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Campaign to raise age of marriage, proposal to amend law on domestic violence

26-11-2018

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, on November 25 of every year, which coincides with the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign (till December 10), the Presidential Palace in Baabda was lit orange yesterday to mark the occasion and express hope for a bright future free from all forms of violence. In a related development, UN Women and NCLW launched a joint campaign to raise awareness on the consequences and implications of gender-based violence and gender inequality. The said campaign calls especially for ending child marriage in Lebanon, which is considered a form of gender-based violence, through the adoption of a legislation raising the minimum age of marriage to 18 years. Named Bakirr Alaya, the campaign was launched on social media under the hashtag #Bakirr3laya. In parallel, and in collaboration with Kafa organization and NCLW, MPs Ibrahim Kenaan, Estaphan Dweihi, Paula Yacoubian, Taymour Jumblat, Sammy Gemayel, Shamel Rukuz and Michel Moussa are holing a news conference today to present the proposal for amendment of the Domestic Violence Law No. 293/2014. For its part, Al Diyar newspaper reported in an investigative feature published today that Arab women are among the world’s most vulnerable women, with nearly one third of them victims of violence. (For more on the article, click on https://goo.gl/3LTxEX). (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, November 25, 26, 2018)

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Tunisia approves gender equality in inheritance

26-11-2018

The Tunisian cabinet on Friday approved the law on gender equality in inheritance, under the guidance of President Beji Caid Essebsi, noting that the parliament will discuss it to become effective, Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) reported. The draft bill, suggested by Essebsi last August has sparked wide controversy in the North African country and outside, as it sought to make equality the general rule. It basically guarantees a freedom of choice of either following the constitution or the sharia Islamic law through a contract at the notary. The official spokesperson for the presidency, Saeeda Qarrash, explained that the initiative upholds the struggles of generations and activists for Tunisian women’s social and economic rights, as well as, promotes the gender equality mindset. “We have maintained the same principle, which is the relevance of proposals to the constitution to the end of enforcing equality in inheritance, legally, while leaving a margin of freedom for the heir should he decide to divide the legacy according to the current system,” Qarrash added. (Al Hayat, November, 25, 2018)

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Call for gender equality in inheritance in Tunisia steers controversy
Tunisian President refers the gender equality inheritance law to parliament

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On Independence Day: My Nationality Campaign calls for knocking down legal colonization

23-11-2018

On the 75th Independence Day, while Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese are still denied the right to confer nationality to their family members, My Nationality is a Right for Me and My Family campaign called on concerned women and their children to post comments on its Facebook page and speak out against the discriminatory actions which deprive them of their basic civil rights (https://bit.ly/2R93Shq). The posts stressed that no independence is complete under the outdated French Mandate laws, calling for the overthrow of legal colonialism through the hashtag #Down_with_legal_colonialism. Real independence, they agreed, is achieved with the enactment of an unprejudiced nationality law which ensures gender equality. Below are samples of the comments published on the Campaign’s FB site: “Discrimination in the nationality law imposes its mandate on the women of Lebanon”; “Outdated legislations and a fake independence”; “Down with discriminatory laws, Mandate laws and residual laws of colonialism”; “Our children belong to this nation despite the injustice and bigotry affecting them”; “Discrimination against women is a great loss to the nation”; “My children are strangers in their country”; “What independence are you referring to, and what are you celebrating while my children remain stateless”; “No independence is complete without a fair nationality law” and “My children at school rehearse poems for the Independence occasion, I pity them, they want a homeland, but the latter does not want them”.

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Women activists in Saudi Arabia sexually harassed, tortured

23-11-2018

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accused Saudi Arabia on Tuesday of torturing and harassing dissident voices, including female human rights activists detained since last May, despite Saudi refutation of the charges. Citing informed sources, HRW pointed out that Saudi interrogators had tortured at least three Saudi women activists. Similarly, Amnesty said that due to repeated electrocution and flogging, these women can no longer walk or stand property, adding that one woman was sexually harassed by masked interrogators. On the subject, Amnesty International Middle East Research Director, Lynn Maalouf, said that these shocking reports of torture, sexual harassment and other forms of ill-treatment, if verified, uncover further appalling human rights violations by Saudi authorities, demanding an immediate and unconditional release of advocates of human rights detained only for their peaceful work. She also called for a prompt and thorough investigation into the reports of torture and holding those responsible to account. (Al Diyar, November 22, 2018)

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High rate of lung cancer among women in Lebanon!

19-11-2018

The rate of lung cancer among women, especially, is increasing in Lebanon, An Nahar reported. The head of Pulmonary & Critical Care at CMC and Lebanese University-Medical School, Professor Wajdy Abi Saleh, explained to An Nahar that the incidence of lung cancer is expanding not only in Lebanon, but also globally, because of an increase in smoking rates. Smokers are 20 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers. Abi Saleh presented factors that contribute to lung cancer, notably, aging and prolonged life, as well as air pollution resulting from traffic and the open burning of waste in Lebanon. The data of the Lebanese National Cancer Registry- the Ministry of Health, has recorded 702 lung cancer incidences, including 502 among males against 200 among females. The newest incidences reached 1212 in 2015, including 813 among males and 399 among females, according to Abi Saleh. And while pointing to the absence of early warning signs of lung cancer, Abi Saleh stressed the importance of early diagnosis, especially at the age of 55, through periodic tests, like chest X-rays, revealing that early detection contributes to reducing by 20% deaths resulting from lung cancer. (An Nahar, November 17, 2018)

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Reported cases of violence against women in Beirut, Shweifat and Akkar

