Invisible Struggles: Gender-Based Violence and the Displaced Dom Community in Lebanon
Asli Saban, Visiting Fellow, Institute for Migration Studies, Lebanese American University
Among the most overlooked consequences of Lebanon’s intersecting displacement and economic crises is the deepening vulnerability of Dom women—members of an ethnic minority that has long faced structural marginalization across the Middle East. Displacement, whether forced by the war in Syria or driven by chronic poverty and exclusion within Lebanon, has compounded pre-existing inequalities, pushing Dom women to the furthest margins of both humanitarian response and state protection. Their experiences of gender-based violence (GBV), exploitation, and insecurity are not isolated incidents but symptoms of a broader failure to address the intersection of gender, ethnicity, statelessness, and displacement.
Displacement and Marginalization of the Dom in Lebanon
The Dom are a historically nomadic people of Indian origin with cultural links to the Romani of Europe. Spread across the Middle East—including Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, and Palestine—the Dom have long endured systemic discrimination. In Lebanon, they are often derogatorily referred to as nawar, a term that implies primitiveness and backwardness. As a result, many are excluded from social services, legal protections, and economic opportunities.
Despite a 1994 Lebanese naturalization decree that granted some Lebanese-born Dom citizenship, the community remains highly marginalized. Estimates from 2010 suggest around 3,000 Dom live in Lebanon, concentrated in areas like the Beqaa Valley, Beirut, Saida, and Tyre. Approximately 68% of Dom children have never completed schooling, according to a joint study by Terre des Hommes and Insan Association, highlighting the persistent educational barriers they face.
The outbreak of the Syrian civil war added a new layer of vulnerability. Many Syrian Dom, already on the margins of society, were among the first to be displaced due to their informal housing, lack of documentation, and precarious livelihoods. Fleeing to Lebanon, they settled in makeshift camps along the northern border and in the Beqaa Valley, often among other Syrian refugees. However, the Dom frequently fall outside both national support structures and international refugee protection systems. Their ambiguous legal status renders them invisible to aid agencies, and many remain unregistered. According to research by UNHCR and Siren Associates, 24% of stateless individuals in Akkar have Dom origins—a stark figure that reflects the disproportionate statelessness in this community.
Gender-Based Violence and the Politics of Invisibility
Within this context of multi-layered displacement and exclusion, Dom women and girls face unique and severe threats. Their lives are shaped by overlapping and reinforcing factors: entrenched patriarchal norms, statelessness, insecure shelter, and informal or exploitative labor. These structural conditions leave them vulnerable to violence both within their communities and from the broader society.
Many Dom women engage in stigmatized forms of labor, such as street dancing or begging, often coerced by economic desperation or pressure from family members and community leaders. For some, dancing at private events blurs into transactional sex, making them especially susceptible to trafficking and sexual exploitation. One woman explained: “Our family members compel us to dance at private parties, even when we do not wish to. If we refuse, they beat us.”
A 16-year-old participant described how even their appearance can be a source of danger: “We sometimes wish we weren’t considered beautiful. Men do not want to just watch us dance—they want more. And we never feel safe.” Such testimonies reveal the intense precarity that shapes how Dom women navigate public and private spaces alike.
This pervasive vulnerability is compounded by limited access to education and information. A recent study of Dom women in Akkar found that 30% of married women aged 20–25 could not identify various forms of GBV, while 60% of married women aged 30–35 could not recognize abuse beyond physical violence. This lack of awareness renders many women unable to protect themselves or seek help when facing harm.
The risks are further exacerbated by the absence of safe infrastructure in informal settlements. Most areas where the Dom reside lack reliable electricity or secure sanitation. While some families rely on solar panels, high costs mean these are out of reach for most. Without lighting, many women and girls must wait until morning to use shared toilets, as venturing outside at night increases the risk of sexual assault. In this way, infrastructural deprivation becomes a daily threat to physical safety.
These conditions are not only harming women today—they are producing intergenerational consequences. Displacement has led to increased rates of child marriage, interrupted education, and child labor among Dom girls, locking them into cycles of gendered poverty and disempowerment.
Why the Dom Are Left Out of Protection Frameworks
Despite being displaced by war and economic crisis, the Dom community is rarely included in formal humanitarian response efforts. Most Syrian Dom refugees are unregistered and unrecognized by aid systems designed for clearly defined refugee populations. Without formal refugee status, Dom women cannot access the services and protections available to other displaced populations.
As a representative from a local NGO working in Akkar noted, “We know Dom women are suffering from extreme forms of violence and exploitation, but they’re almost impossible to reach through traditional programs. They’re invisible in data, and invisible in funding priorities.”
This invisibility has profound implications. It means Dom women are routinely excluded from GBV response services, legal aid, protection case management, and psychosocial support programs. Without recognition, there is no inclusion, and without inclusion, there can be no justice.
Rethinking Protection: What Can Be Done?
The challenges faced by Dom women in Lebanon are emblematic of a broader crisis in humanitarian and protection frameworks. Addressing their intersecting vulnerabilities requires bold, inclusive, and targeted action:
- Tailored GBV Prevention and Response: Programs must be designed specifically for Dom women and girls, accounting for their displacement status, cultural norms, and heightened risk profiles. Safe and anonymous reporting mechanisms, mobile health and protection teams, and trauma-informed care are essential.
- Community Engagement and Male Involvement: Efforts to promote gender equality and challenge GBV must include Dom men and community leaders. Without culturally sensitive outreach and engagement, interventions risk being dismissed or resisted.
- Improved Access to Infrastructure and Services: Enhancing access to electricity, safe shelter, private toilets, and healthcare in informal settlements would significantly reduce exposure to violence. Educational programs must also address early marriage, girls’ education, and gender norms from a young age.
- Legal Recognition and Documentation: Simplified civil registration procedures are urgently needed for Dom children born in Lebanon. Access to legal residency and identification can begin to address the root causes of statelessness and exclusion.
- Inclusive and Disaggregated Research: Dom women’s absence from national and international data is both a cause and consequence of their marginalization. Research must be intersectional, community-driven, and inclusive of voices traditionally excluded from displacement discourse.
Conclusion
Displacement is more than the loss of home—it is the erosion of safety, visibility, and voice. For Dom women in Lebanon, displacement has intensified a lifetime of marginalization, making them especially vulnerable to violence, exploitation, and exclusion. These struggles are not just humanitarian failures—they are failures of justice, of systems, and of imagination.
Making these experiences visible is only the first step. The next—and more difficult—step is ensuring that recognition leads to action. Only through inclusive programming, structural reform, and community-centered approaches can we begin to dismantle the intersecting systems of exclusion that place Dom women at risk. In doing so, we move closer to a future where every displaced woman, regardless of ethnicity or legal status, is safe, empowered, and free from violence.