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Lebanese authorities attempted to stop NEDWA, the annual regional conference on gender rights organized by the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFE) in Lebanon. The 3-day event (September 28-30) had gathered more than 100 activists from 12 MENA countries. In the details, the General Security and the Muslim Scholars Council tried to shut the conference after accusing the organizers of promoting “perversion” and “drug abuse”. On the second day of the conference, AFE executive director, George Azzi, refused to sign a pledge to cancel this year’s event and any similar future event. Accordingly, the GS forced Le Crillon Hotel to stop the conference, which drove organizers to move it to another hotel but faced the same pressure. This is not the first time that religious groups collaborate with Lebanese officials to end gender related activities. In a press conference held by AFE at Small Ville hotel in Badaro, Azzi described the incident as part of a systematic war against freedoms that has been unleashed in Lebanon recently. He said that AFE chose Lebanon to host its annual conference counting on its repute as a venue that still celebrates liberties contrary to other countries in the region. Azzi cautioned that the space for freedom is getting smaller every day, pointing to the coconspirator role of the security apparatus against this human rights issue, which instead of protecting liberties, support extremist factions. (AL Akhbar, October 5, 2018)

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Human Rights Watch said yesterday that Lebanon should amend the discriminatory nationality law to ensure that children and spouses of Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese have the right to citizenship similarly to Lebanese men. Lebanon must end all forms of discrimination against women and their spouses and children in the nationality law, HRW added. The organization called on the ministries of labor, health and education to adopt and publicize decrees that treat spouses and children of Lebanese women on par with the rest of Lebanese citizens to ensure they are not deprived of their basic rights and services. The organization maintained that the current nationality law discriminates against Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese and consequently against their children and spouses through denying them citizenship. The current law affects the lives of children and couples in all respects, including their legal residency and access to the job market, education, social services and subsidized medical care, and puts many children at risk of becoming stateless. The deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, Lama Fakih, for her part, said the Lebanese parliament should amend the outdated nationality law that goes back to the French Mandate era because it has been causing unwanted and unjustified suffering for more than 90 years. Securing basic rights for the children and spouses of Lebanese women, like education and work, is a step in the right direction, Fakih said, but added, that confusing and piecemeal procedures cannot replace equal citizenship. (Al Liwaa, October 4, 2018)

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Al Diyar brought to light the fate of the religious educators in the North with the start of the new academic year which still hangs in the balance as a result of unkempt pledges made by political leaders prior to parliamentary elections to restore health insurance and financial grants from the UAE. The educators, Al Diyar wrote, asked Dar al Fatwa in Beirut to investigate the reasons behind suspension of the UAE allowances, grieving the humiliation they suffered in recent months at the doors of ministers and MPs to ask for compensating a medication, a doctor’s visit or school admission. The newspaper cited one religious educator who lamented being turned into beggars in their own country amidst a deafening silence from the Muftis of Tripoli and The Republic. On the subject, the newspaper revealed that the news of extension of the term of Mufti of Tripoli and the North, Malek Shaar, has been a shock to the teachers, as this will not change the stalemate. They sought to direct their anger to social media platforms but received instead oral notices of dismissal. Also, Al Diyar mentioned that the follow up committee on the rights of Akkar Muslim scholars is planning to escalate in the face of the ruling spiritual and political authorities after reaching the point of despair. Nearly 800 staff in the religious establishment, including imams, preachers and educators are disadvantaged, impoverished and deprived of their basic human rights. (Al Diyar, September 16, 19, 2018)

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One week after the discovery of an abandoned infant in Saida (https://goo.gl/2aXzaz), a baby girl was found inside a plastic box at the entrance of a building occupied by Syrian refugees on the outskirts of Minyara. A Syrian family spotted her and took good care of her before the security squad arrived at the scene and began investigation. The newborn was transferred to Abdallah Rassi Government Hospital where a forensic doctor examined her condition pending the results of investigation to uncover the identity of her family. (Al Mustaqbal, October 2, 2018)

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The Ministry of  Economy and Trade in collaboration with the Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Peace organized yesterday a workshop, ‘Promoting the environment of SMEs in Lebanon’. On the occasion, the minister of trade and economy, Raed Khoury, said the issue of small and medium enterprises is an intricate one that his ministry cannot manage single handely. The entrepreneurship and SME sector, he explained, are among the potential key pillars that stimulate national economy. Roughly 90% of currently active institutions in Lebanon fall under the category of SMEs, Khoury explained, pointing to the country’s long established reputation in the field of entrepreneurship. On the other hand, Khoury warned that Lebanon still faces many setbacks which delay its ability to make maximum use of the benefits offered by SMEs, hoping that drafting a proposal to this end could contribute to galvanizing their role to positively impact the overall economic status quo. The workshop, to note, included three sessions. While the first tackled the reality and size of SMEs in relation to the national economy, opportunities and challenges, legal hindrances, economic challenges and e-commerce, the second focused on the role of SMEs in stimulating economic growth, as well as, the role of the chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture, banks, business incubators, international organizations and finance institutions. The third session discussed drafting a new bill that defines the nature of SMEs in addition to a package of incentives to develop their work. (Al Mustaqbal, October 3, 2018)

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