The Story of Prostitution in Lebanon

The first to organize prostitution in Beirut in an official manner were the Turks, in 1890. The houses of vice began simply, confined to a single market where the Regent Hotel now stands; then they began to spread, which led the Turkish government to move them elsewhere, to where they now stand, behind the headquarters of the police department in Martyrs' Square (al-Burj).

Then the First World War broke out, and its effect on the world was severe from the moral standpoint, above all in Lebanon, because of the financial hardship that had it in its grip, not to mention the conscription of its men.

And when, after the war, the country came under the Mandate and freedom was given to the people, especially to women, and everyone rushed after extreme Western principles — one consequence of this release was the spread of prostitution on a wider scale, which led the Mandatory power in 1931 to lay down a law for official prostitution, consistent in its organization with the laws in force in France.

In fact the Mandate reinforced the idea of maintaining houses of official prostitution throughout the Syrian interior, especially wherever soldiers were numerous, with a view to their recreation — but this action of theirs collided with the protests of the inhabitants, to which no heed was paid...

The protests of the Syrians reached the League of Nations in Geneva, and in the course of its discussion a memorable saying was recorded: “The interest of the soldiers is not the only one worthy of attention!”

The idea of combating prostitution spread, not only in the lands of Syria — coast and interior — but in Europe and America as well; many organizations were formed to this end; magazines were issued to set out this cause and publicize it, and some went so far as to dispatch their advocates to the countries of the world to preach their principles; and there began in the world an awareness directed against clandestine prostitution.

The first to work in this field among us, and effectively, was Mr. James Nicol, head of the Evangelical mission and founder of Beirut College for Women (the Junior College), who lately returned to Beirut to be honored by that institution.

Mr. Nicol founded in Beirut the “Manara” (Lighthouse) association, which served as a point of departure for the fight against prostitution in general. The “Manara” association was careful to bring non-Evangelical religious bodies and certain national figures into the work.

The association's work was not confined to guidance and counsel; it took a practical form with the establishment of a headquarters for the association at the entrance to the public houses, and its members, men and women alike, would intercept the young men as they frequented those houses and offer them advice and warning; likewise they would approach the prostitutes as they went out for their medical inspection, striving to guide them aright and to help those who wished to repent and return to a decent life...

Certain national bodies hastened to join the ranks of the workers, among which we mention the Young Women's Christian Association, the General Arab Women's Union headed by Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura, the Union of Islamic Youth (whose president is the giver of this address), the Committee of Working Women headed by Mrs. Adele Nakhou, the Committee for Raising the Moral Level headed by Mrs. Adelaide Rishani, and the Committee for the Protection of the Girl headed by Mrs. Laure Tabet, in addition to the White Slavery Committee. All these societies threw themselves into the fight against prostitution, each on its own, and vied with one another in petitioning the government to demand its abolition.

In the year 1933 these societies came together and held a large meeting, and it was resolved to form a society entrusted with pursuing the work — and its members were elected as follows:

The ladies and misses: Adelaide Rishani, Alice Nakhou, Huda Doumit, and Touma and Tarazi.

The doctors: Mustafa Izz al-Din, Jamil Kirbakos, and Elias Jabr.

Messrs.: Amin al-Gharib, Youssef al-Ghalbouni, and Mohammad Jamil Beyhum.

The society opened its work with two memoranda, one to the French High Commissioner and the other to the head of the government, in which it reviewed the danger to young men and women arising from the spread of prostitution in general and from the existence of the public houses in particular, and it pressed the demand that organized prostitution be forbidden and that whatever of it was clandestine be prosecuted.

Religious and civic elements joined forces in support of the cause; but the reply to the memorandum, alas, disappointed its hope, for our request was deemed unlawful, on the ground that prostitution is licensed by virtue of a resolution issued by the Chamber of Deputies!

This reply sufficed for a time to dishearten the society's endeavors and bring them to a halt, if only for a while.

But the society would not stay silent for long in the face of the evil condition toward which prostitution was developing and worsening. It gathered itself together once more; an elite of people of merit joined it; the struggle was resumed in a more effective and more ardent form; and the Ministry of the Interior was notified of the re-formation of the society's bureau as follows:

Mohammad Jamil Beyhum, president and representative before the government; Nazik Sarkis, secretary; Adelaide Rishani, treasurer; the lawyer Camille Howayek, social expert; Dr. Chaglassian, health expert; and Dr. Zaken Shakhashiri...

And since the question of combating prostitution is now the subject of study by a government committee formed pursuant to a decision issued by the Ministry of Health and called the “Committee for the Regulation of Prostitution,” the society saw fit to open its work with a memorandum dated October 13, 1954, addressed to the Minister of Social Affairs, in which it demanded the abolition of official prostitution.

Pending the realization of that aim, the society pressed in the memorandum for the following:

1 — The removal of the houses of prostitution outside the city.

2 — The employment of a social expert in the Morals Bureau, the society undertaking to guarantee his salary.

3 — The refusal of applications for licenses to open new houses among the public houses.

4 — The refusal of licenses to girls to enter the public houses.

5 — Greater severity in the fight against clandestine prostitution.

A delegation from the society called upon the Prime Minister and handed him this memorandum, begging him to impress upon the competent departments the necessity of fulfilling these demands; and it met from him a welcome for the idea. But we have not so far felt any trace of the effects of that welcome.

As for the program which the society has set

before its eyes for the attainment of its aspiration, it may be summarized as follows:
1 — Continuing to petition the government and the municipality.
2 — Spreading publicity in the newspapers, magazines, and radio, delivering lectures, and posting notices in public places.
3 — Demanding of the government that it widen the competence of the Morals Bureau and transfer it from the police directorate to the ministry with the relevant jurisdiction, to be supervised by a social expert.
4 — Demanding of the government that the upper schools give lessons on the venereal diseases, the causes of contagion, and the means of prevention, in addition to moral guidance.
5 — Cooperating with the government to prevent the publication of seductive writings and enticing pictures, to prevent indecency in the streets, to stop the licensing of new houses of vice, to close the licensed houses of prostitution little by little, to press the fight against clandestine prostitution, to deport foreign prostitutes, to keep watch over the employment agencies, to help the repentant women, and to organize the free treatment of venereal diseases.