Between harassment and slavery...awareness and rebellion

This speech was delivered by the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Dr. Michel E. Abs, at the round table organized by MECC under the title “Sexual Harassment and Preserving Human Dignity,” on Thursday 30 May 2024.

Dr. Michel E. Abs

The Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

For one creature, to use another creature, his counterpart in creation and humanity, for the sake of physical pleasures and nothing else, this is the height of objectifying people and turning them into tools, to be used as long as the exploiter finds pleasure in it, and then throwing them away like a worn out rag.

How bad it is, this soul that does not know the rules of life and society or does not recognize them. How was this soul socialized, how did it acquire its values, and how did it experience its social upbringing? In what sick state has this soul lived to the point that it does not care about the pain it causes to others, which reaches the point of eliminating that other person? How many crimes of sexual harassment have ended in a murder that claimed the lives of the oppressed who did not learn to rebel in defense of the self and the entity.

The media periodically informs us of news on harassment disasters that have occurred and led to undesirable consequences. News in all directions: adults harassing adults, adults harassing children, relatives or families harassing those who are supposed to protect them, adults and children disappearing, then being found after a while as decomposing bodies under the rubble, or not found at all.

I will not go into statistics here, nor will I consider them a correct picture of reality, despite their importance, as what is said or known in this regard is much less than what is happening in reality. Silence reigns supreme in this jungle called sexual harassment, and the cover-up resulting from a stupid family solidarity that sacrifices the weakest link, worthy of protection, in order to avoid scandal.

How many paths of persecution, repression, violence and sexual exploitation came to light after years, and even decades, during which the victims remained silent for fear of something, until someone came to slaughter the tumor and bring the ugliness out into the open.

What kind of disease is that one, spreading in society, with deadly silence, killing vulnerable people, who may not be aware at first of what is happening to them, due to their age or ignorance, or who may have their mouths shut when they become aware of their situation and wanted to speak out.

Harassment exists everywhere, at home, at school, at university, at work and on the street, and its incidence is expanding, and awareness against it is expanding, but it is still hiddenly present among us.

What's the reason? Not being aware enough and not being bold enough, either for fear of retaliatory consequences or to avoid a scandal.

Harassment of a sexual nature, which generally includes unwanted sexual advances or behavior, varies according to the perpetrator and the place in which it occurs, and makes the victim feel insulted, belittled, intimidated, humiliated, threatened, or afraid. It usually causes suffering to the victim and has a negative impact on her life directly. Therefore, it is considered a form of gender-based violence and discrimination.

But the problem is that modern communication technologies, and the social crises that people are experiencing in light of the economic hardship - anywhere in the world - facilitate sexual harassment for those who want to adopt it to achieve some goal.

I have given several lectures, and held several training courses and workshops, to raise awareness among some vulnerable social groups against sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, such as bullying, psychological harassment, character assassination, racial harassment, sectarian harassment, and even harassment against people with special needs, and I found that it intersects, in one way or another, and often, with sexual harassment, meaning that one leads to the other. I also found, from the trainees’ contributions, that sexual harassment is much more widespread than we see or think.

Also, due to my educational career, I have dealt with many cases of harassment against female graduates who recently entered the labor market, and I can assure you that some of the cases were so severe that they caused chronic diseases for some of these victims.

It is worth noting that we have introduced special chapters on harassment in the educational curricula at Saint Joseph University, since the end of the eighties, especially in subjects dealing with work affairs, such as Sociology and Psychology of Work, and this has helped in immunizing female students to a large extent against this psychological and social epidemic.

Today, policies to combat sexual harassment at work have become very advanced at the university, as part of a general and firm university policy, with systems and commissions that sponsor the implementation of these systems, and their slogan is “Zero Tolerance.”

As for the Middle East Council of Churches, in addition to the anti-sexual harassment policy we implemented, we spread awareness, as much as possible, through the awareness and guidance sessions and workshops that we hold among the weak and marginalized groups that we assist.

In December 2020, the Lebanese Parliament passed a very important law, Law No. 205, to criminalize sexual harassment and rehabilitate its victims.  After many years of the absence of the Lebanese legislator from this field, this is a good and promising beginning that we wish will have a continuation.

Welcome, specialists, lecturers, and activists, who heal people’s wounds and extend a helping hand to fortify them.