needed money so they sent me to work as a housemaid at the age of 12.

Do you know how much I had to put up with in my situation?’ Nadine

asked rhetorically. ‘All men want is one thing - your body! So I decided to

ask for money in exchange for what I was offering.’ Now in her fourth year

of working in the sex trade, Nadine talks about the abuses she suffered by

men she has slept with. ‘I’ve been beaten up, forced to have unprotected

sex, thrown out in the middle of the night without getting paid… but life

goes on,’ she said. ‘I can’t go to the authorities and file a complaint.

What would I say? ‘I slept with this man and he refused to pay me my

money’?’ said Nadine, refusing to say how much she usually charged

customers.”

The following interviews were also conducted by IRIN. “Zeina, 21,

said she was sold to a man for sex by her mother when she was just nine-

years-old. She has since continued to sell herself. ‘People are very

judgmental, but at that age, if your own parents don’t want you, how are

19
you supposed to survive? Tell me if there is any other way,’ she said.”

“One of the last things that Rima, a 31-year-old commercial sex worker,

said to the staff at Beirut-based NGO Dar al- Amal was that she wanted to

be buried with her mother. Three days later, a drug addict shot her six

times in the shabby room in which she lived and worked in the Sabra

refugee camp on the city’s outskirts, according to Dar al-Amal staff. The

women she had been talking to identified her body and buried her the

following evening. The murderer’s motive remains unknown.” “The man

is like God - he can do anything, and beat a woman. It’s also society - girls

have to do what their fathers or husbands say,’ said Jaqueline, 54, a

former sex worker who regularly visits the centre for moral support.

Jaqueline said she married at 18 to escape life with an aunt who wanted

her to prostitute herself: ‘She said I must go out like her and sleep with

Gulf and Saudi men for money,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want to.’ Later, her

husband turned violent, eventually throwing her out but keeping their five

children: ‘I worked in a bar, selling myself,’ she said. ‘I had a boyfriend

who took all the money I earned.’ One of her sons, she added, now follows

his father’s example and beats his own wife.”

I managed to conduct the following interview with Hiba Abou

Chacra- a social worker from Dar al-Amal. “Dar al Amal is an organization

that [takes care of] with prostitutes. It has been operating since 1969-

1970. It first started in downtown; however, it has moved due to its

destruction during the civil war. Now the organization also helps

prostitutes in prisons (Baabda, Tripoli, and Sin El Fil), especially those that

are at risk of being abused. We also work with minors in the Nabaa camps

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that are at risk of being abused. Most of the women that come and seek

help are Lebanese, Syrian, or Palestinian. Most have been abused at a

young age, and are still being abused. It provides many different types of

services to help better their quality of life: individual follow-up (life

coaching), family follow-up (locating family and locating papers),

education (providing for their children's education), legal services

(providing assistance when needed), health services (try to refer to free or

discounted health care), HIV/AIDS testing (new free service for everyone),

psychological follow-up (to help them deal with abuse), atelier (work

opportunity twice a week) (as shown in Appendix D). Unfortunately, there

is no shelter, but we are trying to raise funds to build one. There are very

few shelters in Lebanon, which place strict conditions. We get around 82

cases a year, 30 of which are new, most of which were abused as minors.

The worst cases were 2 girls, aged 7-9, who were forced into labor and

then were raped by their employers. They managed to run away, and had

turned to their mothers for help. Their mothers protected them by

pimping them. They spent years getting abused over and over again. The

successful cases relate to traditional means. Such as getting married and

raising a family. Many of the women still stay in contact. A couple of girls

still come every day and help out. The least payment a girl would receive

would probably be food and/or shelter. Women in 'super nightclubs' are

paid around $75 to about $100 (around 112,500L.L to about 150,000L.L.):

these figures were established in a study we conducted in 2007-2008. We

are unsure of how much the escorts receive. And we are unsure of the

rate women charge in 5 star hotels. There are many problems in Lebanon

that fuel the issue. The legal system needs to be reformed, and the socio-

21
economic system needs to also be reformed. The issue of poverty needs

to be addressed by the government. The government can be very

influential, and should be influential - which is one of many aspects that

Lebanon lacks. Police corruption increases the risk of these women

getting abused. Policies in Lebanon are not preventative and need to be

improved. (Refer to Appendix A)

The following interviews were conducted with the assistance of Hiba

Abou Chacra- for translational purposes, and to make the women feel

more comfortable. Names have been changed to protect the victims.

When I walked into Dar Al-Amal, a group of women were sitting in the

common room. They were discussing the issue of incest. They were

talking about a case that occurred not too long ago. A woman, living with

her adopted family in Australia (not knowing she was adopted), fell in love

with a man, who had similar features as she did. They decided to get

married. They went through with the engagement, and spent around

US$8,000 on the wedding. The bride invited a lady that would always

come and visit her family in Australia. Throughout their engagement, the

couple was never able to bring themselves to be physically close to each

other. They brushed off the apprehension as a feeling of wanting to save

them for marriage. At the wedding the bride bumped into the lady- who

turned out to be the groom's mother. So the lady stopped the wedding.

She revealed to the man and woman that they are actually siblings. The

lady was the woman's biological mother. They went on to discuss that

working as a sex worker, and having been victims of pregnancy out of

wedlock, there is always a fear that the children they gave up for adoption

would fall in love with the children that they were able to keep.

22
 Amina is a 31 year old woman, who currently work as a house-

keeper for Dar Al-Amal. She was raped at the age of 17. “So at the age of

17, I left home. I had no job prospects and was frustrated. Having given

up my first child for adoption at the age of 18, I set out for a career as a

sex worker. I knew a girl that was a sex worker and she showed me the

way. The clients weren't that bad. They were good. The minimum I

would receive as payment would be 20,000 L.L. (approximately

US$13.30). When I would 'go out' with the customer, I would first not feel

anything. I would feel empty. After I 'went out' with them, I would hate

myself. Thank God I am out of it. And I never want to go back. The main

reason that pushed me to change my career was meeting my husband,

who is my sister's husband's friend. He was a taxi driver. He would take

me around whenever I needed. We got to know each other and fell in

love. We were married for about 13 years. We had a beautiful daughter,

who is now 7years old. However, life is never easy. My husband died not

long ago in a car accident. So now my life is devoted to my daughter.

Thank God I have never been arrested. I knew some people that were

arrested. They were beaten by the police many times. I'm not sure how

long the sentence is, but I think it's about 6 months. This isn't the

minimum sentence though.”

Jamila is now 42 years old. “I was married off between the ages of

13 and 14, I'm not sure. I was 16 and a half when I had my son. I am now

a divorcee and a widower. I got divorced at the age of 17. My husband,

who was an abusive man, had taken my child away from me when we got

divorced; and then he died shortly after. I started 'going out' (working as

a prostitute) at the age of 18. I chose this career so that I can gather

23
enough money to bring my son back to me. I mostly worked in a 'super

night club'; where half my earnings from the club would go to the madam.

I was never pimped. I was able to choose my customers. The clients were

like this and like that. The clients from the bar were too scared of me to

rape me. But I was forced to do drugs and 'nasty' requests. If the clients

didn't want to use a condom, then I didn't have a choice and I was forced

to keep going. I have been 'gang banged' (group rape) by people outside

the club. The madam of the club was a very good woman to me. She

would always tell me that I didn't belong there. I still keep in contact with

her. Whenever I need assistance, she is always there to help me out.

Because some clients would never use condoms, I would always have

infections and was forced to abort on many occasions, which the help of a

'midwife'- using unsanitary products. Due to such circumstances, I was

exposed to other health issues. On a few accounts I would have to be

hospitalized. What also added to my health issues were my uninformed

hygiene practices. I would flush Betadine- an antiseptic- into my vaginal

area. Then with a sponge on a stick, I would scrub my uterus. I now know

that it is wrong. I would always have some much negative feelings- it's

hard to explain. Thankfully I was never arrested. A lot of women get

stopped and arrested by the police, who abuse them. On occasions, the

police would force the woman to have sex with them before they take

them to jail. I have stopped working as a sex work when I was about 25

years - about 17 years ago, around 1991. I now work as a house-keeper. I

now have my son, who is now 25 years old. He now has a family of his

own. He made me a grandmother. He now has a beautiful baby girl

(Refer to Appendix C).

24
 I managed to secure and conduct an interview with an “Impresario”.

He first started out in this business three years ago as the floor manager

of his father’s Super Night Club, or cabaret, and is currently 24 years old.

An “Impresario” is the Lebanese version of a pimp. He is the person who

“… has direct contact with agencies and agents in different countries.

[He] travel[s] to different countries to find women…. [he] suppl[ies]

women to different clubs.” However, bringing these women to work in

Lebanon would mean that he “… must go through the local agencies for

legal purposes.”

When working in such an industry, is “…not to have sex with your

girls. It is the number one rule when working in this business. If you have

sex with one of these women you automatically start losing money. First,

the woman you have sex with will consider herself to be more important

than the other women. She will start believing that she is the favorite and

will start causing problems in the club. Second, the other women will

become jealous of that woman, and they will start getting mad and

frustrated. They will start believing that they are not as favored. And

they too will start causing problems and it will become a big headache. So

it is better for everyone involved not to have sex with these women.”

