In Lebanon, domestic abuse is unfortunately a political and legal failure that wreaks havoc on the progression of the country solely as a civil entity, and “developing” nation. Despite the presence of laws and the emphasis on domestic abuse in Lebanese political campaigns (especially those led by female parliament candidates, like former MP candidate Joumana Haddad), gender-based violence (GBV) remains amongst the biggest issues that Lebanese households continue to face. Lebanon is known for the massive gender gap it conveys on-land: ranking 145/153 in the WEF GGG Index (The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index) in 2019. By April of 2020, KAFA, an NGO that provides a hotline for women that are exposed to domestic violence, noticed a sharp rise in cases reported as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Not only that, but Lebanon is notoriously famous for honor killings, male-dominated murders, domestic violence, and misogyny perplexed in both society and positions of power (for instance, over 80% of members of parliament have been male; women are overlooked; and it took until December of 2020 to pass a law that granted women asylum against sexual harassment, and criminalized sexual harassers).