diakonia

The Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace (LFPCP), Diakonia and the Tyre municipality organized a training workshop entitled “women’s participation in local decision making”.  The event was held at the King’s Historical Castle in the city of Tyre.  The workshop extended over 2 days with the participation of 30 women active in civil society.  The programme began by a presentation of the workshop programme by the coordinator Rabih Kays who insisted on the importance of reaching practical and local recommendation which would focus on changing people’s behavior in their daily life and especially in terms of supporting civil peace.  The vice-president of the Tyre municipality, Salah Sabraoui, noted that the municipal council supports all activities that strengthen women’s role as this will have a positive repercussion on society at large.
Source: Al-Nahar 3 July 2014
 

The Rassemblement Democratique des Femmes Libanaise, Dar el Amal, Caritas Liban-Migrants centre and Diakonia jointly organised an exhibition of communication material on women’s prisons within the framework of their project entitled “Reinforcing policies and the practices of human rights in women prisons in Lebanon” which is funded by the European Union.  The event was held the day before yesterday at the UNESCO palace and aimed at mobilizing the media on issues related to women’s prisons as a human rights issue and for the purpose of improving their situation.
The organizing NGOs called for the formation of a higher independent national council for prisons which would include representative of relevant ministries which are entrusted with the provision of services to protect the rights of women prisoners and rehabilitate the,.  The group also called for setting up a national machinery to visit prisons in compliance with Lebanon’s commitment to the UPR (clause 5-81) notably the 16th session for human rights.
The project coordinator at the RDFL, Manar Zeiater, explained the objectives of this activity as well as the training and competition which preceded it to prepare the material.  She noted that a jury, which evaluated and selected the material, included lawyers, judges, journalists and human rights activists.  She also added that the material will be sent to the Ministry of Interior to be exhibited and will be shown in the media and via the project’s website http://www.lebanonprisons.org and social media pages.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal 8 May 2014

CSOs and human rights organizations organized last week a meeting within the framework of the project entitled “Reinforcing policies and the practices of human rights in women prisons in Lebanon”, aimed at addressing a number of issues related to human rights within women prisons notably in relation to the situation of pregnant and lactating women as well as the right to comprehensive health care.
The meeting was convened at the premises of the prisons directorate and in collaboration with the directorate for prisons within the Ministry of Justice which was represented by Judge Raja Abi Nader.  Discussions revolved around women prisoners’ right to education, work and rehabilitation as well as to benefits from legal stipulations for diminished sentences as well as to communication with their families.
Judge Abi Nader shared the official strategy adopted by the directorate for prisons and highlighted actions carried out now and in pipeline for the future.  Representatives of participating organizations proposed various forms of collaboration with the directorate so as to help the state as well as the prison authorities in meeting international human rights standards.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 3 March 2014

The Rassmeblement Democratique des Femmes Libanaises, organised in collaboration with Dar el Amal, a sit-in in solidarity with the rights of women prisoners in Lebanon.  The slogan of the sit in was “they have the right to live in dignity” and was organised to coincide with the international 16 day campaign to combat violence against women and within the framework of the joint project entitled “Reinforcing the role of media to endorse the policies and the practices of human rights in women prisons in Lebanon”.
The women activists delivered a Memorandum of demands to the Minister of Justice requesting him to take into consideration the special needs of women prisoners, namely conducting a general medical exam as soon as they are detailed or incarcerated in addition to upholding their rights to be rehabilitated and reintegrated in society, upholding their right to communicate with their families, and to access legal and psychological support.  The Memorandum also calls for operationalising the existing legal aid support within the Ministry of Justice and for reducing detention and incarceration time.  The Memorandum further requests that the administration of prisons be improved, and prison wardens, physicians, nurses and doctors be trained in gender and in rights based approaches.
In a related vein, Al Akhbar newspaper published a report on the situation of women prisons highlighting that they are architecturally ill equipped to serve as prisons except in the case of the women prison in Tripoli.  This matter has negative consequences on the situation within prisons which fluctuates between bad and inhumane according to the study carried out by NGOs with regards to the condition of incarceration centres for women.  The report also noted that services provided by NGOs are partial, with religious NGOs leading in the provision of services in the midst of a quasi absence of educational, entertainment and cultural services.  A previous study carried out three years ago noted that of 10000 NGOs registered at the Ministry of Interior; only 20 associations are active within women prisons of which 10 groups do occasional one-time activities.  The study further highlighted the absence of coordination amongst these NGOs.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Safir, Al-Nahar, The Daily star 11 December 2013

