'Silenced for far too long': Decades on women reveal how rape, sexualised torture and genital mutilation was rife during Lebanon’s civil war

Gender-based crimes, including rape, gang rape and sexualised torture, were rife during Lebanon’s civil war, according to a new report which sheds light on the plight of women and girls.

For the first time, the length and breadth of sexual crimes committed against women and girls at the hands of state actors, state and non-state aligned militias during the 1975-90 civil war, has been compiled in a lengthy report by Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), a human rights organisation.

"The investigators found grim accounts of violations including mass rape, sexualised torture, genital mutilation and forced nudity, as well as abductions and killings of women ... the youngest victim being 9"

LAW spent 18 months interviewing survivors, victims and witnesses, with many speaking up for the first time since their ordeal, to compile a preliminary report based on testimonies and the applicable national and international legal framework.

The investigators found grim accounts of violations including mass rape, sexualised torture, genital mutilation and forced nudity, as well as abductions and killings of women and girls after rape, with the youngest victim being nine-years-old.

Lebanon’s civil war saw various religious and ethnic groups pitted against each other, with the establishment of Christian, Muslim and Druze militias, alongside Syrian, Palestinian and Israeli groups.

Over 100,000 civilians died and around 17,000 people disappeared during the wars, while more than one million nationals emigrated.

Speaking at the launch of the report in Beirut on Thursday, LAW’s executive director, Antonia Mulvey described the findings as “groundbreaking."

“The voices of women that you will hear today both in person and through this report have been silenced for far too long,” Mulvey said. “The history of the civil war must not remain unchallenged; it is never too late to find the truth and to acknowledge what has happened, and to apologise to those that have suffered.”

Lebanon’s own position on the war is troubling. Collective amnesia, compounded by the establishment of the Amnesty Law in 1991 – which granted immunity for most crimes committed during the conflict, including those against civilians – has served to bury truths.

"The history of the civil war must not remain unchallenged; it is never too late to find the truth and to acknowledge what has happened, and to apologise to those that have suffered"

One of the many “shocking” discoveries was the total neglect of the topic, and subsequent psychological needs of the women, Mulvey said. When asked why the women had not talked about it before, they replied “no one ever asked.”

The use of rape and sexual violence during Lebanon's war breached international human rights and humanitarian law, and according to Mulvey, the crimes uncovered by the report would constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The report documented that sexual violence was perpetrated at detention camps, checkpoints, and on the streets during sieges and massacres. It did not seek to establish the exact number of people impacted, nor include names, specific dates or locations, to protect testimonies.

However, the report noted that the crimes took place in a systematic way. Countless interviewees recalled witnessing similar types of horrific abuse, such as the use of glass bottles for rape, and the killing of pregnant women and babies.

One 56-year-old woman interviewed in the report described her ordeal at a detention camp: “Officers forced me to take off my hijab. They electrocuted my nipples. Female officers would torture me by forcing me to kneel on rocks for hours. Male officers threatened to rape me.”

Nohad, a Palestinian refugee, speaking at the launch of the report, recalled how her father and sister were shot one night when armed men came knocking on the door of their home. “We were sleeping and they [the armed men] asked us to stand against the wall. I was holding my sister; she was one year and three months old.”

Nohad also said she had been sexually assaulted by armed men at a checkpoint. The trauma of the war remains deep inside her. “Until this day, I cry every day.”

For decades, the lack of accountability, along with the shame attached to sexual assault within some communities in Lebanon silenced women and girls’ ability to not only speak out but also to pursue charges.

Among 142 individuals who took part in a survey pursuant to the report, only 9% said they reported their experience of gender-based violence to authorities. While 53% said they had no trust in the Lebanese justice system.

"Officers forced me to take off my hijab. They electrocuted my nipples. Female officers would torture me by forcing me to kneel on rocks for hours. Male officers threatened to rape me”

With Lebanon in a fragile economic and political state, the investigators acknowledged that any state-level response was likely to be in the distant future.

The main aim of the report’s publication is to seek official recognition of the crimes while shifting the stigma away from the victims to the perpetrators.

“Until now, there hasn’t been a full acknowledgement of the scale and scope, and nature of the sex and gender-based violence,” Mulvey told The New Arab. “We found from nearly every part of the Lebanese community that we’ve interacted with that they have welcomed this.”

Mulvey added that once Lebanon’s new government is formed, the team would try to present the report to officials. LAW hopes that its publication will spur others to address the violence inflicted upon women and girls during the war.

Rosabel Crean is a freelance journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon.

Follow her on Twitter: @CreanRosabel