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Women sexual harassment: Growing complaints in the absence of deterring legislation

30-9-2020

Al Akhbar wrote today about sexual harassment, pointing to around 143 sexual harassment complaints reported to the ISF Public Relations Department during July and August, with a 104% increase compared to the same period of last years. Noting, that according to the ISF Directorate, the rate of female victims stood between 60% and 80%, and the grievances posted on social media were particularly about sexual extortion. The newspaper attributed the rise in the number of complaints to the coronavirus enforced lockdown which openly attracted a greater number of social media users. It went on to say, that despite the upsurge in the harassment cases, women victims hesitate about resorting to law. Furthermore, the detained suspects since the beginning of this year barely reached 133, and are often released on bail along with a signed pledge to not repeat their act! On the subject, “Harass Tracker” co-founder, Nai Raai, explained to Al Akhbar that the victims of sexual extortion are by far greater than the documented figures, citing WHO figures that indicate that 1 in 3 women have been harassed during their lifetime. Kafa lawyer, Leila Awada, also agreed with this, lamenting that the victim generally objects by speaking up only, but hesitates or shies away from taking her harasser to court or pressing charges against him. Awada clarified that there is no specific legal definition for sexual harassment in Lebanon, adding that, though harassment is dubbed by international agreements as a plain crime, the Lebanese laws don’t view it as such. The harasser continues to get away with just a bail. And when someone is charged with this felony, it routinely falls under the group of extortion, threat, humiliation and insult, but never as sexual harassment which is not observed by the local laws. It is worth mentioning, that the draft bill on criminalizing sexual harassment is still lying in the drawers of the parliamentary committees. The draft, to recall, is a sum up of several proposals submitted by former minister of women’s affairs, Jean Ogassapian, former MP Ghassan Mkhaiber, Madaniya association and the head of the Mother and Child Parliamentary Committee, Inaya Izzedine. (Al Akhbar, September 30, 2020)
 

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Woman performs among the rubble of Mar Mikhael

30-9-2020

Al Akhbar yesterday spotlighted the free street performance “Jude” opening on October 2 in the Beirut neighborhood of Mar Mkhael and which was recently devastated by the Port of Beirut blast. The play is adapted from “Jaz” by Koffi Kwahule, translated and directed by Alan Saadeh and performed by Dana Mikhael. Speaking to Al Akhbar, Saadeh said Jude is about a woman residing in a building that lacks the basics of decent living, but does her best to cleanse it and fails. She is repeatedly sexually harassed and eventually raped by one of her neighbors, Saadeh expounded. The play portrays as well the deep-rooted norms and traditions in a theatrical style in perfect illusion of reality, he added. Jude will be staged at 17:45 pm just in front of Bar Tartine restaurant.(Al Akhbar, September 29, 2020)
 

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Traditional mooneh in Beqaa in crisis, discussion in Tripoli on agriculture recovery

29-9-2020

Al Akhbar wrote on Saturday that the collapse of the exchange rate of the Lebanese lira against the dollar, combined with the absence of any monitoring by the authorities and the greed of merchants have forced the people of Beqaa to ditch the cost-inefficient mouneh supplies that used to be indispensable, like the Qawarma, and to cut down on other items, including jams, that have become expensive due to the soaring price of sugar. The Shanklish (a special kind of rural cheese) as well as frozen cereals and grains like green peas and cowpeas were also forsaken. On the subject, the newspaper spoke to Zeinab Sherif, from the Beqaa town of Yammooneh, who said that people are stockpiling the minimum of the winter provisions because of the extraordinary times and difficult living and financial conditions. Similarly, Raghida Masri, the president of the Cooperative Association of Zadat el Khayrat in Bednayel, indicated that the agricultural cooperatives also decided to abandon some pricey brands, pointing out that high production costs forced cooperatives to focus on producing for confirmed orders . In a related development, the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Tripoli and the North organized a panel discussion on September 22 on the “Reality of the Lebanese agricultural sector and ways to enhance it”. Participants in the event stressed a number of priorities notably the following: expand the budget of the ministry of agriculture so that it can play a stronger role in sustaining exporters and farmers; focus more comprehensively on the economic context; address the negative impacts of the economic crisis on agriculture; provide full support to farmers, namely in the northern areas, fight smuggling and dumping. (Al Akhbar, Al Diyar, September 22, 26, 2020)

