Cabaret in Jounieh, Lebanon

Lebanon has a dormant licensing system and a criminal ban on prostitution. A 1931 law regulates licensed brothels, with governor's permits, police registration of the women and twice-weekly medical checks, but licences reportedly stopped being issued in 1975. Article 523 of the Penal Code punishes anyone who engages in prostitution or facilitates it with one to three years in prison and a fine; since a 2020 amendment the text no longer limits this to "secret" prostitution. Other articles punish luring a person into prostitution even with consent, holding a person in a brothel, using public means to attract people to debauchery and living off another's prostitution. General Security still issues "artist" visas for foreign women working in tourist establishments, long reported as a front for prostitution. Source: Prostitution Laws (prostitutionlaws.org), https://prostitutionlaws.org/countries/lebanon/, reviewed 2026-11-04, CC BY 4.0.