According to the “Impresario”, in the Super Night Club business

there are different levels of positions. “There are club managers (or floor

managers), Moudeer el Malha, Assistant Moudeer el Malha, as well as

regular staff. Only Moudeer el Malha and Assistant Moudeer el Malha have

the right to go to the Ministry of Interior to do the paper work to bring in

girls. No one else is allowed.” He had worked his way up the ladder and is

25
also employed in his father’s club as Moudeer el Malha. In this industry,

there also exist different classes of clubs. “There are the high class clubs

like Excalibur Super Night Club, and there are the rest of the clubs. In

Lebanon, bars are illegal but they are still around. The high class clubs

usually employ women that are in the model category. Their women are

usually sexier and much more expensive. Having sex with these women

would cost more than a US$500.” However, not all clubs can employ

women from this category. “It is the ‘Impresario’s’ job to find women for

these different clubs. Since the club owner doesn’t meet the women he

employs before they arrive to the country, and the women sponsored by

the ‘Impresario’, he is responsible for dealing with any problems that arise

with the employment of these women. For example, if a club is having

difficulty with one of the women. He calls the ‘Impresario’. If he is to

deport her, he would be losing a lot of money. The club owner would also

be losing a lot of money because he is short one girl and waiting for a new

one to come from overseas would take too long. So the ‘Impresario’ would

try and switch the difficult woman with another woman - whom they also

sponsor - from another club.”

When he worked as a club manager, many problems would arise.

These women have a tendency of “… forming groups - usually from the

same nationalities - and they would try to take business away from the

other [women from different nationality] groups. For example, a Moroccan

woman has a very loyal customer who happened to bring his friend along

with him to the club. [This] woman would recommend that the friend take

one of the other Moroccan women, even though she is ugly, and will talk

26
badly about the Tunisian women, [for example,] so as not to take business

away from her [nationality] group. She will convince the man to pick the

Moroccan woman. And sometimes these groups get into fights. They

throw glasses and bottles at each other and get into fist fights. When

such fights occur we try not to get the police involved. If they do get

involved, [the women] could be deported and they could get black listed

from the country, and you would lose money and have to pay for her

ticket back. If a woman does get blacklisted, then she can’t come into

Lebanon for 5 years if she is a westerner, 10 years if she is Tunisian, and

15 years if she is Moroccan. Moroccans are the ones that cause the most

problems. They are a poor race and they are always looking for trouble.

They are still in a very tribal mindset. The Tunisians are thieves. It is

known about them. A lot of times customers would come to the club

manager and complain that their phone was stolen, or their wallet was

stolen or $200 was stolen from their wallet when they were with a

Tunisian woman. There are also problems when a woman is out with a

customer, and the woman doesn’t ask for the money before having sex.

The customer can refuse to give the woman the money and there is

nothing that can be done about it. A lot of problems can happen here.

Only if the customer is a loyal customer should the woman be okay with

asking for the money afterwards. There are also problems with women

hitting customers and customers hitting women. These always happen.

It’s normal. There are also drug problems but they don’t occur as often.

The Moroccan, Tunisian, and Ukrainian women like drugs. The Russian

and Romanian women not so much. It’s not always the case that the

customer forces the drugs on the women. A lot of times the women go up

27
to the customers and ask them for drugs and try to buy drugs from them.

If the customer chooses to give the woman drugs, it is a matter between

the two of them. We try and not get involved in this. A lot of times the

problems are due to jealousy. Women are usually jealous from the woman

that is most popular and they will start talking badly about her and will try

to cause problems for her. Usually the woman that is most popular is

more professional and she prefers not to get involved in these petty

games. Not many of the women are professional, only about 40% of them

are. The rest of the women try and get into this business to try and find

someone to grab on to and marry. The professional women usually get

into this business because they are in a certain situation and need to raise

money. They work until they have enough money to go back home.

Mostly the Moroccan and Tunisia women get into this business to find a

husband. So these women that are here to find husbands tend to get very

jealous if they see someone they want but another woman is standing in

her way. There is a lot of negativity. There are also problems with if the

customers call the women “Sharmouta” [(or Whore in English)].

Unfortunately, they are in this situation due to circumstances and they

don’t accept anyone to call them “Sharmouta”. They will get into a fight

[over this]. But in general if you can solve problems without getting the

police involved it would be much better. But the police must always be

notified if there are problems. They must be aware of all situations.

In this industry, the profits are great. “You can’t even imagine that

amount of profit one can make from this business. For example, [he]

know[s] a woman from 1 client in the span of 3 months made US$34,000

28
all alone. This woman is very strong and has a big reputation. This

woman doesn’t go out with many clients, [but] [s]he has, for example, 10

very loyal selected clients. This woman is a high class escort.”

According to the Lebanese law, “women are not allowed to be

outside the club, unless it is her day off. So if one of the girls needs a

hospital, the police would also need to be notified.” In Lebanon, it is illegal

for a migrant sex worker to be pregnant. “If a woman were to get

pregnant, she will automatically get deported. When a woman first

arrives, she gets tested for everything at Hotel Dieu, and every 3 months

she must get tested for pregnancy and diseases. Each test costs around

US$320. Every month, Moudeer el Malha must go to the General Security

to renew the women’s papers (the women don’t need to go with him for

this- only when they get tested). And every 3 months when the woman

gets tested, she signs a new contract. Every month, it costs around

US$200 for visa renewal for every woman employed. Even though there

are a lot of profits to be made in this industry, but there are also a lot of

expenses.”

Concerning the time duration of visas, “Moroccan and Tunisian

women are allowed in the country for 2 years. Not like the western

women that are only allowed in the country for 6 months. [However, if a]

man chooses to marry one of these women, the woman would have to

travel back to her home country and wait for the paper work to be done

before she can come back here. Now it is preferable that the Lebanese

men not marry these women, so the government makes it difficult for

them by making the process difficult. But in the end anything is doable- a

29
little [money] from here and a little [money] from there… and everything

can be fixed. If it is discovered that after a couple of days of being in the

country that the woman was originally pregnant, then that woman is

automatically deported and the commission would have to be returned.”

In order to stay on top of the game in this industry, “an important

thing that a [club] owner must do is continuously change the women that

work at the clubs. If the women are there [for] too long, the women will

start getting used to the customers and the customers will start losing

interest. And this also helps minimize the number of inter-racial

marriages. A lot of times, when a woman is about to get deported, the

woman and club manager exchange numbers. This allows a direct

contact, instead of having to go through an ‘Impresario’, and cheaper

employment. These women would introduce their friends into the

business[, b]ut this [leads to] smaller supplies. The strong clubs are

always the ones that change their supplies continuously and keep it fresh.

When the visas expire, and it is time for these women to have to

leave the country, they “… can choose to go to one of the neighboring

countries; but after working in Lebanon, they prefer not to. The system

that is in place in Lebanon is not like the other countries. In Lebanon, they

generally have more freedom to move around. The women are free to go

out from 1pm till 8pm. On her day off, the woman can choose to go with

her friends, go enjoy her time on her own, or even go see a client. In the

other countries, she can’t go out in the streets; if the officials catch her,

she could get in trouble. She [is not permitted a certain] time to go out. It

30
does occur more often that the women come from Syria, for example, to

Lebanon.”

To open a Super Night club, a club owner would need to apply for a

Cabaret Permit, which is done at the Ministry of Interior. “There needs to

be a lot of start-up capital for a [club] to open. There needs to be around

US$30,000 for capital. The owner of the [club] would have to do the

papers personally. It doesn’t matter if the owner owns the actual land that

the club is on, or like our club, the owner only owns the club and leases

the land, for an owner to be allowed a permit. Once investments are

secured, the [club] would have to be registered at the local municipality.

The owner would need to apply for a liquor license, and this license needs

to be renewed annually. Then the club owner would need to get a

statement from the Ministry of Finance for insurance on the women. For

every woman that is employed at the cabaret, there needs to be

1,000,000LL [(which is around US$667)] in the bank as insurance. If there

was 30,000,000LL [(which is US$20,000)] in the bank, then the owner

would be allowed to insure 25 women. For 15 women, it would cost

15,000,000LL [(which is US$10,000)]. Once the insurance money exceeds

70,000,000LL [(which is approximately US$46,667)], the club owner can

bring as many women as he wanted. These clubs usually employ more

than 100 women at once. But there are very few clubs like this. If any

problem arises- for example a war or there is a problem with the woman-

then the Ministry of Finance would withdraw the insurance money on the

woman and deport the woman. During the 2006 war, all the clubs lost a

lot of money from the insurance. But if no problem arises, the insurance

31
money is returned to the owner once the visa is expired and the woman is

deported. For the insurance, the proper paper work would also need to be

filed at the Ministry of Interior. They need to know if there is enough

capital available and the amount of women that are to be employed at the

cabaret. This needs to be renewed annually. But there are other

expenses that are incurred. These include the bribes that go here-and-

there in order to get the paper work needed done as soon as possible. In

order to figure out how many women are needed for the place, someone

from the General Security would need to look over all relevant bank

statements and the club would need to be a certain size. For example if

the club fits 75 people seated, then the club owner is allowed to have 25

women working. The club owner would either need to own a hotel close

by or would need to arrange with a residence close by, in order to house

the women, and proof of housing would need to be submitted to the

General Security. In order to get approval to open a Super Night Club and

to get all the paper work and permits in order, it takes around 3 months.

