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President Elect, General Michel Aoun underlined the importance of solidarity among all components of the civil society, economic bodies and other sectors to the end of achieving economic growth and prosperity in the country. Aoun pointed out that continuous dependence of the economy on royalties has substantially eroded the middle class and increased public debt. Aoun, during his meeting with the President of the Socio-Economic Council, Roger Nesnas, said, “we should boost productivity rather than keep on borrowing.” He called for an “all-out and comprehensive participation in efforts that will inform the right decisions to revive national economy and implement development initiatives that meet the needs of the people.” 

Notwithstanding the recent optimistic official declarations, the economic situation in Lebanon remains unchanged. In this respect, the labor minister said last week that a number of local establishments continue to lay off their employees and workers on the pretext of harsh economic and financial circumstances (for full names of the businesses, go to the following link: http://bit.ly/2g4kkRI). Meanwhile, the World Bank has released a report in mid-November reviewing the latest economic developments in Lebanon during the past 6 months. The WB has seemingly lowered its estimation of real economic growth in the country for last year from 1.5% to 1.3%. Furthermore, the WB report forecasted that public debt in the forthcoming years will continue to grow reaching nearly 148.7% of the GDP in 2016, 155.5% in 2017 and 158.4% in 2018 

(Al Diyar, An Nahar, November 14, December 4 and 6, 2016)

 

Previous related news:

All economic indicators in Lebanon down except those of banking

 

 

According to Lebanese daily newspapers the bodies of a young man and woman were discovered last Sunday in the neighborhood of Nabi Ismail on the outskirts of Hermel, Beqaa. In the details, someone found the dead bodies lying beside a military weapon and bullet casings. A security squadron and investigative police rushed to the scene of the murder while a Lebanese Red Cross medical team transferred both bodies to Hermel’s state hospital. Preliminary forensic investigation indicated that the girl, identified as F. H, (born in Kuwaykh, 1992), has been shot at a distance  21 times in all her body. The dead man was identified as A.H.R (born in 1984) shot at a close range 3 times in the stomach and chest. (An Nahar, Al Diyar, December 5, 2016)

 

The Women in Parliament coalition launched yesterday a campaign from Ain Mreiseh, Beirut entitled 'Our voice-reaching-the skies-30% women ministers'. Activists and members of the coalition demanded the participation of women by not less than 30% in the forthcoming cabinet. Banners hoisted by the campaigners read like, 'we want 7 women ministers in the 24-minister government'.  Lebanon to note came 143 out of 144 countries in terms of women political representation. Coalition coordinator, Samira Maasri, said the talk about a government that appeases all components of society should also take into consideration women’s representation. “We want the present defective situation put right. We want 30% women ministers,” Maasri warned. In the same vein, the Lebanese Women Council (LWC) called for the adjustment of legislations to be discrimination-free, and promote equality and the active participation of women in decision making. The LWC statement released during a press conference on Friday with the theme, ‘Participation of women in upcoming landmarks”, appealed for activating the role of women in senior political positions and enactment of the minimum 30% women’s quota in the executive branch. The statement also called for endorsement of a fair proportional electoral law which endorses a women’s share by at least 30% in the next Parliamentary elections. The LWC also called for a just and impartial legislative system void of any discriminatory laws against women and the abolition of Article 522 of the Penal Code which exempts a rapist from punishment if he marries his victim. On the economic and employment fronts, LWC requested an amendment of the Labor and Social Security Laws in effect so that they take in workers in the agriculture sector. Other notes by LCW, included the amendment of the text on the punishment of acts of sexual harassment at the workplace, activation of the Social and Economic Council and putting in effect women’s representation quota in senior state positions.(An Nahar, Al Mustaqbal, December 3 and 5, 2016)

 

In its edition of Saturday, An Nahar daily reported that the World Bank (WB) has suspended the financing of the ‘first time job for youth’ program agreed in 2012 with the Lebanese government through the state-run National Employment Office (NEO) (LBP 10 billion for the first phase). The pretext for the WB, the newspaper said, was the delay in the launch of the program twice for reasons of incomplete administrative and legal procedures. While justifying the right of the international institution to take the decision it deems fit, An Nahar explained that the delay was not due to a bad performance by NEO, but rather due to a disagreement on the funding mechanism between the government and the WB. The newspaper pointed out that the World Bank’s decision came within the framework of inbound global initiatives to employ a larger number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and hence the deferral of funds from the local hosting communities to displaced Syrians, with a total disregard to the exceptionally high rate of unemployment among Lebanon’s youth. An Nahar criticized the WB which, An Nahar said, has turned its offices in Beirut into an agency for marketing Syrian workforce. On the other hand, the World Bank denied categorically all the allegations by An Nahar on reallocating the funds to Syrian refugees. In this respect, the officer for Human Development Program at the World Bank, Hanin Sayid, clarified to the Daily Star newspaper that the funds have not been channeled to any refugee project whatsoever. (An Nahar, The Daily Star, December 3 and 5, 2016)

