Tricked and Trapped: Human Trafficking in the Middle East, ‎pdf 4.1 MB

4.1.3. Provisions in penal and labour codes applying to the crime of trafficking
In addition to the anti-trafficking laws, the penal and labour legislative codes
in Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and the UAE contain provisions that can be
applied to the crime of trafficking. The Jordanian criminal law includes several
provisions that criminalize offences related to the crime of human trafficking,
such as threats of murder or of assault, beating and rape; driving someone
to suicide; torture, forced confinement and murder. 27 There are also specific
provisions in the penal code that can be used to prosecute perpetrators of sex
trafficking. 28 Several articles in the labour law can also be used to punish
trafficking-related offences. 29 These provisions were used by judges to punish
perpetrators of the crime of trafficking prior to the passing of the 2009 law
specifically designed to counter trafficking.
Lebanon’s penal code also criminalizes offences related to the crime of human
trafficking. These provisions cover abduction and deprivation of liberty;
fraud, deceit and abuse of power; exploitation of the prostitution of others;
abandonment of a minor for money; and threats to inflict unfair harm. 30
The criminal code furthermore punishes forced prostitution. 31 Additionally,
Lebanon’s labour code limits coercive and deceptive practices by requiring
that contracts are issued to workers, prohibiting excessive overtime, and
27
Jordan, Criminal Code of 1956 and its amendments, arts 13, 208, 292, 326–30,
334, 339, 343, 344, 346, 350, 352.
28
Jordan, Criminal Code of 1960, ch. 2, arts 317 and 292.
29
Pertinent provisions from the Jordanian Labour Law No. 8 of 1996 include the
following: art. 12(f)(1) stipulates that an employer or director of an establishment
can be punished with a fine between 200 JOD and 500 JOD for every non-Jordanian
worker hired without obtaining a work permit; art. 46 prohibits employers from
“deducting any part” from the salary, which shall be paid no later than seven days after
it has been earned; art. 59 specifies that workers shall earn 125 per cent of their hourly
wages for overtime, and 150 per cent for work on weekly rest days, or religious and
national holidays; art. 77 stipulates that an employer can be punished for employing
a worker through force, threat, fraud or coercion, including withholding of travel
documents, with a fine between 500 JOD and 1,000 JOD. Also, art. 18(b) of the
Passport Law No. 5 of 2003 adds that anyone found in possession of a passport or travel
documents in an illegal manner shall be punished by imprisonment for between six
months and three years, and/or by a fine between 500 JOD and 1,000 JOD.
30
Lebanon, Criminal Code, 1 Mar. 1943, as amended on 16 Sep. 1983 and 27 May
1993 respectively, arts 492, 495, 500, 507, 508, 515, 523, 524, 525, 569, 578, 668.
31
Lebanon, Criminal Code, 1 Mar. 1943, art. 523. In terms of sexual exploitation, the
case of Lebanon is unique in that a law of 1931 allowed prostitution and that no specific
amendment to that law has ever been adopted. However, no more licences for brothels
have been issued since 1975 (MTV documentary: Prostitution in Lebanon, 2011, http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRI81FN0-L4 [accessed 2 Mar. 2012]).
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