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Ogassapian: Laws related to women are archaic and gender biased

6-7-2017

The office of the minister of state for women’s affairs, Jean Ogassapian, and the International Commission of Jurists organized yesterday a workshop entitled, ‘Addressing obstacles to access to justice for women in Lebanon’. The event took place at the Beirut Bar Association (BBA) in the presence of Ogassapian, the representative of BBA president, Lawyer Asmaa Dagher Hamadeh and a group of concerned people. In his opening address, Ogassapian pointed out that the issue of women’s rights has its roots in society, “and man, in this respect, is largely responsible, being the supporter of the laws that impede a woman’s access to her rights.” The minister went on to describe such laws as outdated and unable to promote equality, but in fact deprive women of their right to participate in political life and in sovereign decisions. Such injustice, Ogassapian maintained, is a loss to the State and amounts to absence of justice.” The minister also touched on the prejudice in legislations concerning women especially at the family level, noting a serious defect that necessitates adjustment and amendment in close cooperation with concerned associations, lawyers and civil society groups. He stressed on legislations related to the penal code, social security and the criminalizing of sexual harassment. For her part, Hamadeh said the goal of the conference is to create a legal strategy-based apparatus among women human rights lawyers that allow access to legal knowledge and justice. (Al Mustaqbal, July 6, 2017)

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Al Fanar Foundation promotes women’s role, improves child education

5-7-2017

L’Orient Le Jour highlighted today the accomplishments of a philanthropy venture, Al Fanar Foundation(http://www.alfanar.org.uk/), that works exclusively in the Arab world with the aim to promote the role of women and improve child education. The newspaper spoke to the director of Al Fanar’s Lebanon branch in post since 2016, Michelle Mouracade who boasts 27 years of experience in the field of IT outside Lebanon. Mouracade outlined to L’Orient Le Jour reporter Al Fanar’s mission which basically seeks to strengthen grassroots non-profit organizations that serve the region’s most disadvantaged and deprived populations. Al Fanar, she said, bolsters their capacities to generate sustainable returns through provision of proper financial support aided with training in order to become resilient and financially maintainable, and eventually contribute to creation of jobs in their local communities. To read the original article in l’Orient le Jour, visit: https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1060642/michelle-mouracade-aider-a-aider.html (L’Orient Le Jour, July 5, 2017)

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Migrant domestic worker found guilty of murder of child Celine

5-7-2017

The Criminal Court of Beirut chaired by Judge Hani Abdel Mounim Hajjar pronounced yesterday its verdict in the murder of toddler Celine Rakan. The Ethiopian domestic worker, Bosai, was sentenced to 20-years imprisonment with hard labor and forced to pay in personal compensation the amount of LBP 150 million to plaintiff, Celine’s father, Yasser Rakan. It should be noted, that the case of Rakan has been surrounded with conflicting reports and inconsistent information which did not help in unmasking the truth about the killing in the beginning. The father originally said his daughter died after being administered a vaccine, only to claim later after uncovering security footage from inside the house that Bosai has strangled his child and stolen items from his residence. Bosai, for her part, has accused the father of sexual harassment. The Felony Court compiled in its 18-page sentence all statements made by the suspect at all stages of the investigation process, as well as testimonies of eyewitnesses, mainly doctors, focusing on the surveillance cameras inside the house, which showed that Bosai had disconnected and later reconnected the power twice. The sentence also outlined all the suspect’s statements before the court and arrived at an indubitable conviction that Bosai has killed Celine . (Al Mustaqbal, July 5, 2017)
 

Previous related news:
Domestic violence daily reporting in Lebanon!
Celine’s case to be heard in court and retrial for the accused in the murder of Eliane
Trial of Ethiopian housemaid allegedly involved in the death of child Rakan in later 2014

 

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Shiite National Campaign to Increase Custody Age

5-7-2017

The head of the National Campaign to Increase the Age of Custody for the Shiite Sect, Zeina Ibrahim, has reportedly begun a new battle to get the custody of her 7-year old child from her ex-husband who, after 5 years of abandonment due to an agreement between the two, and in order to pressure the mother, decided to take back his son. The paradox, Al Akhbar newspaper today wrote, is that the child will live with his paternal grandparents, because the father does not have a separate or child-friendly home, whereas the mother owns an independent house where the child has lived for years. The newspaper went on to say, that for the moment, the child lives with his grandparents after Ibrahim handed him over to his father to avoid placing him in situations of tension, disclosing that she is about to file a lawsuit at the Jaafarite Court to get a joint custody of her son. This poses a real challenge for many mothers out there who lie in wait for fair verdicts in the absence of a civil personal status law, Al Akhbar said. In conclusion, the newspaper stressed that the incident has reawakened the issue of custody under the sectarian system to reiterate the need to adopt a civil law that examines each case separately to ensure the interests of the child. (Al Akhbar, July 5, 2017)

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Women’s lived realities still ignored by political circles

4-7-2017

Every passing day brings news of a suicide by a migrant domestic worker or the discovery of a prostitution and trafficking ring, amidst complete official political indifference, especially from the minister of state for women’s affairs, Jean Ogassapian, to deal with these problems, preferring to focus on elections. In this respect, and during a seminar organized within the framework of the International Center for Human Sciences in Byblos which read, ‘feminist accountability in issues of human rights’, Ogassapian seemed preoccupied with the next parliamentary elections. He urged the Lebanese people to practice accountability and not cast their votes for electoral lists if women candidates are not included so as not to reinforce the patriarchal society, he said, even if the balloter had to abstain from backing his party’s list. On another vein, a patrol of the South and Regional Directorate of State Security arrested a Palestinian national, 20 years, who confessed during interrogation, that he, with a Lebanese partner, have lured girls into prostitution. The suspects were referred to competent judiciary for further investigation. In a related vein, an Ethiopian migrant domestic worker (36 years) died Thursday threw herself from the sixth floor at a building in Tyre, after her employer returned her to the recruitment agency. The Lebanese Red Cross arrived to collect her body while security forces started an investigation into the death. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, July 2, 4, 2017)