 

Beirut Investigative Judge, George Rizk, postponed, the accusatory decision in the case of child Ella Tannus, who lost her four limbs in March 2015 because of  a medical error, to 11 January 2017, and this  at the request of the hospitals that asked to meet again the  members of the medical committee, with whom they have met several times. It is to be noted that the decree was expected to be released last Wednesday, to conclude the investigation in Ella’s case against the hospitals "Al Ma3unat”, Hotel Dieu "and American University Medical Centre "and the doctors, for misdemeanors, crimes and limbs amputation, and to transmit the file to the public prosecutor, before the trial began. In another vain the Criminal Court of Cassation, headed by Judge Suheir Harakeh, has yesterday postponed the hearing session in follow up of the killer husband of Manal Assi, Mohammad Nuheili, until January 19, 2017 for incomplete court. The said court has on August 22 revoked the mitigating sentence from the death penalty to 5 years in prison against Nuheili supported by Article 252 of the Penal Code which allows the perpetrator to benefit from a reduced sentence if the crime was committed in a state of rage. (Al Mustaqbal, As Safir,  Al-Akhbar December 2, 2017)

 

Previous related news: 

Public Prosecutor appeals decision of mitigated sentence to killer of wife Manal Assi

Justice fails Manal Assi while last hope resides in the Discriminatory Prosecution

 

In an interesting article published today, Al Akhbar highlighted a study by architect Bassem Saad entitled, ‘5 square meter maid’s room: Lebanese racist, gendered architecture- failure of architecture’. In his study, Saad analyzed the role of architecture in promoting unfair treatment and discrimination against migrant women domestic workers (MWDWs). The architectural patterns in Lebanon are founded on racism particularly in the design of maids’ rooms in such that they do not encroach on the general floor area ratio of the apartment, and that the average surface area of the room should not exceed 5 square meters. Such lodgings, the study said, are unlivable and lack the proper facilities or even windows for aeration. Racist and discriminatory dispositions are literally applied in construction and maids are squeezed into isolated ‘cavities’ inside the houses, according to the study. Architects, developers and real estate brokers consider that spaces devoted for live-in help are classified under the “category of non-aesthetic service-related elements in a design that must be cleverly concealed behind several layers of architecture to ensure that they are rendered as inconspicuous as possible.” The migrant domestic worker, Saad pointed out in his study, is “driven into this fragile state, which automatically gives her a deviated presence once dissimilar cultural norms are identified.” He considered that the legal framework of architectural racism is marked in the construction law which contains several provisions related to migrant workers. Firstly, the said Law refers to migrant workers’ rooms as “servants’ rooms”, going as far as referring to the helper in a feminine form, Saad expounded. According to him, this migrant worker’s lodging type is mentioned interruptedly throughout the law and in a number of texts related to other types of rooms, such as storage and laundry spaces, which originally are not designed to house people for extended periods of time. (Al Akhbar, December 2, 2016)

 

The Food Technology project by senior students at the Lebanese Canadian University (LCU) nutrition and meal planning specialty was adapted into an annual fair where students can display the different stages of food processing. In application, students sought to invent new healthy meals conceived from ordinary food products in order to raise awareness among Lebanese consumers on methods of making and benefiting from healthy foods. The exhibition, organized under the supervision of head of the Syndicate of Nutritionists in Lebanon, Christelle Bashi Jad3un, was inaugurated yesterday at the Main Hall in LCU campus in the Keserwan town of Aintura. The expo was the result of research by students, in collaboration with numerous local food factories famed for producing assortments of dairies, cheeses, beans, chips, sausages, halawa, olives and oil, pastries, water, wine, coffee and arak. Students focused in their research on the ingredients of selected food materials and their conformity with the quality standards recognized in Lebanon. They also emphasized the natural and healthy constituents advised by nutrition specialists. (Al Diyar, December 2, 2016)