While permits are being issued, the owner of the club would have to

appoint a Mouder El Malha. The General Security would need to approve

the person appointed, so judicial reports would need to be handed in to

them. It takes around a month to get approval for Mouder el Malha. For

the first month, the club owner is obliged to go down to the General

Security and get all the visas for the women. So once the Mouder is

appointed and the paper work starts going through, then the club owner

can apply to appoint an Assistant Mouder el Malha. The Mouder el Malha

can only apply for a certain amount of visas per day. For example, if the

32
Mouder wants to employ 15 women, he can only apply for 2 visas per day,

and for 25 women it’s 3 visas per day.”

When it comes to the women’s day-off, the Moudeer el Malha is also

responsible for them. “If the club employs 25 women, for example, then

the Moudeer el Malha can apply for 3 women to have a day-off. No 2

women are allowed to have the same day-off. Each one on a separate day.

For the clubs that employ 15 women, they have the right to apply for

days-off for 2 women. For the clubs that employ more than 40 women,

they have the right to apply for 4 days-off. In such a case, 2 women can

have days-off on the same day. So, for example, 2 women have off on

Monday, 2 women on Wednesday, and on Friday 2 women, and so on.

What is meant by day-off is that the women have the right to leave the

cabaret between 8:00 pm and 3:00 am, but maximum by 4:00 am. The

women would need to be back before the cabaret closes. So what club

owners and Moudeer el Malha like to do is try and employ over 40 women

so that they can use the days-off to their advantage. So every week, a

schedule is drawn up and days-off are assigned, with their names,

nationalities, room numbers, phone numbers, and so on, and every

Monday Moudeer el Malha would need to get approval from the Ministry of

Interior on the schedule. So the Moudeer el Malha would try and apply for

the maximum days-off, even if it’s not the women’s turns to take days-off.

This way if a customer comes and asks for a woman to take with him

outside the cabaret, the cabaret can supply them with someone. There

would be a bigger profit if a woman sees a client outside the cabaret. The

club would end up making on one woman between US$250 and US$500 or

33
even US$600. If a client is getting a high class woman on her day-off,

then the rate can reach up to US$1,500. If a Mouder el Malha mixes up

any of the papers, then he can and will get fired. When it comes to paper

work, there is intolerance for mistakes. There are some Mouder el Malha

that follows all the policies and procedures. However, most have

managed to catch the connection, and through bribes tend to work

outside the policies and procedures.”

Even in Lebanon, with a well organized system, there exist

deficiencies. “Unfortunately, in all of Lebanon, there is only one head

office where papers get process. For example, in Jounieh alone, there are

around 75 cabarets. All the Moudeer el Malhas from this area are forced to

go to the General Security in Adlieh to do their paper work. So they have

to come from the Northern Lebanon and Western Lebanon and all over to

Adlieh just to do simple paper work. In my opinion, this is wrong. There

are always huge crowds and it takes forever to get anything done, there

are large amounts of money that they have to deal with, there is usually a

lot of pressure on the people that work there, and it is very time

consuming in a very time strained business. When every area has its own

department, it can then become more organized, it becomes less stressful,

and the business can then run more efficiently.”

There are controls and penalties imposed on Super Night Club to

‘ensure’ that people working in this industry don’t get carried away. “For

example, if the owner of the club did something wrong, like hit one of the

women, and it was reported, then a penalty can be exposed on him

between 2 weeks and 3 months. What is meant by penalties is that they

34
are stopped from employing anymore women from outside for that

duration of time. The only options they have are to transfer women from

one club to another or deport them. They can’t bring them in. If the club

owner has westerners employed in the club and around 7 of them have

visas that end in about a month, and had a 3 month penalty imposed on

the club, then his club gets hit and it is forced to shut down. If the club

loses women, it becomes a big problem. Sometimes, clubs get shut down

by the authorities. This happens when a rival club is very well connected

and very well protected and is trying to keep control over the major profits

in certain areas. But this happens very rarely. Makhfar Hbeish is also

involved in this industry. Whenever any paper needs to be filed at the

General Security, it also gets processed at Makhfar Hbeish. When it

comes to issues concerning drugs and any wrongdoing that occurs on the

women’s days-off, it is the responsibility of Makhfar Hbeish to deal with

them. Sometimes what happens is that the clubs that are protected by

the General Security will try to impose penalties on clubs that are

protected by Makhfar Hbeish and the other way around. But in the end

the General Security pulls rank. In order to run a successful business, the

club owner would need to be well connected on both ends. And in

Lebanon, everyone takes bribes. The corruption runs deep in this

industry, including the government departments involved.”

When it comes to deciding on what nationality of women a club

owner can employ, then the sky is the limit. “A club owner can employ

women from all over the world. They can even employ American women.

Every country can and do supply women. Clubs are not allowed to employ

35
women from Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, or any other Arab nationality.

Clubs will automatically be shut down if they do. It is against the law. But

in Lebanon you still find a lot of women on the streets, in bars, in

apartments which are all illegal. If they do get caught they will most

definitely be sent to prison. I’m not really sure of what really goes on in

this part of the industry and I prefer staying out of it.”

“A lot of times clubs are backed by silent partners. For example,

there are 3 or 4 Ministers that act as silent partners in different clubs. But

these clubs are more corrupt. They have a tendency of dealing with

money laundering. They don’t really care if penalties get imposed on

them, they are swimming in money.”

“This industry is pretty well controlled in Lebanon. There exist

around 127 Super Night Clubs all over Lebanon. Only the extremely rare

few are able to get away with a lot. So imagine with this many clubs how

much money is being made, and this money is not taxed; it’s pure profits.

The numbers are just unimaginable. I don’t even know all the numbers

that go into it.” However, there is still room for improvements. “It would

be better if, official were more neutral. For example, just because a club is

weak, they shouldn’t impose crazy penalties on this struggling club and

force it out of the market. They should be fairer. However, the system

that is in place in Lebanon is one of the top systems in the world, and it

really tries to protect these women against abuse. But they still need to

improve their work ethics and be more honest in their work” (Refer to

Appendix E).

36
5. Conclusion:

"Social tolerance for prostitution has varied widely; some cultures and

times have accepted it as a natural part of life, regulating it to prevent the

spread of disease or illness, and to prevent the abuse of women. Other

cultures and times have turned a blind eye, criminalizing it but not

enforcing the law. Still others, notably Victorian England and

contemporary America, have actively worked to eliminate the practice

altogether through raids, undercover police work, moral exhortation, and

prosecution. While prostitution necessarily involves two people,

elimination efforts have focused on the prostitutes themselves, and not

their customers" (Veeder). According to Parent-Duchatelet, "[t]he

Profession of prostitution is an evil of all times and all countries, and

appears to be innate in the social structure of mankind. It will perhaps

never be entirely eradicated; still all the more must we strive to limit its

extent and its dangers. With prostitution itself, as with vice, crime and

disease, the teacher of morals endeavors to prevent the vices, the

lawgiver to prevent the crime and the physician to cure the disease. All

alike know that they will never fully attain their goal; but they pursue their

work none the less, in the conviction that he, who does only a little good,

yet does a great service to the weak man" (CMAJ). The next step for

Lebanon is to "… facilitate the implementation of anti-trafficking activities

and monitor their implementation" (RoL). Lebanon needs to take on

legislative reforms.

In 2004, the Ministry of Justice conducted a pilot study; they had

distributed "a pocket-sized brochure in English and in Arabic… to inform

37
incoming migrants that forced labour, sexual exploitation, and all forms of

deprivation of liberty and violence are criminalized. It also provided

telephone numbers of the police, the Red Cross and the Caritas Migrant

Hotline. This initiative was not based on sustained procedures and

resources" (RoL). However, locating this brochure proved to be extremely

difficult. One of the main flaws of the judicial system, is that there is a

lack of “…specialization among courts or prosecutors… with respect to

handling trafficking… cases and there has been only one special training

seminar taken by…" very few members (RoL). There is severe "…lack of

manpower, expertise, funds, and equipment" (RoL). Trainings need to be

given more often and better developed to suit the crime.

As the interviews showed, there needs to be more and better

communication between the different, interlinking, branches in order to try

and find a solution - whether to enforce strict legislations or to legalize it.

Either way communication needs to be improved. There needs to be more

awareness on this issue within the government and within civil society to

eradicate the negative stigma attached to it, and there needs to be more

control over corruption.

38
 Works Cited

Answers.com. Prostitution. 2008. 12 Jan. 2009,

http://www.answers.com/prostitution.

Head, Tom. Prostitution: An illustrated History and Timeline. 2007. 21

Dec. 2009,

http://civilliberty.about.com/od/gendersexuality/tp/History-of-

Prostitution.htm.

IRIN. Lebanon: Lack of protection for women's rights fuels sex trade, say

women's groups. 2008. 11 Jan. 2009,

http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=26190

IRIN. Lebanon: Child prostitution still taboo, despite laws. 2008. 8 Jan.

2009, http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=26170.

Laite, Julia. Paying the price again: prostitution policy in historical

perspective. Oct. 2006. 21 Dec. 2008,

http://www.historyandpolicy.org/papers/policy-paper-46.html.

MNHS Library. History Topics: Prostitution. 2008. 21 Dec. 2008,

http://www.mnhs.org/tips_topics/12prostitution.html.

The Protection Project. A human Rights Report on Trafficking of Persons,

Especially Women and Children: Lebanon. March 2002. 21 Dec.

2008,

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 http://www.childtrafficking.com/Docs/protection_project_2002_traffi

cking_lebanon.pdf.

Republic of Lebanon. Ministry of Justice. Trafficking in Lebanon. May 2008.

21 Dec. 2008, http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-

trafficking/Lebanon-HTreport-Oct08.pdf.

