Victims exploited in Lebanon

Between 2003 and 2022, the IOM registered 1,399 victims of trafficking exploited in Lebanon.^[1] 79 per cent of them were registered between 2020 and 2022.

Most victims are female (97%) compared to three per cent who are male.^[2] 99 per cent of identified victims of trafficking in Lebanon are adults, with the remainder being children. Most victims (87%) are between 21 and 38 years of age; while female victims are most commonly between 24 and 29 years (48%), male victims are slightly older as most are between 30 and 47 years old (67%).

Victims exploited in Lebanon most frequently have citizenships from Sierra Leone (26%), Kenya (17%), Nigeria (13%), and Ethiopia (11%). Overall, victims come from Africa (79%), Asia (17%), and Europe (4%). Almost all of them originate in a different sub-region.^[3]

The main type of exploitation is forced labour (95%) and another five per cent report being trafficked for sexual exploitation. A small proportion of victims (3%) report other types of exploitation such as forced marriage, forced military, organ removal, and slavery and related practices.^[4] 44 per cent of these victims are trafficked for less than a year, and another 40 per cent are trafficked for two years or more.

Almost all victims trafficked for forced labour report being exploited in domestic work. They are most frequently controlled with restrictions of finance, movements, medical care and necessities (93%), false promises (89%), and excessive working hours.^[4] Victims are most frequently recruited by ‘others’^[5] (93%), followed by friends and family (4% each).

^[1] This country profile is based on the data collected by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the process of providing assistance and protection services to victims of trafficking.

^[2] The IOM acknowledge diverse gender identities and expressions among trafficking victims. However, sex assigned at birth is used for this data analysis unless otherwise indicated. This is to ensure consistency with initial data collection forms, which lacked fields for diverse identities. Also, the disclosure of smaller subsets of victims with diverse gender identities increases data protection risks due to the potential identification of individual cases.

^[3] Interregional trafficking involves victims trafficked outside their region of origin, while intraregional trafficking occurs within their region of origin. For the list of regions and subregions, refer to the Global Synthetic Dataset Dictionary.

^[4] It is important to note that trafficked persons can be subjected to multiple types of exploitation and means of control, so percentages may not add up to 100.

^[5] Indicates a notable relationship with the recruiter that does not fit other categories like family or friends. This may include brokers, contractors, employers, or smugglers. See the Global Synthetic Dataset Codebook for a detailed explanation.