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Jordan’s Jaber crossing reopens for Lebanese exports

29-9-2020

The impasse of the Jaber crossing on the Jordanian borders seems to have been resolved (https://bit.ly/33aW1Z7), as the Jordanian authorities announced on September 27 the resumption of land transport via its borders with Syria. Recalling, that the crossing has been closed for more than a month to prevent the spread of the coronavirus by long-distance truck drivers, according to the head of owners of shipping and transport companies in the Hashemite Kingdom, Daifallah Abu Akouleh. The crossing has reportedly reopened both ways to allow the passage of incoming and outgoing goods, as well as transit merchandise destined for GCC countries, Egypt and Iraq, in addition to shipments entering Jordan. However, the movement of passengers via the crossing has not been determined yet. Noting that, the Jaber border crossing picked up traffic at the end of 2018 after a 3-year closure due to the war in neighboring Syria, and opened for trucks only during the Covid-19 pandemic. Reminding, that the Jordanian authorities tended to open and close the crossing time after time recently (https://bit.ly / 2FLpFuI). Meanwhile, the head of the Beqaa Farmers Association, Ibrahim Tarshishi, welcomed the move by Jordan, expecting, in a statement released yesterday, that there will be no longer repeated closures of the borders which caused the destruction of hundreds of tons of agricultural products. He also hoped the Jordanian side will facilitate the passage of made-in-Lebanon goods without having to empty out the loaded shipments. ( Al Diyar, September 28, 29, 2020)

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China funds a solar energy project in Bka3touta, Kesrwan

28-9-2020

In cooperation with the China Institute for International and Strategic Studies (CIISS), the Roads Association, an affiliate of the General Foundation NGO, launched last Friday a solar energy system project benefiting 260 houses in the Kesrwan village of Bka3touta. On the occasion, General Chamel Rukuz thanked the Chinese institute for the generous donation, underlining the importance of generating energy in these difficult times. Mark Moretti, Vice Chairperson of Cogedis which implemented the project, said it took nearly 7 months to equip each of the town’s houses with three solar panels and two storage batteries generating 15 amps, equivalent to 4 hours of electricity per day. ” Because of the project, Moretti explained, the residents of Bka3touta will be able to benefit from about 415,000 kilowatts and save about USD 78,000 every year, that is around USD 300 per household. Chinese built solar systems, Al Diyar wrote, are among the most cutting-edge in the world, as China is leading amongst renewable energy producing countries. It reportedly manufactures 72% of the world’s solar panels. (Al Diyar, September 28, 2020)
 

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Baalbaq fair promotes local agro-food products

28-9-2020

The Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST) concluded last Friday the “Khayrat Baalbek-Hermel Exhibition for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Processing” at the “Community Farm” located in the Baalbaq Plains. Around 35 farmers and producers showcased their products as part of “Supporting Farmers and Improving the Agricultural Environment” project implemented by LOST in partnership with the German-based WHH organization. The 3-day activity aims to boost local agricultural production and promote food industries, such as olive oil, molasses, pickles, jams, Khishk and rose water, in addition to dairy and other traditional mooneh products. It also contributes to the creation of new markets for agricultural production and building the capacities and training of farmers on agrarian marketing, said LOST’s Tarek Shebli, who stressed that the organization is keen to ensure that the displayed products boast high food safety and health standards and are free of chemicals. The exhibition, he added, helps build a direct consumer-producer relationship and sell the goods on display. (Al Diyar, September 27, 2020)
 

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Zainab's homicide : A horrific crime crying for non-male biased justice