U.S. Department of State. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices:

Lebanon. 11 March 2008. 8 Jan. 2009,

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100600.htm.

U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report 2008: Lebanon. 4

June 2008. 8 Jan. 2009,

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,USDOS,,LBN,4562d8cf2,484f

9a251e,0.html.

Vedder, Julie. Prostitution. 21 Dec. 2008,

http://www.answers.com/topic/prostitution.

40
 Appendix A

Interview with Hiba Abou Chacra:

A Social Worker from Dar Al-Amal

January 16, 2009 at 3:00 pm

01/ 483-508

∗ Questions:

• What is it that you o exactly? What services do you provide?

• How often do you receive prostitution cases? What are their

backgrounds? What is the worst case? What is a success case?

• What are some of the obstacles that you face here in Lebanon?

• In your opinion, what needs to be done in Lebanon in order to

protect and provide for these women?

∗ Background Information:

• The foundation started in 1969-1970.

• It worked only with prostitutes.

• It was located in Down Town. But then the war came in 1975,

and it moved all over. We're not sure when exactly it moved to

Sin El Fil

• So the next step was to expand the mission.

○ Helping mostly victims in Sin El.

○ Helping victims in prisons:

 Baabda- which dealers with many prisons all over.

 Tripoli.

41
 ○ Assistance in Nabaa- where victims younger than 18 are

at risk.

• Beneficiaries:

○ We are willing to work with all nationalities. However, we

never get sex workers on an artist visa- such as Eastern

European we get few cases of Asians, or Africans. The

reason we don't get artist cases is, first, we don't have the

resources to help them; and second, the artists are in

Lebanon for such a short time- ranging from 3 to 6

months.

○ We mostly work with Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians

 They are mostly trafficked

 They live in poverty in Nabaa, Ouzai, Sabra,

Chatilla, Jnaah, and Dahyeh

 In 2007-2008, not many minor victims. But most of

them started as minors

 Ages of victims range up to 50 years of age.

 Most of them started in 'super night clubs'

 Victims can still be working and come and seek

help from this organization. We cannot force any of

these women to do something they don't want to,

but we can advise them.

• Services Provided:

○ Individual follow-up

 Life coaching. Helping them set goals for the future

○ Family follow-up

42
  Some of these women have children out of wedlock.

Or are married and don't have any documents. Or

don't have any IDs, and are unsure of where they

come from. Or have children who are at risk of

being abused.

 So we try to support them in any way possible

○ Educational services

 Providing for their children's education, because

almost all of them can't provide for their education.

We pay for enrollment fees, tuition fees, books, and

so on.

○ Lawyers

 We currently hired a law firm to helps us deal with

the long and complicated legal process.

○ Health services

 Unfortunately, we don't have doctors on staff, so we

refer them to doctors who can provide free or

discounted services.

○ HIV/AIDS testing

 Is a new service that we provide for everyone, not

only prostitutes, and it's for free

 Everyone has the right to know, even if they don't

have money or if they do.

○ Shelter

 Unfortunately it was destroyed in the war. We are

currently working on raising funds to build a new

shelter.

43
  There are very few shelters in Lebanon. And they

have very strict conditions. So, these women

sometimes have no where to go.

• YWCA

• Mary Martha

○ Psychological follow-up

 Most of these women need help dealing with abuse

○ Atelier

 Where women can come and work on Mondays and

Fridays. They can come back and work even after

they come out of prison.

• We work a lot with HIV/AIDS victims. We collaborate with many

other organizations.

○ Peer-to-peer, also known as the out-reach program

 Provides trainings

 Education about sex work and HIV/AIDS

 It's been operating for about 4 years

 We hope that the feed back is positive.

Unfortunately we are unsure, due to lack of data.

∗ Cases:

• In 2008, we had around 82 cases. However, not all of them were

new. There was about only 30 new.

• Most of them were abused as minors, or are still abused by their

pimps or their employers.

• Worst cases

○ The 2 that most come to mind are very similar.

44
 ○ When these women were young, around 7 or 9, their

parents force them to be house keepers. They were then

abused by their employers. They managed to run away to

their mothers. Their fathers have left them and started

new families. Their mothers started to pimp them out.

Spending years working as prostitutes.

• All were abused in similar ways

• Some of them come everyday, and some of them come when

they need thee services.

• Response

○ Unfortunately, success is less than expected. There aren't

enough programs. Especially economical programs. Our

ways of success are still very traditional. There needs to

be a lot of improvement. There needs to be

modernization and we need more aids.

• Success cases

○ As I said earlier they are still very traditional

○ They get married to the 'love of their lives' and have

families. Most still stay in contact. 2 of the women

volunteer in the out-reach program. Some still come and

visit. And if they have a problem they call us.

• The least payment a girl would receive would probably be food

and/or shelter. Women in 'super nightclubs' are paid around $75

to about $100- which was established in a study we conducted in

2007-2008. However, prices might vary due to demand. We are

unsure of how much escorts receive. And we are unsure of how

mush women in 5 star hotels receive.

45
∗ Problem with Government Institutions:

• Prostitution is a problem due to socio-economical factors, legal

factors, and so on. Because social-security doesn't exist in

Lebanon, these women have no other choice. Families can be

very abusive. So now there are efforts to pass new legislation to

protect these people. And try to improve women's rights in

Lebanon, which barely exist.

• Most of these girls are forced into marriage.

• The government can be very influential and it can improve the

laws.

• The problem is restricted to specific area. According to statistics,

most come from the north, which is substantially a poorer area,

and migrate to the suburbs around Beirut.

• When they are captured, they are either forced to stay in prison

for a while, until they are released again, or bail is paid by

someone. In the meantime, they are at risk of being abused.

There aren't any preventative solutions.

• Lebanon is known to be the destination for prostitution: for

prostitutes and for those who solicit prostitutes.

• The organization is still discussing their stance on regulating.

○ My personal opinion is that it should not be regulated. I

don't want pimping to be legalized.

• They quality of life needs to be improved in Lebanon. We

currently have a shop that provides for 2 families. And we have

the atelier. We are looking for funds to help us build a shelter.

The shelter can be very beneficial. These women need a safe

house to come to and to feel safe. It also helps us to work one-

46
on-one with them in a close environment, and provides us with

feedback.

47
 Appendix B

Interview with Dr. Joseph Hallit:

World Medical Center

January 19, 2009 at 4:00 pm

03/ 751-832

∗ Questions:

• What is it that you do?

• About how many cases are there in prison?

• Are there many prostitutes and 'artists' in prison?

• Are they abused in prison? Are they able to contact the outside?

Around how long is the sentence? And what o they do with them

next?

∗ Answers:

• What we do is check the health of the prisoners. We go to the

prisons 3 times a week. We have been doing so for a few years

now. We don't get into their medical history, because then it

raises problems. We don't practice preventative medicine; we

deal with every issue as it happens- primary health.

• There are about 4,500 people in prison involved in trafficking.

There are around 1,200 women from all backgrounds- Arabs,

Africans, and some Europeans. The number of men trafficked

into Lebanon is more than the women. Over the years, they

have been catching less and less.

48
• There are some cases that of prostitution. However, there aren't

that many cases of 'artists'. That is because their employers

have enough money to pay for required 'legal work'. There are

organizations that help these women: such as 'Adel wo Rahme',

Caritas, and Dar Al-Amal.

• According to what we know, there is no abuse that goes on in

the prisons. The prisoners are able to make one phone call

when they first arrive. And they can send a message with

people who are released. The minimum sentence for an illegal is

1 month plus a fine- I'm not sure how much. If they are unable

to pay, then they stay in prison until their debt is paid off. Every

night they spend in prison is about 35,000 L.L. off their sentence.

When their sentence is put, they are then deported. Once,

authorities put a group of Egyptians on a boat and sent them

back. If you want to work in Lebanon, you need to have the

proper permits. The government needs to crack down some

more.

49
 Appendix C

Interviews with Ex-Sex Works:

From Dar Al-Amal

January 21, 2009 at 9:20 am

∗ Questions:

• How old are you? How old were you when you started?

• How did you get involved? What were your reasons?

• How were you treated by clients? Were they abusive?

• What made you decide to stop? If you had the chance to do it all

over again, would you take such a career path?

• Have you experienced health problems due to this career?

• How did it make you feel?

• Have you ever been arrested? Or know someone who was

arrested? How were you or they treated?

∗ The following interviews were conducted with the assistance of Hiba

Abou Chacra- for translational purposes, and to make a women feel

more comfortable. Names have been changed to protect the victims.

• Amina:

○ I'm a 31 year old woman. I currently work as a house-

keeper for Dar Al-Amal. I was raped at the age of 17. So

at the age of 17, I left home. I had no job prospects and

was frustrated. Having given up my first child for

adoption at the age of 18, I set out for a career as a sex

50
 worker. I knew a girl that was a sex worker and she

showed me the way.

○ The clients weren't that bad. They were good. The

minimum I would receive as payment would be 20,000

L.L. (approximately US$13.30). When I would 'go out' with

the customer, I would first not feel anything. I would feel

empty. After I 'went out' with them, I would hate myself.

Thank God I am out of it. And I never want to go back.

○ The main reason that pushed me to change my career

was meeting my husband, who is my sister's husband's

friend. He was a taxi driver. He would take me around

whenever I needed. We got to know each other and fell in

love. We were married for about 13 years. We had a

beautiful daughter, who is now 7years old. However, life

is never easy. My husband died not long ago in a car

accident. So now my life is devoted to my daughter.