As Safir published a new report on the situation of women prisoners in Lebanon which coincided with the holding of the workshop entitled “Reinforcing the role of media to endorse the policies and the practices of human rights in women prisons in Lebanon” and which was organised by Diakonia last week in its offices in Ras el Nabeh.  The event was organised within the framework of the “Reinforcing policies and the practices of human rights in women prisons in Lebanon” project which is implemented by The Rassemblement Democratique des Femmes Libanaise (RDFL), Dar el Amal, Caritas Lebanon – Migrant centre and Diakonia.
The newspaper report focused on the field and legal realities which were discussed at the said workshop while noting the gap in the law which regulates prison (1949) which does not comply with any international standards of human rights in prison.  The report also noted that according to international standards, prisons should play the role of administering punishment, rehabilitation and protection of the rights of women in Lebanon.  According to Diakonia, this is not the case of women prisons in Lebanon where migrant prisoners suffer from gross violations such as additional exclusion, and absence of any separation between women who are detailed and those who are actually convicted.  Furthermore prisons do not differentiate between civil and penal crimes, and women who are detained are not allowed to contact their families, while cases of physical and sexual violence are not recorded.  Women' privacy is not respected and their cases are often discussed publicly. They do not benefit from any training and are not able to learn new skills or do any work for pay.  In addition, there are no libraries and no spaces for training or physical exercises.
The report includes stories of three women prisoners who reveal cases of oppression of women by women.  One narrative says that the prisoner has forgotten about oppression by men on the streets as she has to deal with oppression by fellow women prisons. Another woman talks about working for all the other women who may give her some money or cigarettes in return or may not.  One migrant woman prisoner shares her story of life in prison where other prisoners call her the "black woman" and force her to move the garbage.  She complains about being called back and being forced to do all the work and is denied food or clothes from fellow Ethiopians.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Safir 5 November 2013

Within the framework of the project entitled “Strengthening human rights policies and practices in prisons for women in Lebanon”, implemented in collaboration with Diakonia, Dar el Amal and Caritas-Lebanon Migrants Centre, the Rassemblement Democratique des Femmes Libanaises )RDFL(, organised last week a seminar at the municipality in Jounieh on the reform of policies and practices related to human rights within women’s prisons in Lebanon and so as to reach gender equality in family laws, penal code and social security.
The coordinator of the project, Manar Zeiater, presented during her intervention at the seminar, an overview of the situation of women as well as the issues faced within women’s prisons.  She highlighted the main recommendations regarding the needed reforms of laws and policies and which emerged as a result of the studies and reports prepared by the project partners, namely the need to take into consideration the specific health needs of women in prisons, their right to comprehensive medical checkups upon entering the prison, to reproductive, sexual and preventive health care as well as providing special needs for women namely safe nutrition in adequate quantities with due attention to pregnant and lactating mothers and women with special needs, in addition to giving due consideration to women’s personal hygiene.  Zeiater also outlined the various ways to boost women’s participation in campaign to protect them from violence and to improving conditions in prisons so that prisons meet international standards of human rights and also clarified the various mechanisms to secure the rights of women prisoners and to respecting the rights of detainees.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 27 October 2013

The EU and SIDA funded EU-funded project entitled “Strengthening human rights policies and practices in prisons for women in Lebanon” was recently launched after the approval of the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities and the General Directorate of Internal Security.  The project is implemented by Diakonia in collaboration with Dar al Amal, Caritas Lebanon – Migrants’ Centre and the Rassemblement Democratique des Femmes Libanaises.
Within the framework of this project, a training workshop was launched for 4 women wardens working in the following women prisons of Lebanon: Baabda, Tripoli, Zahleh and Barbar Al-Khazen, and with the participation of social work specialists.  The 4 wardens are expected to receive training kits to help them training thereafter other wardens with the objective of strengthening human rights in these prisons as well as intervene in conflict resolution.
The project includes a number of objectives namely developing training curricula, building the capacities of women working in prisons, offering legal and social awareness sessions for women prisoners, undertaking studies about the situation of prisoners in Lebanon, developing a draft law as well as supporting advocacy campaigns for improving the situations in the Lebanese prisons so as they meet international human rights standards.
Also, and within the framework of this project, a website was initiated in order to shed the light on activities, advocacy initiatives and other efforts aiming towards improving the condition of women prisons in Lebanon and  provide information to all those concerned with this matter. http://www.lebanonprisons.org
Source: Al-Safir 23 August 2013