BEIRUT: A special parliamentary committee discussed Tuesday a draft law on domestic violence, igniting a debate on the proposal’s focus on women as the victims of violence and drawing suggestions and criticisms from members of civil society organizations in attendance.

Several representatives of associations that work to protect families from domestic violence attended the committee session, which was convened at Parliament under Tripoli MP Samir Jisr.

Fattha criticized the focus on punishment in the draft law, which calls for prison sentences ranging from six months to three years for any act of domestic violence.

“You do not combat violence by imprisonment; some precautionary measures should be taken,” she said.

“Why don’t we set up a mechanism to raise awareness among couples who are about to marry through media, education and universities?” she asked.

Fattha called for the establishment of an association comprised of social and psychological specialists, along with physicians who treat all forms of violence. “This association should handle any case of domestic violence under the instructions of a judge, and conduct investigations,” she said. “The abuser may be suffering from psychological problems. He needs to be treated rather than sentenced to three years, after which he will commit more violence.”

The activist also questioned limiting domestic violence to that which targets women. “Aren’t there young and old males that are treated harshly? We want all family members to be protected by the law” she said.

Fattha said that members of the parliamentary committee responded favorably to the proposals.

But Toufic Osseiran, the honorary president of the Family Planning Association, told The Daily Star that men in Lebanon were not as vulnerable to violence as women, adding that he was not optimistic about passing the current draft law. Osseiran argued that most religious figures were against passing the draft law “because they want religious courts to judge what is considered an act of violence.”

“Some politicians are afraid of their sects [and they will not pass the draft law] because they want people from their sect to vote for them in elections,” he said. “Some politicians want the woman to remain in an inferior position in this country.”

Osseiran said that while Lebanon has been party to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women since 1996, no mechanism to implement a single article of the convention has been created.

Echoing Osseiran, Laila Awada, the legal official of KAFA (Enough), an organization which advocates for the protection of women from domestic violence, said that “violence is committed by the side which has power, and we are in a patriarchal society where males have the power.”

“For sure there are men who suffer from violence, but they do not constitute the dominant phenomenon,” she said.

Awada added that the draft law called for forming centers specialized in receiving complaints from women. These centers would employ qualified specialists and security personnel.

“According to the penal code in Lebanon, both men and women in Lebanon can lodge a complaint. But if a woman went to a police station to report that she was raped, she will end up being raped again,” she said. “Police stations are not qualified to receive complaints from women.”

The draft law also calls for creating a fund to support women who suffer from domestic violence, according to Awada, who also lamented the lack of statistics about domestic violence in Lebanon.