○ Thank God I have never been arrested. I knew some

people that were arrested. They were beaten by the

police many times. I'm not sure how long the sentence is,

but I think it's about 6 months. This isn't the minimum

sentence though.

• Jamila:

○ I am now 42 years old. I was married off between the

ages of 13 and 14, I'm not sure. I was 16 and a half when

I had my son. I am now a divorcee and a widower. I got

divorced at the age of 17. My husband, who was an

abusive man, had taken my child away from me when we

51
 got divorced; and then he died shortly after. I started

'going out' (working as a prostitute) at the age of 18. I

chose this career so that I can gather enough money to

bring my son back to me.

○ I mostly worked in a 'super night club'. Where half my

earnings from the club would go to the madam. I was

never pimped. I was able to choose my customers. The

clients were like this and like that. The clients from the

bar were too scared of me to rape me. But I was forced to

do drugs and 'nasty' requests. If the clients didn't want to

use a condom, then I didn't have a choice and I was forced

to keep going. I have been 'gang banged' (group rape) by

people outside the club. The madam of the club was a

very good woman to me. She would always tell me that I

didn't belong there. I still keep in contact with her.

Whenever I need assistance, she is always there to help

me out.

○ Because some clients would never use condoms, I would

always have infections and was forced to abort on many

occasions, which the help of 'midwife'- using unsanitary

products. Due to such circumstances, I was exposed to

other health issues. On a few accounts I would have to be

hospitalized. What also added to my health issues were

my uninformed hygiene practices. I would flush Betadine-

an antiseptic- into my vaginal area. Then with a sponge

on a stick, I would scrub my uterus. I now know that it is

52
 wrong. I would always have some much negative

feelings- it's hard to explain.

○ Thankfully I was never arrested. A lot of women get

stopped and arrested by the police, who abuse them. On

occasions, the police would force the woman to have sex

with them before they take them to jail.

○ I have stopped working as a sex work when I was about

25 years- about 17 years ago, around 1991. I now work

as a house-keeper. I now have my son, who is now 25

years old. He now has a family of his own. He made me a

grandmother. He now has a beautiful baby girl

53
 Appendix D

Pictures of the Atelier in Dar Al-Amal

Entrance to the Atelier

54
Sewing machines helps provide the women with other opportunities

55
 Appendix E

Interview with an Impresario:

March 11, 2010 at 4:13 pm

∗ Questions:

• Background

• How does it work?

• What type of abuse do these women endure?

• Legally what needs to be done?

• How do these women meet clients outside the clubs?

• What improvements need to be done?

• What are the penalties imposed on these Super Night Clubs?

56
 • What in your opinion need to be changed?

∗ The following interview was conducted with an Impresario. It was first

conducted in Arabic and then transferred into English. The Impresario

chose to keep his identity confidential and anonymous.

• Background:

• I’m 24 years old. I’ve been in the business for 3 yrs now.

My dad opened a cabaret and I started out as a club

manager (also known as floor manager). I used to only

work with the women when I was in the club. The most

important thing in this job is not to have sex with your

girls. It is the number one rule when working in this

business. I learnt this when I first became the manager.

If you have sex with one of these women you

automatically start losing money.

○ First, the woman you have sex with will consider

herself to be more important than the other

women. She will start believing that she is the

favorite and will start causing problems in the club

○ Second, the other women will become jealous of

that woman, and they will start getting mad and

frustrated. They will start believing that they are

not as favored. And they too will start causing

problems and it will become a big headache. So it

is better for everyone involved not to have sex with

these women.

57
• In the club there are different positions. There are club

managers (or floor managers), Moudeer el Malha,

Assistant Moudeer el Malha, as well as regular staff. Only

Moudeer el Malha and Assistant Moudeer el Malha have

the right to go to the Ministry of Interior to do the paper

work to bring in girls. No one else is allowed. I’ve worked

my way up and now I am Moudeer el Malha. I am also an

“Impresario”.

• An “Impresario” is a person that has direct contact with

agencies and agents in different countries. I travel to

different countries to find women. If I want to bring a

woman to Lebanon for employment, I must go through the

local agencies for legal purposes.

○ I supply women to different clubs. There are

different classes of clubs in Lebanon. There are the

high class clubs like Excalibur Super Night Club, and

there are the rest of the clubs. In Lebanon, bars are

illegal but they are still around. The high class clubs

usually employ women that are in the model

category. Their women are usually sexier and

much more expensive. Having sex with these

women would cost more than a $500. The other

clubs can’t afford to employ women from the model

category.

○ It is the “Impresario’s” job to find women for these

different clubs. Since the club owner doesn’t meet

the women he employs before they arrive to the

58
 country, and the women sponsored by the

“Impresario”, he is responsible for dealing with any

problems that arise with the employment of these

women. For example, if a club is having difficulty

with one of the women. He calls the “Impresario”.

If he is to deport her, he would be losing a lot of

money. The club owner would also be losing a lot

of money because he is short one girl and waiting

for a new one to come from overseas would take

too long. So the “Impresario” would try and switch

the difficult woman with another woman - whom

they also sponsor - from another club.

• When I was club manager there used to be a lot of

problems that used to go on. The women have a

tendency of forming groups - usually from the same

nationalities - and they would try to take business away

from the other groups.

○ For example, a Moroccan woman has a very loyal

customer who happened to bring his friend along

with him to the club. The woman would

recommend that the friend take one of the other

Moroccan women, even though she is ugly, and will

talk badly about the Tunisian women, so as not to

take business away from her group. She will

convince the man to pick the Moroccan woman.

○ And sometimes these groups get into fights. They

throw glasses and bottles at each other and get into

59
 fist fights. When such fights occur we try not to get

the police involved. If they do get involved, they

could be deported and they could get black listed

from the country, and you would lose money and

have to pay for her ticket back. If a woman does

get blacklisted, then she can’t come into Lebanon

for 5 years if she is a westerner, 10 years if she is

Tunisian, and 15 years if she is Moroccan.

Moroccans are the ones that cause the most

problems. They are a poor race and they are

always looking for trouble. They are still in a very

tribal mindset. The Tunisians are thieves. It is

known about them. A lot of times customers would

come to the club manager and complain that their

phone was stolen, or their wallet was stolen or $200

was stolen from their wallet when they were with a

Tunisian woman.

○ There are also problems when a woman is out with

a customer, and the woman doesn’t ask for the

money before having sex. The customer can refuse

to give the woman the money and there is nothing

that can be done about it. A lot of problems can

happen here. Only if the customer is a loyal

customer should the woman be okay with asking for

the money afterwards.

60
○ There are also problems with women hitting

customers and customers hitting women. These

always happen. It’s normal.

○ There are also drug problems but they don’t occur

as often. The Moroccan, Tunisian, and Ukrainian

women like drugs. The Russian and Romanian

women not so much. It’s not always the case that

the customer forces the drugs on the women. A lot

of times the women go up to the customers and ask

them for drugs and try to buy drugs from them. If

the customer chooses to give the woman drugs, it

is a matter between the two of them. We try and

not get involved in this.

○ A lot of times the problems are due to jealousy.

Women are usually jealous from the woman that is

most popular and they will start talking badly about

her and will try to cause problems for her. Usually

the woman that is most popular is more

professional and she prefers not to get involved in

these petty games. Not many of the women are

professional, only about 40% of them are. The rest

of the women try and get into this business to try

and find someone to grab on to and marry. The

professional women usually get into this business

because they are in a certain situation and need to

raise money. They work until they have enough

money to go back home. Mostly the Moroccan and

61
 Tunisia women get into this business to find a

husband. So these women that are here to find

husbands tend to get very jealous if they see

someone they want but another woman is standing

in her way. There is a lot of negativity.

○ There are also problems with if the customers call

the women “Sharmouta”. Unfortunately, they are

in this situation due to circumstances and they

don’t accept anyone to call them “Sharmouta”.

They will get into a fight.

○ But in general if you can solve problems without

getting the police involved it would be much better.

But the police must always be notified if there are

problems. They must be aware of all situations.

• In this business there are a lot of numbers. You can’t

even imagine that amount of profit one can make from

this business. For example, I know a woman from 1 client

in the span of 3 months made $34,000 all alone. This

woman is very strong and has a big reputation. This

woman doesn’t go out with many clients. She has, for

example, 10 very loyal selected clients. This woman is a

high class escort.

• Women are not allowed to be outside the club, unless it is

her day off. So if one of the girls needs a hospital, the

police would also need to be notified

○ If a woman were to get pregnant, she will

automatically get deported. When a woman first

62
 arrives, she gets tested for everything at Hotel

Dieu, and every 3 months she must get tested for

pregnancy and diseases. Each test costs around

$320. Every month, Moudeer el Malha must go to

the General Security to renew the women’s papers

(the women don’t need to go with him for this- only

when they get tested). And every 3 months when

the woman gets tested, she signs a new contract.

Every month, it costs around $200 for visa renewal

for every woman employed. Even though there are

a lot of profits to be made in this industry, but there

are also a lot of expenses.

○ The Moroccan and Tunisian women are allowed in

the country for 2 years. Not like the western

women that are only allowed in the country for 6

months.

○ If the man chooses to marry one of these women,

the woman would have to travel back to her home

country and wait for the paper work to be done

before she can come back here. Now it is

preferable that the Lebanese men not marry these

women, so the government makes it difficult for

them by making the process difficult. But in the

end anything is doable- a little from here and a little

from there. In the end you pay a little and

everything can be fixed.

