"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.
There is little protection for sex workers in Lebanon, where prostitution is
illegal. Even though some amendments in the law have been made to encourage
exploited children to come forward, they often remain reluctant. The official
age of adulthood in Lebanon is 18.
"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.
Although not a widespread phenomena in Lebanese society, child prostitution
does exist. But there are no official statistics on the numbers or
nationalities of minors working, or forced to work, in the illicit industry.
"There's no way of telling the number of children working as prostitutes," said
Rania Mansour, a social worker with Dar Al-Amal, a local NGO that helps sex
workers.
"We work with a lot of sex workers, many of whom are minors," said Mansour.
"But there are many obstacles, such as the lack of funds and prevailing social
norms, which stand in the way of a solid study specifying the numbers." Even
though Lebanon is considered one of the more liberal Arab countries, the sex
trade - as in other countries in the region - remains a taboo subject.
According to Mansour, most prostitutes start at as young as nine years old,
when they are most easily influenced. While most children in the trade here are
Lebanese, there are also Palestinian, Syrian and Jordanian prostitutes, she
said.
Reasons for working the trade
Most of the girls who visit Dar Al-Amal come from broken homes or very poor,
underprivileged backgrounds. "Many girls we've helped have slept with men for
very basic needs, like food or shelter - sometimes even a cigarette," she
explained.
Zeina (not her real name), 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.
Others, according to Mansour, confess to also doing it because they want to
feel that someone cares about them, even if for a short while. "They're minors,
and at this age they need affection, which for them comes in a sexual form,"
Mansour said.
Psychological support is one of the most important services provided by Dar
Al-Amal. "We notice that most of these girls lack self esteem and any sense of
values, so we work with them on strengthening their personalities," the social
worker said.
"It's a hard job, since many of them have a problem trusting people."
The NGO, which carries out projects aimed at empowering women, dedicates a
session in its day centre to the needs of women and girls in the sex trade. "We
aim at supporting these women and girls, and offer them social, medical and
psychological support in addition to legal support if they need it," Mansour
explained. "A network of social workers, doctors and lawyers - mostly
volunteers - is helping us with our work."
Dar Al-Amal is also devoted to raising awareness about the health risks such as
HIV/AIDS inherent in working in the trade. "They're in constant danger of being
infected with sexually transmitted diseases. This is why we offer them sexual
awareness classes," Mansour said. "But there's always the threat of men forcing
them to have unprotected sex."
Vocational training is also provided in hopes of steering sex workers into
different careers. "We think this is the only way they can stop," said Mansour.
Funding problems
Although the NGO offers a drop-in centre for girls, it hopes to expand services
further, said Dar Al-Amal Director Hoda Qarra. "The service we offer right now
isn't enough to help girls get off the streets," she said. "At the end of the
day, we can't offer them shelter, and these girls find themselves back on the
streets."
While there are plans to build a permanent centre to host them, Mansour says
that, without sufficient funds, such planning is futile. According to Qarra,
the NGO, which depends on donations for about 80 percent of its budget, was
supposed to get 20 percent of its funding from the state. "We still haven't
gotten all our money for the year 2005," she said.
Elie Mikhael, head of the Lebanese Higher Council for Childhood (HCC), blamed
the shortfall on the country's struggling economy. "Everyone knows the economic
crisis Lebanon is passing through, and this affects everything, including
social help," he explained.
According to Mikhael, progress is steadily being made, albeit slowly. "We've
been on the right track when it comes to protecting children from sexual abuse
and preventing child prostitution," he said.
The HCC, established in 1994, works under the patronage of the Ministry of
Social Affairs and serves as a national framework for cooperation on social
issues between NGOs and the public sector.
Government steps to protect children
In June 2002, Law 422 was passed, allowing children subject to sexual abuse or
physical violence to raise lawsuits against offenders.
"This was very important legislation because it gives the child the means to
protect him or herself through resorting directly to the legal authorities,"
said Mikhael.
In the same year, Lebanon ratified an optional protocol as part of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, on the Sale of Children, Child
Prostitution and Child Pornography.
"We have to keep in mind that minors are often pushed into prostitution
following some sort of sexual abuse practiced on them, a subject considered
taboo in our societies," Mikhael said. "But the ratification of the optional
protocol was a confident first step aimed at breaking the silence."
Meanwhile, for girls like Nadine, the worst part of the job is the stigma
attached to the trade, as well as the constant fear of her parents finding out
what she does.
"I know my neighbours are talking about me behind my back, and I'm ashamed when
my family hears rumours about me," she said. "But I keep assuring them that
it's not true, and they turn a blind eye because they need the money."
IRIN