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Iffat Idriss, portray of an environmental activist

4-7-2017

In its issue of June 21, L’Orient Le Jour, portrayed the social and environmental accomplishments of Iffat Idriss, founder and chairperson, since 1997, of Cedars for Care and the Big Blue Association initiatives. To note, the work of said associations is based on cleaning, rehabilitation and restoration of Lebanon’s coastline and the protection of marine turtles, in collaboration with concerned environmental societies. Speaking to L’Orient Le Jour, Idriss stressed that despite persistent challenges with the local authorities, she never retreated, pointing one bold activity she keeps with other concerned activists is the beach clean-up event on Environment Day on the second week of May of each year, while stressing that after 20 years of efforts results are positive. She also mentioned her founding of a turtle clinic on Ramlet el Baida run by experts. (L’Orient Le Jour, June 21, 2017)

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ISO standards for Lebanese educational institutions

4-7-2017

The ministers of industry and education, Hussein Haj Hassan and Marwan Hamadeh, opened for the first time in Lebanon the works of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) affiliated committee involved with setting quality specifications in academic institutions. The event which took place yesterday was organized by the Lebanese Standards and Specifications Institution (LIBNOR), with the participation of representatives from 25 countries, the head of the Specialized International Committee at ISO, Sonyong Yoon, and ISO experts. On the occasion, Hamadeh said the development of educational institutions according to modern standards in an accelerating digital world has become a necessity to enhance the administration, performance and services of these institutions. Hamadeh hailed the significance of hosting this global meeting in Beirut, given the anticipated output of a sector concerned with the orientation and preparation of Lebanon’s treasured human resources that are supposed to build and develop the nation. For his part, Haj Hassan, emphasized the importance of setting new mandatory, and not optional, specifications to establish a framework for quality and management, increase productivity and secure the safety of products as well as overall safety across the industrial, engineering, construction and food sectors, up to the administrative systems in the educational institutions. (Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, July 4, 2017)

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MoSA and Lebanese Food Bank partnership

4-7-2017

The ministry of social affairs (MoSA) said it will soon be launching a partnership with the Lebanese Food Bank charity. The aim, MoSA explained, is to reach food and finance sources and expand the network of beneficiaries and emergency crew, pointing that it currently provides monthly rations for over 10 thousand households through a special food card. On the announcement, the Food Bank president, Kamal Sinno, pointed out that nearly 37.5% of the Lebanese people are deprived and needy, with 400 thousand living under the poverty line. “Hunger has been breeding in disguise since years in Lebanon,” Sinno maintained, making clear that the Bank does not buy or cook meals. “Food is there but is misspent,” he lamented, pointing to endless sources of food from: wedding events and festivities, regular donations from concerned bakeries, ready meals prepared by generous housewives, food surplus from hotels and eateries, veggies and fruits from farmers and importers, in addition to all kinds of non-expired canned goods. A key rule of the Food Bank, Sinno clarified, is that it takes from all areas of Lebanon and distributes to everyone across the country. Delivery operates through 70 local associations carefully selected out of 11 thousand involved groups, Sinno said. The Bank’s work is not limited to distributing food only, but also receives and supplies stationaries, kitchen utensils, infant milk, furniture, toys, cleaning accessories and unused wear, Sinno concluded. (Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, July 2, 2017)

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Lebanon industry present at Fancy Food Show in NYC

3-7-2017

The Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) represented by its chair, Nabil Itani, inaugurated on Friday the Lebanese pavilion at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City with the contribution of a crowd of industrialists and owners of agro-food industries. In his opening address, Itani stressed the significance of this move by IDAL to support the participation of the largest number of industries in such exhibitions. The US market, he maintained, looks very promising in terms of its scale and the extensive presence of Arab and Lebanese communities, in addition to the exemption from customs that the Lebanese exports enjoy when entering the US. Outlining a number of objectives from partaking in the Fancy Food Show event, Itani said it introduces and increases the exports to US markets of made-in-Lebanon goods, familiarizes Lebanese industries with top notch production and packaging applications and creates an exchange platform between exporters and commercial centers in the Americas. IDAL president disclosed that as many Lebanese food products now boast high quality and food safety standards and are very competitive, they get wider access to multiple outlets around the globe. Moreover, the agro-food sector has demonstrated resilience over the years due to many positive factors which allowed it to achieve a quantum leap in the past few years, (accounting for nearly 2.6% of GDP), Itani noted. (Al Diyar, July 1, 2017)

 

Previous related news:
Lebanese agro-food in New York
Government covers cost of Lebanese participation in international fairs

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New prostitution ring and trafficking involving Syrian women busted in Junieh

3-7-2017

Only one week from the discovery of a prostitution network in Zahleh, the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced that the Anti-Human Trafficking and Morals Protection Bureau at the Judiciary Police Unit has information on a man facilitating prostitution for a number of girls inside one of Junyeh hotels, north of the capital. Following surveillance, on 2/7/2017, a squad of the above Unit arrested the suspect identified as B.A, Lebanese, born in 1989 and known as Batrusa after a successful raid on his house in Halat, Jbeil, the ISF statement said. The Unit also busted the hotel in Junyeh and arrested four women, all Syrian nationals, working for Batrusa who is wanted on a number of human trafficking charges. Investigation is underway under competent judiciary. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, July 3, 2017)

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