63
 ○ If it is discovered that after a couple of days of

being in the country that the woman was originally

pregnant, then that woman is automatically

deported and the commission would have to be

returned

• An important thing that a cabaret owner must do is

continuously change the women that work at the clubs. If

the women are there too long, the women will start

getting used to the customers and the customers will start

losing interest. And this also helps minimize the number

of inter-racial marriages.

○ A lot of times, when a woman is about to get

deported, the woman and club manager exchange

numbers. This allows a direct contact, instead of

having to go through an “Impresario”, and cheaper

employment. These women would introduce their

friends into the business. But this allows for smaller

supplies.

○ The strong clubs are always the ones that change

their supplies continuously and keep it fresh.

• When the women’s visas expire and they have to leave,

the women can choose to go to one of the neighboring

countries; but after working in Lebanon, they prefer not to

○ The system that is in place in Lebanon is not like

the other countries. In Lebanon, they generally

have more freedom to move around. The women

are free to go out from 1pm till 8pm. On her day

64
 off, the woman can choose to go with her friends,

go enjoy her time on her own, or even go see a

client. In the other countries, she can’t go out in

the streets; if the officials catch her, she could get

in trouble. She doesn’t have time to go out. It does

occur more often that the women come from Syria,

for example, to Lebanon.

• Legally:

○ For a cabaret to open, they need to have a cabaret

permit. This needs to be done at the Ministry of

Interior. There needs to be a lot of start-up capital

for a cabaret to open. There needs to be around

$30,000 for capital. The owner of the cabaret

would have to do the papers personally. It doesn’t

matter if the owner owns the actual land that the

club is on, or like our club, the owner only owns the

club and leases the land, for an owner to be allowed

a permit.

○ Once investments are secured, the cabaret would

have to be registered at the local municipality. The

owner would need to apply for a liquor license, and

this license needs to be renewed annually.

○ Then the club owner would need to get a statement

from the Ministry of Finance for insurance on the

women. For every woman that is employed at the

cabaret, there needs to be 1,000,000LL in the bank

as insurance. If there was 30,000,000LL in the

65
 bank, then the owner would be allowed to insure 25

women. For 15 women, it would cost 15,000,000LL.

Once the insurance money exceeds 70,000,000LL,

the club owner can bring as many women as he

wanted. These clubs usually employ more than 100

women at once. But there are very few clubs like

this.

○ If any problem arises- for example a war or there is

a problem with the woman- then the Ministry of

Finance would withdraw the insurance money on

the woman and deport the woman. During the

2006 war, all the clubs lost a lot of money from the

insurance. But if no problem arises, the insurance

money is returned to the owner once the visa is

expired and the woman is deported.

○ For the insurance, the proper paper work would also

need to be filed at the General Security. They need

to know if there is enough capital available and the

amount of women that are to be employed at the

cabaret. This needs to be renewed annually.

○ But there are other expenses that are incurred.

These include the bribes that go here-and-there in

order to get the paper work needed done as soon

as possible.

○ In order to figure out how many women are needed

for the place, someone from the General Security

would need to look over all relevant bank

66
 statements and the club would need to be a certain

size. For example if the club fits 75 people seated,

then the club owner is allowed to have 25 women

working. The club owner would either need to own

a hotel close by or would need to arrange with a

residence close by, in order to house the women,

and proof of housing would need to be submitted to

the General Security.

○ In order to get approval to open a Super Night Club

and to get all the paper work and permits in order,

it takes around 3 months. While permits are being

issued, the owner of the club would have to appoint

a Moudeer El Malha. The General Security would

need to approve the person appointed, so judicial

reports would need to be handed in to them. It

takes around a month to get approval for Moudeer

el Malha. For the first month, the club owner is

obliged to go down to the General Security and get

all the visas for the women. So once the Moudeer

is appointed and the paper work starts going

through, then the club owner can apply to appoint

an Assistant Moudeer el Malha.

○ The Moudeer el Malha can only apply for a certain

amount of visas per day. For example, if the

Moudeer wants to employ 15 women, he can only

apply for 2 visas per day, and for 25 women it’s 3

visas per day.

67
• Days-off:

○ If the club employs 25 women, for example, then

the Moudeer el Malha can apply for 3 women to

have a day-off. No 2 women are allowed to have

the same day-off. Each one on a separate day. For

the clubs that employ 15 women, they have the

right to apply for days-off for 2 women. For the

clubs that employ more than 40 women, they have

the right to apply for 4 days-off. In such a case, 2

women can have days-off on the same day. So, for

example, 2 women have off on Monday, 2 women

on Wednesday, and on Friday 2 women, and so on.

What is meant by day-off is that the women have

the right to leave the cabaret between 8:00 pm and

3:00 am, but maximum by 4:00 am. The women

would need to be back before the cabaret closes.

○ So what club owners and Mouder el Malha like to do

is try and employ over 40 women so that they can

use the days-off to their advantage. So every

week, a schedule is drawn up and days-off are

assigned, with their names, nationalities, room

numbers, phone numbers, and so on, and every

Monday Mouder el Malha would need to get

approval from the Ministry of Interior on the

schedule. So the Mouder el Malha would try and

apply for the maximum days-off, even if it’s not the

women’s turns to take days-off. This way if a

68
 customer comes and asks for a woman to take with

him outside the cabaret, the cabaret can supply

them with someone. There would be a bigger profit

if a woman sees a client outside the cabaret. The

club would end up making on one woman between

$250 and $500 or even $600. If a client is getting a

high class woman on her day-off, then the rate can

reach up to $1,500.

• If a Moudeer el Malha mixes up any of the papers, then he

can and will get fired. When it comes to paper work, there

is intolerance for mistakes.

• There are some Moudeer el Malha that follows all the

policies and procedures. However, most have managed to

catch the connection, and through bribes tend to work

outside the policies and procedures

• Unfortunately, in all of Lebanon, there is only one head

office where papers get process. For example, in Jounieh

alone, there are around 75 cabarets. All the Mouder el

Malhas from this area are forced to go to the General

Security in Adlieh to do their paper work. So they have to

come from the Northern Lebanon and Western Lebanon

and all over to Adlieh just to do simple paper work. In my

opinion, this is wrong. There are always huge crowds and

it takes forever to get anything done, there are large

amounts of money that they have to deal with, there is

usually a lot of pressure on the people that work there,

and it is very time consuming in a very time strained

69
 business. When every area has its own department, it can

then become more organized, it becomes less stressful,

and the business can then run more efficiently.

• Penalties:

○ For example, if the owner of the club did something

wrong, like hit one of the women, and it was

reported, then a penalty can be exposed on him

between 2 weeks and 3 months. What is meant by

penalties is that they are stopped from employing

anymore women from outside for that duration of

time. The only options they have are to transfer

women from one club to another or deport them.

They can’t bring them in. If the club owner has

westerners employed in the club and around 7 of

them have visas that end in about a month, and

had a 3 month penalty imposed on the club, then

his club gets hit and it is forced to shut down. If the

club loses women, it becomes a big problem.

Sometimes, clubs get shut down by the authorities.

This happens when a rival club is very well

connected and very well protected and is trying to

keep control over the major profits in certain areas.

But this happens very rarely.

○ Makhfar Hbeish is also involved in this industry.

Whenever any paper needs to be filed at the

General Security, it also gets processed at Makhfar

Hbeish. When it comes to issues concerning drugs

70
 and any wrongdoing that occurs on the women’s

days-off, it is the responsibility of Makhfar Hbeish to

deal with them. Sometimes what happens is that

the clubs that are protected by the General Security

will try to impose penalties on clubs that are

protected by Makhfar Hbeish and the other way

around. But in the end the General Secuirty pulls

rank. In order to run a successful business, the club

owner would need to be well connected on both

ends. And in Lebanon, everyone takes bribes. The

corruption runs deep in this industry, including the

government departments involved.

• A club owner can employ women from all over the world.

They can even employ American women. Every country

can and do supply women. Clubs are not allowed to

employ women from Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, or

any other Arab nationality. Clubs will automatically be

shut down if they do. It is against the law.

○ But in Lebanon you still find a lot of women on the

streets, in bars, in apartments which are all illegal.

If they do get caught they will most definitely be

sent to prison. I’m not really sure of what really

goes on in this part of the industry and I prefer

staying out of it.

• A lot of times clubs are backed by silent partners. For

example, there are 3 or 4 Ministers that act as silent

partners in different clubs. But these clubs are more

71
 corrupt. They have a tendency of dealing with money

laundering. They don’t really care if penalties get

imposed on them, they are swimming in money

• This industry is pretty well controlled in Lebanon. There

exist around 127 Super Night Clubs all over Lebanon.

Only the extremely rare few are able to get away with a

lot. So imagine with this many clubs how much money is

being made, and this money is not taxed; it’s pure profits.

The numbers are just unimaginable. I don’t even know all

the numbers that go into it

• Changes:

○ It would be better if, official were more neutral. For

example, just because a club is weak, they

shouldn’t impose crazy penalties on this struggling

club and force it out of the market. They should be

fairer. However, the system that is in place in

Lebanon is one of the top systems in the world, and

it really tries to protect these women against abuse.

