ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews Lebanon's engagements for human rights to address the need for reform of religious laws and regulations and examines the debate on secularism vs. confessionalism. It describes the struggle for a civil, that is, secular, family law and analyzes Lebanon's achievement in 2014 by promulgating a special law on the protection of women and other family members from domestic violence. The chapter asserts that the Lebanese state should promulgate a common civil law for all Lebanese citizens regardless of their religious confessions and beliefs. There is also a need to reform religious family laws in the matter related to age of marriage, which is sometimes related to gender-based domestic violence. The chapter presents the new institutional framework related to domestic violence that was established by the 2014 Law. The National Coalition for Legislating the Protection of Women from Family Violence was founded in 2008 to coordinate the efforts of Lebanese civil society's relevant components.
