News

Dar Onboz launched a new initiative, “Fikri Baladi” inviting Lebanese producers and artisans from various regions to display their products every Wednesday at its Beirut-based house. The market opened last week showcasing soap produced by Artisan Nelly Chemali which attracted a flock of visitors, according to Al Akhbar. For more on the subject, the newspaper spoke to the owner of Dar Onboz publishing, Nadine Touma, who stressed that the initiative contributes to opening the Beirut market to rural producers. But this market, Touma stressed, should be reinforced with similar ventures in order to face the current economic crunch. Touma underlined the need, now more than anytime, to kick off or activate local bazaars to support artisans and craft workers with all means, pointing to market giants that menace small crafts persons restricting them to remote regions. Touma concluded by saying, Dar Onboz seeks to call more tradespersons in order to exhibit a diversity of artisanal handicrafts, including pottery, crop seeds and traditional mouneh items. Today, Amal and Rudaina from Rashaya will put on show their lip-smacking rural foods and home-made cheeses and labneh, she boasted. (Al Akhbar, July 15, 2020)
 

A UN Women study published on Monday has warned about a possible impact of the current economic downturn on women’s work in Lebanon that could reduce their participation in the labor market by 14% to 19% against the current rate of 29%. The study entitled, “Gender-Responsive Recovery in Lebanon: Recommendations for Fiscal, Social and Labor Policy Reform” was announced in a statement by UN Women on its policies in the reforms projected to alleviate the loss in terms of women’s participation in national economy. The study called for supporting and investing in reform and social protection systems in the country, in addition to giving priority to addressing gender-based discrimination still prevalent within the social protection tools and laws. It also endorsed extending the period of paid maternity leave and adopting a paid paternity leave, as well as developing a maternity insurance program to be covered by the Social Security Fund in order to reduce employers’ incentives in giving priority to male recruitment. In conclusion, the study advised reforming the kafala (sponsorship) system in Lebanon to the end of protecting the rights of migrant women domestic workers. (more on the following link: https://bit.ly/3ewkydA). (NNA, July 13, 2020)
 

The ministry of labor jointly with the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) launched on Friday a hotline (1741) to receive complaints of migrant women domestic workers in case of any emergency or need for assistance or consultation. An NCLW statement pointed out that the hotline is part of an awareness campaign aimed to help migrant workers and uphold their rights. Competent social workers, the statement added, will receive the calls in line with a specific mechanism set in coordination with ILO and several concerned organizations. MWDWs will get the psychological support they need to this effect. (NNA, July 10, 2020)
 
 

The Directorate General of the Internal Security Forces (ISF)- Public Relations Department, announced in a statement yesterday that it received information about a teacher who has sexually harassed a number of  underage and adult students and sends SMS messages and videos of himself naked. The statement went on to say, that after surveillance, the alleged harasser was identified, as a 30-year-old Lebanese, and was arrested and referred to the competent judiciary. Upon interrogation, he admitted to the charges, confessing that he extorted his students and lured them into visiting his house claiming he wanted to help them with their study. In this respect, MP Enaya Ezzedine, head of the Woman and Child Parliamentary Committee, said in a tweet: “News of sexual harassment in the country is increasing substantially which prompts an immediate enactment of a draft law criminalizing sexual harassment.” She pointed out that the proposal she submitted last year is currently under deliberation by the Administration and Justice Committee after being approved by the Woman and Child Committee. (Al Diyar, July 13, 2020)
 

In its issue of July 11, Al Akhbar wrote that with the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and the escalating financial and economic crisis, many Lebanese returned to their villages in the South encouraged by local municipal initiatives that distributed seedlings for the reclamation of neglected land. On the subject, the newspaper spoke to farmer Hussein Awada, in his sixties, who lamented unorganized farming in his town of Khiyam which largely depends on the personal experience of farmers. It is mainly done in the absence of agricultural extension and government support, specifically in terms of provision of irrigation of lands far from Dardara spring, in addition to the mushrooming illegal constructions and the spread of pollution resulting from the disruption of the wastewater treatment plant near Marjeyoun. Likewise, farmer Hassan Ayoub from Houla, regretted that he cannot water part of the crops he grew due to the continuous interruption of water. He said nearly 70% of the town’s residents returned to agriculture, and enthusiasm increased especially after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s call to this end. The first problem to be addressed, Ayoub added, is the ill-managed distribution of water on the towns in the area. For his part, the mayor of Aitroun, Salim Murad, explained that the remarkable demand for cultivation was unplanned and disorganized. Many crops were hit by drought and diseases because of the inexperience of farmers in choosing the seedlings and grains, in addition to water scarcity. (For more info, kindly visit the link below: https://bit.ly/3fBlRcV). (Al Akhbar, July 11, 2020)