Lebanese children were trafficked within the country for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor in the metal works, construction, and agriculture sectors.
Women from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Ethiopia migrated to Lebanon legally, but often found themselves in conditions of forced labor, through unlawful withholding of passports, non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical or sexual assault.
Eastern European and Syrian women came to Lebanon on "artiste" visas, but some became victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation when they are subjected to coercive acts such as unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical assault.
Although it reported 17 prosecutions in 2007, the government failed to convict or criminally punish anyone for trafficking offenses, despite ample evidence of conditions of forced labor.
[4] In 2019, the US State Department continued to classify the country as Tier 2 because the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking were not fully met.
Despite receiving 31 reports of physical abuse, rape, and withheld wages among adult club employees, these cases were settled out of court, and did not result in any prosecutions or convictions for trafficking offenses.
Victims are neither encouraged to participate in trials, nor offered legal alternatives to deportation to countries where they would face hardship or retribution.
The government similarly did not institute a public awareness campaign targeting citizens traveling to known child sex tourism destinations.