Lebanon — Legal Help

If detained, insist on consular notification immediately — embassies in Beirut visit detainees and maintain lawyer lists, though they cannot intervene in charges. Incidents at checkpoints or in security zones can end up before military courts, which is a strong reason to stay away from borders and to keep cameras down near anything military. Penal Code Article 523 covers prostitution offences; Article 534 ('unnatural relations') is still used against same-sex conduct, typically carrying up to one year, so LGBT travellers should exercise discretion.

The age of consent is 18. There is no lawful commercial sex, so no legal minimum applies — involvement with anyone under 18 brings statutory-rape and trafficking prosecutions, and Lebanon's anti-trafficking Law 164 of 2011 is the framework prosecutors reach for.