19-11-2018

The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced in a statement yesterday that the Public Relations department received a complaint from an underage girl about so-named Tirex who is blackmailing her with posting her pics on social media if she does not give in to him. Upon surveillance and investigation, the ISF was able to arrest the suspect in the locality of St Therese, the statement said. On the same day, the ISF circulated pictures of Sara Charbel Jaber (16 years) who went missing after she left her house in Shweifat on 2/11/2018, and Rasha Khudr Aseel (22) who left her house in Jdeidet Kaita’, Akkar, on 14/11/2018 and disappeared. In a related development, Al Mustaqbal newspaper today reported that B.G could find no other way to persuade his wife to return to him but to accuse her parents of abducting her with her underage boy. He went as far as accusing her own father of sexually harassing her and filed a complaint to this effect, the newspaper said. But investigation revealed later that the husband has fabricated lies and evidence to indict the family with kidnapping their daughter and grandson. Recalling, that the wife has fled with her son to her parents’ house in Beirut because the husband used to beat her under the influence of drugs and alcohol, according to her brother. (Al Mustaqbal, November 17, 2018)
 

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Violence against women in the north, trial of wife killer rescheduled
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Baby girl found in Saida, campaign highlights violence against children
More on violence against women and children
 

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Violence against women in the north, trial of wife killer rescheduled

16-11-2018

In the latest of violence against women, an ISF patrol in Akkar arrested yesterday a Syrian young man on charges of abduction for the purpose of marriage. A Syrian woman was also detained on charges of adultery and running away with her two underage daughters (6 and 4 years). The suspects were referred to Halba police station. Concurrently, the Army Command announced that, after a video circulated showing a soldier’s wife, N.S forcing another woman to kiss her foot, a man, Y.S shot his sister and her husband in the Lebanese Army in Minyeh, killing her and wounding her husband. The attacker was arrested. On the other hand, the head of Mount Lebanon Criminal Court, Judge Elie Helou, postponed till next February 14, the trial of Ali Zein, killer of wife Sarah Amin, for the absence of witnesses and psychiatrists requested to give their testimonies, and noting that the given date is an official holiday. The Amin family attorney said that the defense attorney is repeatedly procrastinating in the case, which goes back to 2015 when the culprit killed his wife at their house in Aramoun (https://goo.gl/b4kXdY). When the court session was adjourned, the victim’s mother told the judge: “I wish the sentence will be pronounced before I die.” (Al Mustaqbal, November 16, 2018)

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#Makrura campaign to criminalize sexual harassment

16-11-2018

As part of its activism to criminalize sexual harassment and enact the draft law submitted to parliament since March 2017, (c.f: https://bit.ly/2RRk9rs), Kafa, Enough Violence and Exploitation organization launched a new campaign early this week under the hashtag #Makroura. The latter, who signifies every girl or woman subjected to sexual abuse at the workplace, in the street or any public space, exposes in three videos the crimes of sexual violence, notably, harassment, rape and assault. Makrura also clarifies the differences and relation between them and the effects of sexual abuse on the victim. To recall, a year ago, the global “Me Too” campaign was kicked off (c.f: https://bit.ly/2B9QzYu) and Kafa was part of it. The association asked girls and women to report in writing their experiences with sexual harassment, noting in the promotional campaign on social media that the three videos were extracted from these accounts. More on the link below: https://www.facebook.com/kafa.lb. (L’Orient Le Jour, November 16, 2018)

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Religious jihad against vice: What about trafficking and violence against women in Lebanon?

14-11-2018

At a time when spiritual circles in Lebanon trade in moral codes to attack personal freedoms under the pretext of fighting immorality and sin, (c.f: https://bit.ly/2RVy3J4), trafficking in women continues at a large scale. Furthermore, on-going dysfunction within families, violence against women, migrant domestic workers and children, which in some cases take the form of murder, suicide, or more tacitly moral abuse and neglect, hardly ever motivate religious chiefs to interfere in what they generally consider as personal matters. In the latest on trafficking in women, the Anti-Human Trafficking and Morals Protection Bureau revealed that, based on information it has about an unknown woman facilitating prostitution work and managing an upscale prostitution ring (USD 1500 for 60 minutes of sex), and following surveillance action, it uncovered the identity of the procurer. Claudia F, a Venezuelan national, runs the ring from Spain, and has used one of the Beirut hotels to carry out her services. She was reportedly persuaded to come to Lebanon and arrested with two Spanish and Ukranian women. Claudia, who admitted to facilitating sex work for girls in return for a percentage of the profits, was referred to the competent judiciary along with the other suspects. (Al Mustaqbal, November 14, 2018)

 
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Lebanese confessions assaulting personal freedoms
Former Mufti of the Republic intervenes to cancel LGBT party
Selection from recorded daily violence against women
Mother jailed for refusing to hand child to father, women trafficking ring busted
 

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Rural women development project completed in Akkar

14-11-2018

In collaboration with the Muicipality of Qubiyat and the Union of Municipalities of Jurd Kaita’ and Juma, and under the patronage of the minister of state for administrative reform (OMSAR), Inaya Ezzedine, the Safadi Foundation concludes today the “Women Active in Rural Economic Development- WARED” program. The event takes place at the premises of the Safadi Foundation for Agricultural Development- Deir Dalum, Akkar. The program, which is part of Afkar 3 program funded by the EU and managed by OMSAR, was launched on December 1, 2016. Its aim is to promote the role of women as catalysts for achieving a balanced and sustainable economic development in Akkar, build their capacities to use modern technology in the manufacture of traditional agro-food products, and diversify and expand the sources of income in the aromatic plant production. (Al Akhbar, November 13, 2018)
 

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