Civil e-campaign and church guide to counter sexual harassment

As part of its ‘Knowledge is Power’ project, the American University of Beirut, AUB, launched on November 14 a social media campaign to raise awareness against sexual harassment under the hashtag: # NotYourAshta# . The campaign, which was implemented in partnership with the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality, AFE, and Women in Front Association, has went viral and been shared widely by social media users who posted their views and experiences on the subject. The campaign is expected to last till November 25 to coincide with 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence event. 

On the other hand, the Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops Council in Lebanon issued a statement yesterday outlining the program of the third day of the 50th plenary session which presented a guidebook containing directives on sexual abuse of children. The guide came after a request made by the Vatican to all Episcopal Conferences around the world asking them to lay down guidelines and regulations on sexual harassment cases after having to tackle unfavorable consequences of similar incidents. Participants have discussed the contents of the guide and made proper observations, and decided to publish a French copy before submitting it to the Holy See. Participants overwhelmingly expressed their denunciation of the crime of harassment of minors, while aiming at rendering investigations objective and impartial and at clearly exposing perpetrators. (The Daily Star, An Nahar, November 17, 2016)