WUNRN
LEBANON - SUPPORT GROUPS WITH IRAQI
REFUGEE
MEN & YOUTH ON SEXUAL &
GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
ABAAD -Resource Center for Gender Equality and Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights recently piloted support groups of Iraqi refugee men and youth in Lebanon to engage men in addressing Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in their families and communities. This activity module was conducted in collaboration with Amel Association, Caritas Migrant Center, International Medical Corps, and the Norwegian Refugee Council in Lebanon from June to August of 2011, within Heartland Alliance’s SGBV program to provide services and support to Iraqi refugee survivors of SGBV.
This activity comes at a particularly crucial time for work against SGBV in Lebanon. Recent legislative gains in striking out the mitigation of penalties for honor killings and punishing human trafficking demonstrate increased political will to take crimes against women seriously.
However, these are just the first steps for Lebanon to fulfill its international obligations and its responsibility to its people to ensure equal rights, security, and quality of life for women and men. Much still needs to be done in ensuring the implementation of these preliminary laws, as well as in passing further legislation to protect women and children, such as legislation addressing family violence. In addition, it is necessary at the policy level to go beyond punishment and encompass protection for victims as well as prevention.
SGBV is also an important issue to address specifically in the Iraqi refugee community in Lebanon, since they cannot benefit from the new legal securities and continue to face much vulnerability to exploitation and violence. As the majority of Iraqi refugees do not have a legal status in the country, they are easily exploited by family-members, employers, and members of the community. Service providers have reported rising frustration as refugees stay longer in Lebanon, citing increased timeframe for resettlement, decreased services, and high costs of living. Men are often facing unemployment and forced to stay all day in the home and families are confronting shifts in roles as they navigate gender, cultural and generational issues in a new context.
Iraqi refugee women have different options in Lebanon, such as more accessible divorce, and are facing complex situations including missing or deceased husbands, male family-members who have suffered from torture and detention, removal from larger family networks, etc. They have been increasingly reporting SGBV either suffered in Iraq or currently in Lebanon, including but not limited to: rape by militant groups, domestic violence by fathers and partners, and sexual harassment and abuse by landlords and employers. Yet, they are also increasingly working to find options and build capacities to address their situation.
ABAAD, Heartland Alliance, and collaborating organizations held ten sessions of support groups in various centers throughout Beirut and its suburbs. These sessions took men and male youth through self-identifying causes of violence in the home, discussing communication and behavior, and problem-solving on how to engage in healthy relationships. Participants selected the topics through which to address these themes and practiced through activities such as dialogues and role-playing.
Despite initial resistance in addressing personal issues, the participants later communicated by the closing session that it was helpful to have a space to discuss their problems with their peers and be called upon together to come up with solutions, rather than waiting for solutions to be externally imposed. Participants stated that no one had ever asked them to discuss these topics and come up with their own ideas. They requested more such activities and acknowledged that the difficulty would be in continuing to implement healthy practices, especially after only five sessions. Evaluation of the activities demonstrated that all participants found the sessions to be beneficial for their daily lives and 94 percent reported that this platform offered them the opportunity to express freely their thoughts and feelings on sensitive topics without judgment. One of the participants stated that “the sessions were useful for me and my family and we better know how to solve our problems and deal with stress.”
We strongly advocate considering the value of also targeting men and bringing them on board in the fight against violence. While programming for women should in no way be minimized and it is crucial to support survivors of violence, it is no longer enough to address violence only through working with women. Men should be held accountable, engaged, and addressed in order to work together to address the root causes of violence and find solutions. It is important also to start with male youth to be able to change perceptions and work preventively before patterns of violence take root. We believe this will contribute to healthier families, communities, and overall societies and have positive secondary effects at all levels.
Ghida Anani - ghida.anani@abaadmena.org