The vulnerability of the Syrian refugee women in Lebanon and the sex trafficking

Abstract

Many cases of sex trafficking of Syrian refugee women have been reported by the local and international NGOs after the migratory crisis of 2011. We consider that the Syrian refugee women are vulnerable group due to several personal and social conditions that push them into a disadvantaged position in the Lebanese society and, somehow, it explains the increasing of the cases of sex trafficking that are affecting them. The vulnerability, in their case, is represented, first, in a personal level, which includes the discrimination on a gender-basis, and second, in a socio-economic level referred to the inequalities suffered, primarily, for the lack of a legal status that allow them to earn the necessary means to survive and the position that they have in the society. These elements are accompanied with the inequality before the law and it can be understood as an intersectional discrimination based on gender and the condition of refugee that creates a disproportionate condition of disadvantage compared to the rest of the population in Lebanon.