BEIRUT: Lebanese activists ramped up their campaign to scrap a controversial law allowing rapists who marry their victims to go free, with a dramatic installation on Saturday along Beirut’s sunny seaside.
A proposal to scrap Article 522 of the penal code — which deals with rape, assault, kidnapping and forced marriage — was introduced last year and approved by a parliamentary committee in February.
It will go before parliament on May 15 and activists hope that MPs will vote to eliminate it.
On Saturday they urged Lebanese citizens to sign a campaign to ramp up the pressure on legislators at an open-air exhibit.
Thirty-one wedding dresses made of white lace and wrapping paper hung limply from makeshift nooses between four palm trees along the Lebanese capital’s corniche.
“There are 31 days in a month and every single day, a woman may be raped and forced to marry her rapist,” said Alia Awada, advocacy manager at Lebanese non-government organization ABAAD.
“We are trying as much as we can to shed light on this issue and tell parliament that the time has come for them to vote on canceling Article 522.”
The reviled article, which also deals with the rape of minors, allows offenders to escape punishment by wedding their victims.
“If a valid marriage contract exists between the perpetrator of one of these crimes... and the abused, the prosecution is suspended,” it reads.
“If a verdict has been issued, the implementation is suspended.”
Awada said: “We called on all parliamentarians and decision-makers in the Lebanese state with this message: every ‘yes’ from you is a ‘no’ to a rapist.”
Standing amid the fluttering wedding dresses, Minister for Women’s Affairs Jean Oghassabian described the article as being “from the stone age.”
“Its turn has come, it’s the second item on the agenda” at an upcoming legislative session on May 15, Oghassabian, who is also an MP, told AFP.
Lebanese artist Mireille Honein, who designed the exhibition in Paris and brought it to her homeland this week, said she made the dresses out of white paper “to highlight the ephemeral nature of marriage and of laws.”
“And I hung them up, because this type of law simply robs women of their essence, leaves them without an identity and suspends them in a life that does not suit them and is shameful for those imposing it on them,” Honein told AFP.
As passersby paused to look at the ghostly installation, volunteers from ABAAD invited them to sign a petition demanding parliament prioritize the article’s elimination.
Silver-haired Rafiq Ajouri, who hails from a southern Lebanese village, was persuaded to sign on while on his morning stroll along the corniche.
“If I were to get raped, why wouldn’t I get my rights? I’d want people to stand beside me,” he said.
But the elderly man, who has five sons and three daughters, hesitated when an ABAAD volunteer said women should be allowed the same liberties as men.
“They can have their freedoms, but within limits. Why? Because they’re girls.”
Lebanon activists ramp up pressure on reviled rape law
Lebanon activists ramp up pressure on reviled rape law
Iraqis cover soil with clay to curb sandstorms
- Dust storms have cloaked cities and villages in an endless ochre haze
BAGHDAD: Deep in Iraq’s southern desert, bulldozers and earthmovers spread layers of moist clay over sand dunes as part of a broader effort to fight increasingly frequent sandstorms.
Iraq has long suffered from sand and dust storms, but in recent years they have become more frequent and intense as the country falls prey to the effects of climate change.
Sand and dust storms — driven by severe drought, rising temperatures and deforestation — have cloaked cities and villages in an endless ochre haze, grounded flights and filled hospitals with patients suffering from breathing difficulties.
Iraqi authorities have warned that these suffocating storms will intensify further, adding urgency to address the root of the problem.
In a relatively small area between the cities of Nasiriyah and Samawah, not far from ancient Sumerian ruins, laborers are working hard to stabilize the soil by applying a layer of moist clay 20-25 centimeters thick.
The project also includes planting heat-tolerant seedlings like Prosopis and Conocarpus to further stabilize the soil.
“The main goal is to reduce the impact of transboundary dust storms,” said Udai Taha Lafta from UN-Habitat, which is leading the project to combat sandstorms with Iraqi expertise.
“It is a vital area despite its small size, and will hopefully help reduce dust storms next summer,” Lafta said.
A short-term objective is to shield a southern highway where many traffic accidents have occurred due to poor visibility during dust storms.
The Ministry of Environment estimates that Iraq now faces about 243 storms per year, and the frequency is expected to increase to 300 “dust days” by 2050 unless drastic mitigation measures are adopted.
In 2023, Iraqi authorities teamed up with the UN-Habitat and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development in areas that have been identified as major sources of sandstorms.
The project has been implementing several methods in three southern areas, including digging water canals and supplying electricity to pump water from the Euphrates river, preparing barren lands for vegetation.
One of the project’s ultimate goals is to increase green spaces and for farmers to eventually sustain the lands after droughts and chronic water shortages have drastically reduced agricultural areas.
Qahtan Al-Mhana, from the Agriculture Ministry, said that stabilising the soil gives agricultural efforts in sandy areas a chance to endure.
He added that Iraq has extensive “successful” experience in combating desertification and dust storms by stabilising sand dunes.
Since the 1970s, the country has implemented such projects, but after decades of turmoil, environmental challenges have largely fallen by the wayside.
With the severe recent impact of climate change, “work has resumed,” said Najm Abed Taresh from Dhi Qar University. “We are making slow but
steady progress.”
