Attachments
Introduction
Lebanon is experiencing its worst crisis in decades. The country’s per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has decreased by 36.5% between 2019 and 2021, and the World Bank reclassified Lebanon as a low-middle-income country in July 2022. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, Lebanese families suffered significant deprivation in healthcare, education, work, income, and public services.
This reality has left its mark on children, who, according to UNICEF, are suffering from the brunt of the collapse. One in every two children in Lebanon is exposed to physical, psychological, or sexual violence, and about 1.8 million children, i.e., more than 80% of children in Lebanon, suffer from multidimensional poverty, noting that this number was around 900,000 children in 2019. In addition to child labor, deprivation of education, and exposure to various forms of violence, young girls also face the risk of child marriage.
Child marriage is the child rights violation and a harmful practice that affects children in general and girls in particular, noting that evidence worldwide suggests that girls are most at risk of child marriage as a result of the traditional gender roles expected of them. Therefore, the plan uses the term “girls” since they are mostly at risk of child marriage - noting that a number of interventions mentioned in this plan target both: girls and boys. Child marriage threatens the lives and future of girls all over the world, deprives them of the ability to make decisions regarding their lives, denies them equal access to educational opportunities, makes them more vulnerable to violence, discrimination, and abuse, prevents them from fully participating in the economic, political and social sectors, and keeps them and their families trapped in the cycle of poverty.
In Lebanon, this is one of the most prominent issues, and several governmental authorities carry out various interventions in this regard, especially the Ministry of Social Affairs, as well as international and local non-governmental bodies which are arraying efforts at the national and local levels. The interventions focus mainly on providing a diversified response by lobbying to improve the legal framework, in addition to strengthening awareness efforts on the risks of child marriage and providing services to adolescent girls.
In addition to these efforts, this National Action Plan aims to identify the necessary multi-sectoral and multi-faceted interventions to reduce the rate of child marriage and to mitigate the risks that threaten married girls. This plan aims to protect girls by ensuring their access to education and health services. Hence, the plan targets girls who are most at risk of child marriage, in addition to those who have already been married.