Members of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces. (Credit: Hassan Ammar/AFP)
BEIRUT — A unit from the Office for Combating Human smuggling and Preserving Morality within the Judicial Police has arrested a member of a non-governmental organization in Lebanon on charges of sexually molesting two minors under its care, the state-run National News Agency reported Saturday.
He is also alleged to have encouraged some minors to engage in sexual activities, drug and alcohol consumption, based on the confessions of the detainees and testimonies of witnesses in the case.
After the investigation is concluded, the accused will be referred to the Narcotics Bureau where he will be investigated for the use and distribution of drugs, the NNA concluded.
At the time of this article's publication L’Orient Today was unable to reach the Internal Security Forces for comment on the matter.
The NNA doesn't specify which case prompted the arrest of the accused, but the charges match accusations made in late July against the Mansourieh-based ''Village de paix et d'amour," an NGO whose mandate is to care for children in danger or abandoned by their parents, that had been closed and sealed by Mount Lebanon Judge Joelle Abou Haidar after allegations of sexual abuse and other crimes by its staff.
The arrest comes in a context of a surge in child abuse and abandonment in Lebanon, as reported by UNICEF. According to the United Nations Children's Fund, the vulnerability of children to abuse and neglect has been exacerbated in the recent years by the socioeconomic crisis in the country.
In December 2020, Lebanon's parliament passed a landmark law criminalizing sexual harassment and approved amendments intended to strengthen the country’s existing law on domestic violence.
In its current form, the law punishes anyone who commits the crime of sexual harassment with one-to-12 months in prison and/or a fine ranging from three-to-10 times the official minimum wage of LL675,000. If the crime is committed against either a juvenile or a person with special needs, the crime is upgraded from a misdemeanor to a felony, punishable by two to four years in prison.
In most cases, the harassment must be a recurring behavior, not a one-time occurrence, to fall under the law.