24-9-2020

Last week, a horrific crime shook the Burj Barajneh neighborhood in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs, when Zainab, 14, was found dead in an abandoned apartment in the area, to find out after examination by the forensic that she was set on fire. A security forces report, meanwhile, pointed to three young men who were involved in the brutal murder. The reported motives are many, including one which suggests that Zainab was sexually assaulted by three criminals before being burned alive. Another hinted at an accidental killing of the teenage girl who was present at the apartment at the time of the fire. Other stories involved an argument which developed between Zainab and one of the suspects who beat her and ended with the tragedy when she resorted to another person for protection. Regardless of the motivations behind the crime, Al Akhbar newspaper wrote that the story of Zainab brings to mind many cases where imputing the victim becomes stronger than the act of murder itself. According to lawyer Manar Zeiater, the female victim is always blamed in most cases of homicide where the perpetrator is a male. In this scenario of similar repeated crimes, the equation becomes as follows: the victim who is a woman is generally overlooked and the perpetrator receives all the empathy based on the intentions which drove him to commit his murder, Zeiater explained, adding, in Zainab’s case, the equation becomes the following: the reputation, honor and righteousness. (Al Akhbar, September 24, 2020)

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Detained Saudi rights activist on hunger strike

24-9-2020

The family of detained Saudi women’s rights activist, Loujain Hathloul, announced on September 1 that their daughter went on hunger strike in one of the Kingdom’s prisons following a visit to her cell after she spent two months in incommunicado detention. Recalling, that Loujain, 31, has been arrested in May, 2018, alongside 10 female human rights campaigners and other dissidents (https://bit.ly/2G1gaIi). In the details, Loujain’s sister, Lina, disclosed last Monday to the British newspaper, The Independent, that her sister’s health was deteriorating due to her hunger strike which she started when she learned that she will prevented from meeting or receiving calls from her family. Loujain, Lina said, has been in solitary confinement for 8 months now and is not known if or when she will get a fair trial or be freed. Prison authorities are forcing Loujain to eat and have summoned a team of doctors to this effect, threatening to tube feed her at the hospital. Lina pointed out that the condition of her elder sister has been going downhill. They want to suppress and hush her, she said, but added, at some point, they will have to release her, albeit they can’t stand to let go a strong woman. (Al Diyar, September 24, 2020)

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Women of Iran: Ministry apologies for unintended gender discriminatory booklet, women group perform in public

23-9-2020

The Iranian education ministry’s removal of illustrations of girls from the cover of a math textbook, sparked a wide controversy and uproar among social media users In Iran, with many dubbing it as flat gender discrimination. In reaction to the criticism, minister Mohsen Haji Mirzayi, apologized, saying it was an unwanted act to remove the image of girls, and will correct it. For her part, the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Masoumah Ibtikar, said that people’s concerns were legitimate, girls cannot be ignored, stressing that there was no intent to discriminate against women. On the other hand, An Nahar daily featured a musical event by a four-women band, Dingo, in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, remarking that the scene applauded by the audience is still uncommon in Iran. It cited the former director of the Music Department at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Sahar Taati, as telling AFP that no law in Iran forbids public singing by women, however, most clerics believe that female singing is “haram”. Women can sing to mixed audiences if two or more women sing together, or a female solo singer was accompanied by a male singer, Taati explained. (An Nahar, September 17, 18, 2020)

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French MPs leave Parliament over student wearing hijab!

23-9-2020

Right-wing parliamentarians and republicans on Thursday walked out of a meeting of the French legislature protesting the presence of a veiled student. On the subject, Anne-Christine Lang, member of La Republique En Marche party said in a tweet that she cannot digest the presence of a person who appears in a hijab at a meeting held at the National Assembly, the heart of democracy. She was referring to the representative of the student union at Sorbonne, Maryam Pougetoux. Lang went on to say: “As a feminist deputy and advocate of women’s rights, I cannot accept the participation of someone wearing a headscarf at the meeting.” On the other hand, the ruling party member Sandrine Morch chairing the session, said the legislators’ backlash was pointless, stressing that there were no rules that prevent individuals in religious attire from attending meetings. She warned that she would not allow the fake headscarf debate to shift the focus of the meeting tackling the future of France’s youth. Recalling, that Pougetoux, appointed in 2018 as president of the student union (UNEF) at Sorbonne University, was strongly criticized by a number of ministers for the same reason. (Al Diyar, September 19, 2020)

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