But they still need to improve their work ethics and

be more honest in their work

72
 Appendix F

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Preamble

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and

inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of

freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in

barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the

advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech

and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the

highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as

a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human

rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations

between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed

their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the

human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have

determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in

larger freedom,

73
 Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in

cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect

for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the

greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, therefore,

The General Assembly,

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common

standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that

every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration

constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote

respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures,

national and international, to secure their universal and effective

recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States

themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are

endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another

in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this

Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,

language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,

property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political,

jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a

74
 person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or

under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade

shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading

treatment or punishment.

Article 6

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the

law.

Article 7

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to

equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any

discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement

to such discrimination.

Article 8

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national

tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the

constitution or by law.

Article 9

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

75
 Article 10

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an

independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and

obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11

1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be

presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public

trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his

defence.

2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any

act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under

national or international law, at the time when it was committed.

Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was

applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family,

home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation.

Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such

interference or attacks.

Article 13

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence

within the borders of each State.

2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and

to return to his country.

Article 14

76
 1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries

asylum from persecution.

2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely

arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the

purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15

1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.

2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the

right to change his nationality.

Article 16

1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race,

nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.

They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage

and at its dissolution.

2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of

the intending spouses.

3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and

is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17

1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in

association with others.

2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this

right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either

77
alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his

religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right

includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek,

receive and impart information and ideas through any media and

regardless of frontiers.

Article 20

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and

association.

2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his

country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his

country.

3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of

government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine

elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall

be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is

entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-

operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each

78
 State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his

dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to

just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against

unemployment.

2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for

equal work.

3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable

remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence

worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other

means of social protection.

4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the

protection of his interests.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation

of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the

health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,

clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services,

and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,

disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in

circumstances beyond his control.

79
 2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and

assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall

enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at

least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary

education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional

education shall be made generally available and higher education

shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human

personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights

and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding,

tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious

groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the

maintenance of peace.

3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall

be given to their children.

Article 27

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the

community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement

and its benefits.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material

interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production

of which he is the author.

Article 28

80
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights

and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29

1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and

full development of his personality is possible.

2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject

only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the

purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and

freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of

morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic

society.

3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to

the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State,

group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act

aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth

herein.

81
 Appendix G

PROTOCOL TO PREVENT, SUPPRESS AND PUNISH

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND

CHILDREN, SUPPLEMENTING THE UNITED NATIONS

CONVENTION AGAINST TRANSNATIONALORGANIZED CRIME

Preamble

The States Parties to this Protocol,

Declaring that effective action to prevent and combat trafficking in

persons, especially women and children, requires a comprehensive

international approach in the countries of origin, transit and destination

that

includes measures to prevent such trafficking, to punish the traffickers

and

to protect the victims of such trafficking, including by protecting their

internationally recognized human rights,

Taking into account the fact that, despite the existence of a variety of

international instruments containing rules and practical measures to

combat

the exploitation of persons, especially women and children, there is no

universal instrument that addresses all aspects of trafficking in persons,

82
 Concerned that, in the absence of such an instrument, persons who

are vulnerable to trafficking will not be sufficiently protected,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 53/111 of 9 December 1998,

in which the Assembly decided to establish an open-ended

intergovernmental ad hoc committee for the purpose of elaborating a

comprehensive international convention against transnational organized

crime and of discussing the elaboration of, inter alia, an international

instrument addressing trafficking in women and children,

Convinced that supplementing the United Nations Convention

against Transnational Organized Crime with an international instrument

for

the prevention, suppression and punishment of trafficking in persons,

especially women and children, will be useful in preventing and combating

that crime,

Have agreed as follows:

I. General provisions

Article 1

Relation with the United Nations Convention

against Transnational Organized Crime

1. This Protocol supplements the United Nations Convention

83
 against Transnational Organized Crime. It shall be interpreted together

with

the Convention.

–2–

2. The provisions of the Convention shall apply, mutatis

mutandis, to this Protocol unless otherwise provided herein.

3. The offences established in accordance with article 5 of this

Protocol shall be regarded as offences established in accordance with the

Convention.

Article 2

Statement of purpose

The purposes of this Protocol are:

(a) To prevent and combat trafficking in persons, paying

particular attention to women and children;

(b) To protect and assist the victims of such trafficking, with full

respect for their human rights; and

(c) To promote cooperation among States Parties in order to meet

those objectives.

Article 3

Use of terms

84
 For the purposes of this Protocol:

(a) “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment,

transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the

threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of

deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the

giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a

person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the

prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour

or

services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal

of

organs;

(b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the

intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be

irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been

used;

(c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt

of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in

persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in

85
 subparagraph (a) of this article;

(d) “Child” shall mean any person under eighteen years of age.

Article 4

Scope of application

This Protocol shall apply, except as otherwise stated herein, to the

prevention, investigation and prosecution of the offences established in

accordance with article 5 of this Protocol, where those offences are

transnational in nature and involve an organized criminal group, as well as

to the protection of victims of such offences.

Article 5

Criminalization

1. Each State Party shall adopt such legislative and other

measures as may be necessary to establish as criminal offences the

conduct

set forth in article 3 of this Protocol, when committed intentionally.

2. Each State Party shall also adopt such legislative and other

measures as may be necessary to establish as criminal offences:

(a) Subject to the basic concepts of its legal system, attempting to

commit an offence established in accordance with paragraph 1 of this

article;

86
 (b) Participating as an accomplice in an offence established in

accordance with paragraph 1 of this article; and

(c) Organizing or directing other persons to commit an offence

established in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article.

II. Protection of victims of trafficking in persons

Article 6

Assistance to and protection of victims of

trafficking in persons

1. In appropriate cases and to the extent possible under its

domestic law, each State Party shall protect the privacy and identity of

victims of trafficking in persons, including, inter alia, by making legal

proceedings relating to such trafficking confidential.

2. Each State Party shall ensure that its domestic legal or

administrative system contains measures that provide to victims of

trafficking in persons, in appropriate cases:

(a) Information on relevant court and administrative proceedings;

(b) Assistance to enable their views and concerns to be presented

and considered at appropriate stages of criminal proceedings against

offenders, in a manner not prejudicial to the rights of the defence.

3. Each State Party shall consider implementing measures to

87
 provide for the physical, psychological and social recovery of victims of

trafficking in persons, including, in appropriate cases, in cooperation with

non-governmental organizations, other relevant organizations and other

elements of civil society, and, in particular, the provision of:

(a) Appropriate housing;

(b) Counselling and information, in particular as regards their

legal rights, in a language that the victims of trafficking in persons can

understand;

(c) Medical, psychological and material assistance; and

(d) Employment, educational and training opportunities.

4. Each State Party shall take into account, in applying the

provisions of this article, the age, gender and special needs of victims of

trafficking in persons, in particular the special needs of children, including

appropriate housing, education and care.

5. Each State Party shall endeavour to provide for the physical

safety of victims of trafficking in persons while they are within its territory.

6. Each State Party shall ensure that its domestic legal system

contains measures that offer victims of trafficking in persons the

possibility

of obtaining compensation for damage suffered.

88
 Article 7

Status of victims of trafficking in persons

in receiving States

1. In addition to taking measures pursuant to article 6 of this

Protocol, each State Party shall consider adopting legislative or other

appropriate measures that permit victims of trafficking in persons to

remain

in its territory, temporarily or permanently, in appropriate cases.

2. In implementing the provision contained in paragraph 1 of this

article, each State Party shall give appropriate consideration to

humanitarian and compassionate factors.

Article 8

Repatriation of victims of trafficking in persons

1. The State Party of which a victim of trafficking in persons is a

national or in which the person had the right of permanent residence at

the

time of entry into the territory of the receiving State Party shall facilitate

and accept, with due regard for the safety of that person, the return of

that

person without undue or unreasonable delay.

2. When a State Party returns a victim of trafficking in persons to

89
a State Party of which that person is a national or in which he or she had,

at

the time of entry into the territory of the receiving State Party, the right of

permanent residence, such return shall be with due regard for the safety

of

that person and for the status of any legal proceedings related to the fact

that the person is a victim of trafficking and shall preferably be voluntary.

3. At the request of a receiving State Party, a requested State

Party shall, without undue or unreasonable delay, verify whether a person

who is a victim of trafficking in persons is its national or had the right of

permanent residence in its territory at the time of entry into the territory

of

the receiving State Party.

4. In order to facilitate the return of a victim of trafficking in

persons who is without proper documentation, the State Party of which

that

person is a national or in which he or she had the right of permanent

residence at the time of entry into the territory of the receiving State Party

shall agree to issue, at the request of the receiving State Party, such travel

documents or other authorization as may be necessary to enable the

person

90
 to travel to and re-enter its territory.

5. This article shall be without prejudice to any right afforded to

victims of trafficking in persons by any domestic law of the receiving State

Party.

6. This article shall be without prejudice to any applicable

bilateral or multilateral agreement or arrangement that governs, in whole

or

in part, the return of victims of trafficking in persons.

III. Prevention, cooperation and other measures

Article 9

Prevention of trafficking in persons

1. States Parties shall establish comprehensive policies,

programmes and other measures:

(a) To prevent and combat trafficking in persons; and

(b) To protect victims of trafficking in persons, especially women

and children, from revictimization.

2. States Parties shall endeavour to undertake measures such as

research, information and mass media campaigns and social and

economic

initiatives to prevent and combat trafficking in persons.

91
 3. Policies, programmes and other measures established in

accordance with this article shall, as appropriate, include cooperation with

non-governmental organizations, other relevant organizations and other

elements of civil society.

