[ Human Trafficking, Country-by-Country ]

LEBANON (Tier 2 Watch List) – Extracted in part from the U.S. State Dept 2023 TIP Report

The Government of Lebanon does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. These efforts included modestly increasing investigations and continuing to allow an NGO to screen for trafficking among detained migrants in the government detention center. However, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, even considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity. Lebanon had a caretaker government during the reporting period and faced a strike in the judicial sector along with widespread work stoppages throughout the civil service, which limited the government’s ability to establish effective anti-trafficking policies and impacted anti-trafficking efforts. Compared to the scale of the problem in Lebanon, the government’s efforts to identify and protect trafficking victims remained woefully inadequate. The government entirely relied on NGOs and civil society to provide shelter and services to trafficking victims and did not report providing financial or in-kind support to those organizations. The parliament did not approve a labor law amendment, pending since 2009, that would extend legal protections to all foreign workers, nor did it approve a draft standardized contract for migrant workers for the third consecutive year. The government did not implement formal victim identification and referral procedures, which resulted in potential unidentified victims facing arrest, detention, or deportation for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. Lebanon’s visa sponsorship system continued to create vulnerabilities for the exploitation of migrant workers and remained a significant impediment to authorities identifying and protecting trafficking victims; the government did not take any steps to reform the visa sponsorship system despite the extreme vulnerabilities to trafficking inherent in the system. Although it is a prevalent form of trafficking in Lebanon, the government has rarely convicted traffickers for exploiting workers in domestic servitude. The government resumed policies previously suspended during the pandemic, such as requiring notarized employer approval for migrant workers to change employers, which increased migrant workers’ vulnerability to trafficking. Therefore Lebanon was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List.

Prioritized Recommendations

Finalize and implement government-approved procedures for officials to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, such as undocumented or detained migrants, women holding artiste visas, domestic workers, and Syrian refugees, for referral to protection services.

Increase efforts to ensure trafficking victims are not inappropriately arrested, detained, or deported solely for unlawful acts they committed as a direct result of being trafficked, such as immigration or “prostitution” violations.

Enact the labor law amendment extending legal protections to all foreign workers, including domestic workers and artiste visa holders, and approve the draft standardized contract for migrant workers as initially submitted to the State Shura Council in 2020.

Strengthen and expand efforts to reform the visa sponsorship system to ensure all foreign workers, including domestic workers, are not bound to abusive employers, and allow workers full freedom of movement, including by permanently waiving previous employer approval requirements for workers to change employers.

Increase investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of perpetrators of all forms of trafficking, including domestic servitude, and investigate for potential trafficking crimes employers and recruitment agents who withhold workers’ passports, travel documents, or wages.

Ensure provisions are available to victims for legal alternatives to their removal to countries in which they would face retribution and hardship.

Increase efforts to train judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and diplomatic personnel on trafficking and application of the anti-trafficking law.

Screen all domestic workers in detention centers for trafficking indicators and refer victims to care.

Switch artiste visa holders, a visa program that contributes to the vulnerability of women to and may facilitate sex trafficking, to temporary work visas that ensure full labor protections and freedom of movement under Lebanese law.

Ensure the judiciary coordinates with the Directorate of General Security (DGS) to consistently apply the anti-trafficking law by granting temporary residency permits for trafficking victims and allowing victims to work.

Continue to work in partnership with NGOs to screen for, identify, and provide protection services – including witness support during criminal proceedings – for all victims.

Increase efforts to raise public awareness of trafficking, including exploitation of migrant domestic workers.

Formally establish the victim assistance fund.

Adopt and implement the NAP.

Improve the judiciary’s capacity to collect, compile, and track data and outcomes of trafficking cases from all court.