Lebanon’s new sexual harassment law falls short of international standards by addressing sexual harassment solely as a crime and neglecting prevention, labor law reforms, monitoring, and civil remedies, Human Rights Watch said today in advance of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2021. The Lebanese government should adopt a comprehensive approach, including by ratifying and implementing the International Labour Organization (ILO) Violence and Harassment Convention.

{....} several women’s rights groups, many of which worked for a decade on another, more comprehensive version of the bill that was submitted by the National Commission on Lebanese Women, expressed disappointment in the limited scope of the approved law, as well as civil society groups’ exclusion from the final discussions and review of the law before it was finalized. Inaya Ezzeddine, chair of the women and children committee in the parliament, submitted the version of the law that was ultimately adopted.