4. States Parties shall take or strengthen measures, including

through bilateral or multilateral cooperation, to alleviate the factors that

make persons, especially women and children, vulnerable to trafficking,

such as poverty, underdevelopment and lack of equal opportunity.

5. States Parties shall adopt or strengthen legislative or other

measures, such as educational, social or cultural measures, including

through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, to discourage the demand

that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and

children, that leads to trafficking.

Article 10

Information exchange and training

1. Law enforcement, immigration or other relevant authorities of

States Parties shall, as appropriate, cooperate with one another by

exchanging information, in accordance with their domestic law, to enable

them to determine:

(a) Whether individuals crossing or attempting to cross an

92
international border with travel documents belonging to other persons or

without travel documents are perpetrators or victims of trafficking in

persons;

(b) The types of travel document that individuals have used or

attempted to use to cross an international border for the purpose of

trafficking in persons; and

(c) The means and methods used by organized criminal groups for

the purpose of trafficking in persons, including the recruitment and

transportation of victims, routes and links between and among individuals

and groups engaged in such trafficking, and possible measures for

detecting

them.

2. States Parties shall provide or strengthen training for law

enforcement, immigration and other relevant officials in the prevention of

trafficking in persons. The training should focus on methods used in

preventing such trafficking, prosecuting the traffickers and protecting the

rights of the victims, including protecting the victims from the traffickers.

The training should also take into account the need to consider human

rights and child- and gender-sensitive issues and it should encourage

cooperation with non-governmental organizations, other relevant

93
 organizations and other elements of civil society.

3. A State Party that receives information shall comply with any

request by the State Party that transmitted the information that places

restrictions on its use.

Article 11

Border measures

1. Without prejudice to international commitments in relation to

the free movement of people, States Parties shall strengthen, to the

extent

possible, such border controls as may be necessary to prevent and detect

trafficking in persons.

2. Each State Party shall adopt legislative or other appropriate

measures to prevent, to the extent possible, means of transport operated

by

commercial carriers from being used in the commission of offences

established in accordance with article 5 of this Protocol.

3. Where appropriate, and without prejudice to applicable

international conventions, such measures shall include establishing the

obligation of commercial carriers, including any transportation company or

the owner or operator of any means of transport, to ascertain that all

94
 passengers are in possession of the travel documents required for entry

into

the receiving State.

4. Each State Party shall take the necessary measures, in

accordance with its domestic law, to provide for sanctions in cases of

violation of the obligation set forth in paragraph 3 of this article.

5. Each State Party shall consider taking measures that permit, in

accordance with its domestic law, the denial of entry or revocation of visas

of persons implicated in the commission of offences established in

accordance with this Protocol.

6. Without prejudice to article 27 of the Convention, States

Parties shall consider strengthening cooperation among border control

agencies by, inter alia, establishing and maintaining direct channels of

communication.

Article 12

Security and control of documents

Each State Party shall take such measures as may be necessary,

within available means:

(a) To ensure that travel or identity documents issued by it are of

such quality that they cannot easily be misused and cannot readily be

95
 falsified or unlawfully altered, replicated or issued; and

(b) To ensure the integrity and security of travel or identity

documents issued by or on behalf of the State Party and to prevent their

unlawful creation, issuance and use.

Article 13

Legitimacy and validity of documents

At the request of another State Party, a State Party shall, in

accordance with its domestic law, verify within a reasonable time the

legitimacy and validity of travel or identity documents issued or purported

to have been issued in its name and suspected of being used for

trafficking

in persons.

IV. Final provisions

Article 14

Saving clause

1. Nothing in this Protocol shall affect the rights, obligations and

responsibilities of States and individuals under international law, including

international humanitarian law and international human rights law and, in

particular, where applicable, the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol

relating to the Status of Refugees and the principle of non-refoulement as

96
 contained therein.

2. The measures set forth in this Protocol shall be interpreted and

applied in a way that is not discriminatory to persons on the ground that

they are victims of trafficking in persons. The interpretation and

application

of those measures shall be consistent with internationally recognized

principles of non-discrimination.

Article 15

Settlement of disputes

l. States Parties shall endeavour to settle disputes concerning the

interpretation or application of this Protocol through negotiation.

2. Any dispute between two or more States Parties concerning

the interpretation or application of this Protocol that cannot be settled

through negotiation within a reasonable time shall, at the request of one

of

those States Parties, be submitted to arbitration. If, six months after the

date

of the request for arbitration, those States Parties are unable to agree on

the

organization of the arbitration, any one of those States Parties may refer

the

97
dispute to the International Court of Justice by request in accordance with

the Statute of the Court.

3. Each State Party may, at the time of signature, ratification,

acceptance or approval of or accession to this Protocol, declare that it

does

not consider itself bound by paragraph 2 of this article. The other States

Parties shall not be bound by paragraph 2 of this article with respect to

any

State Party that has made such a reservation.

4. Any State Party that has made a reservation in accordance with

paragraph 3 of this article may at any time withdraw that reservation by

notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 16

Signature, ratification, acceptance,

approval and accession

1. This Protocol shall be open to all States for signature from 12

to 15 December 2000 in Palermo, Italy, and thereafter at United Nations

Headquarters in New York until 12 December 2002.

2. This Protocol shall also be open for signature by regional

economic integration organizations provided that at least one member

State

98
of such organization has signed this Protocol in accordance with paragraph

1 of this article.

3. This Protocol is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval.

Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with

the Secretary-General of the United Nations. A regional economic

integration organization may deposit its instrument of ratification,

acceptance or approval if at least one of its member States has done

likewise. In that instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval, such

organization shall declare the extent of its competence with respect to the

matters governed by this Protocol. Such organization shall also inform the

depositary of any relevant modification in the extent of its competence.

4. This Protocol is open for accession by any State or any

regional economic integration organization of which at least one member

State is a Party to this Protocol. Instruments of accession shall be

deposited

with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. At the time of its

accession, a regional economic integration organization shall declare the

extent of its competence with respect to matters governed by this

Protocol.

Such organization shall also inform the depositary of any relevant

99
 modification in the extent of its competence.

Article 17

Entry into force

1. This Protocol shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after

the date of deposit of the fortieth instrument of ratification, acceptance,

approval or accession, except that it shall not enter into force before the

entry into force of the Convention. For the purpose of this paragraph, any

instrument deposited by a regional economic integration organization

shall

not be counted as additional to those deposited by member States of such

organization.

2. For each State or regional economic integration organization

ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to this Protocol after the

deposit

of the fortieth instrument of such action, this Protocol shall enter into force

on the thirtieth day after the date of deposit by such State or organization

of

the relevant instrument or on the date this Protocol enters into force

pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article, whichever is the later.

Article 18

Amendment

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 1. After the expiry of five years from the entry into force of this

Protocol, a State Party to the Protocol may propose an amendment and

file

it with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall thereupon

communicate the proposed amendment to the States Parties and to the

Conference of the Parties to the Convention for the purpose of considering

and deciding on the proposal. The States Parties to this Protocol meeting

at

the Conference of the Parties shall make every effort to achieve consensus

on each amendment. If all efforts at consensus have been exhausted and

no

agreement has been reached, the amendment shall, as a last resort,

require

for its adoption a two-thirds majority vote of the States Parties to this

Protocol present and voting at the meeting of the Conference of the

Parties.

2. Regional economic integration organizations, in matters within

their competence, shall exercise their right to vote under this article with a

number of votes equal to the number of their member States that are

Parties

to this Protocol. Such organizations shall not exercise their right to vote if

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 their member States exercise theirs and vice versa.

3. An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 1 of this

article is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by States Parties.

4. An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph 1 of this

article shall enter into force in respect of a State Party ninety days after

the

date of the deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations of an

instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval of such amendment.

5. When an amendment enters into force, it shall be binding on

those States Parties which have expressed their consent to be bound by it.

Other States Parties shall still be bound by the provisions of this Protocol

and any earlier amendments that they have ratified, accepted or

approved.

Article 19

Denunciation

1. A State Party may denounce this Protocol by written

notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Such

denunciation shall become effective one year after the date of receipt of

the

notification by the Secretary-General.

2. A regional economic integration organization shall cease to be

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a Party to this Protocol when all of its member States have denounced it.

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 Appendix H

Process of 'Artist' Visa According to the Electronic

General Security

Entrance Visas / Artist's entrance visa for the touristic institutions

Required documents

- A request for an entrance visa "a prototype accredited at the General Security".

- A commitment, recognizance "a prototype accredited at the General Security".

- A job/work contract in which are specified the exhibit/ show's term and place

and the allowance rate, signed by the two parties.

- A banking bail, guaranty (one million for each one of the artists).

- An investment license or ( a commercial circular, a commercial register and the

company's organization)

- A photocopy of the applicant/petitioner identity card.

- A photocopy of the artist's passport (clear one) on two copies.

- An information application/demand on two copies "a prototype accredited at

the General Security".

- Two stamps of 1000 Lebanese pounds value.

- To present, bring the company or institution's seal.

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The Allowance Charge

- The fees, charges on the artist's residence are receipted according to the

following: 300 thousand Lebanese pounds for the artist classified as group B

and 550 thousand Lebanese pounds for the artist classified as group A.

Notes

- A fiscal acquaintance, discharge should be presented before the artist's

leave.

http://www.general-security.gov.lb/English/Entrance+Visas/visa9/

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