Lebanon has been under-fire with mass protests currently sweeping across the whole nation. What led to this outbreak is the years of frustration and neglect that the people have had to go through because of what they claim is caused by an ‘inefficient and corrupt’ government. The recent legislation passed in 2018, such as charging people for using Whatsapp, a free call service was among countless other
reasons why the citizens of the nation rose up.
Amongst other reasons is the government’s ill treatment towards the
citizens of the nation. The government has reportedly misused it’s authority
of being in charge to silencing the people, holding them captives for days
and torturing them behind the bars. A famous actor, on whom a false
accusation was put for spying was tortured by the guards for the 6 days he
was detained. Other cases of torturing have emerged over the years but
were given a complete cold shoulder by the officials, even when there was
clear evidence via video leaks. Journalists and politicians have also been
claimed to have been targets for the government, with reports claiming that
several head figures were assassinated or have died in explosions set up by
assigned terrorists.
The government has detained all those individuals for being critical against
the government. So much so that criticizing the President of Lebanon or the
army is considered a criminal offense and can face upto 3 years in prison.
Women have been victimized of prosecution as well as they do not have
equal rights to divorce nor property rights. Lebanon does not have a
minimum age for marriage and that means that literal children can get
married to adults.

The labor forces, particularly migrants, have not seen any good either.
Around an estimate of 250000 migrants are not granted labor law
protection. Countless reports of suicide of these migrants have caught the
eye of international media as well. There are strong racial undertones
against the migrants by the government.
Child labor is still a huge issue in Lebanon, with a report on the ‘State of the
Children in Lebanon 2000” released in 2002 stating that around 90% of the
children who are a part of labor force are not granted with health
insurances. Children have been forced into begging, drug trafficking and
armed guarding.
Even during protests, several human rights have been violated, including
failure to protect peaceful demonstrations excessive use of force to
forcefully disperse protestors and unblock the roads. Footages have
emerged showing the armed forces shelling the protestors with tear gas, as
well as shooting them with rubber bullets. Several protestors have been
arrested and detained during all of this. But yet this has not stopped the
people from protesting and standing against forces and demanding their
rights that they fully deserve.

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