News

Despite the recurrence of suicide incidents among migrant women domestic workers (MWDW), local newspapers still take little notice of the news without questioning the causes behind such actions. In this respect, L’Orient Le Jour daily, in its issue of Saturday, briefly reported an attempt by an Ethiopian MWDW to throw herself from her employer’s balcony in Tripoli, North Lebanon. OLJ just noted in her security review section that the concerned woman was slightly injured and that she was being treated in hospital. (L’Orient Le Jour, March 19, 2016)

 

The Women Uprising group announced during a press conference held yesterday its adoption of a zero waste solution technology invented by engineer Ziad Abi Shaker, as the ideal environmental answer to the current waste management crisis in the country. The conference was also an occasion to declare the launching of the Beit Mery emergency center, under Abi Shaker’s supervision, which is the outcome of cooperation between the town’s municipality, Abi Shaker and the women’s group. In this respect, the founder of Women Uprising, Coreen Shidrawi, stressed the significant role of women emanating from their status as mothers and community partners, who struggle to find a viable way out of the garbage-related disaster that has become a source for all kinds of diseases and epidemics threatening the lives of the Lebanese people. For his part, Beit Mery mayor, Toni Maroun, clarified the rationale behind the municipality’s decision to adopt the zero waste option, praising the role of the above women group in spreading ecological awareness. (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, March 18, 2016)

 

The Ministry of Labor reminded in a statement released on Wednesday employers who wish to recruit foreign workforce that they need to give priority to competent Lebanese youth who qualify for available jobs. The statement warned that it is the ministry’s duty to “track and legally pursue any violator of the above term, noting that the relevant departments receiving any grievances are prepared to resolve them as fast as possible.” The ministry also appealed to all foreign companies and multinationals implementing development projects for the private and public sectors on Lebanese territory, “to initially consider the Lebanese cadres, who are numerous and of all disciplines.” On the other hand, labor ministry inspectors have processed notices and tickets for violating employers who recruit foreign workers that have no work permits or residence papers or are holders of  permits from former employers. A number of companies have been referred to the public prosecution to this effect. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, March 17, 2016)

 

Diverging stands continue surfacing over Lebanon’s planned accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the private sector obviously in favor for a number of reasons. This view was clearly articulated by the head of the Federation of Lebanese Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Mohamad Shucair, who said the country cannot remain outside the organisation like other economically weak states. Similarly, the head of the Lebanese Businessmen Gathering, Fouad Zmk7hal, considered that joining the international organization will constitute an incentive for starting sectoral and legislative reforms at the national level. In fact, he said, many WTO-stipulated provisions, notably public health and intellectual property protection, require reforms that fall in the interest of any member or non-member country. On the other hand, the president of the Lebanese Farmers’ Association, Antoine Howayek, pointed out  to An Nahar newspaper, some of the negative outcomes on agriculture, building his analysis on similar ramifications that have befallen the sector after an earlier accession to the Agreement for the Facilitation and Promotion of Intra-Arab Trade and the Lebanese-European Partnership Agreements. “Why venture into a new, probably bad, experience,” Howayek asked, describing Lebanon’s would-be membership as an outdated move. He explained that most member states are now dropping out, particularly in the wake of the 2008 world financial crisis. Only 5% of the Lebanese population, mostly big investors will benefit from the process, he added. His view was shared by the head of the Beqaa Farmers Association, Ibrahim Tarshishi who expressed his total rejection to Lebanon’s membership for the same reasons mentioned above. (An Nahar, Al Diyar, March 17 and 18, 2016)

 

In commemoration of IWD, L’Orient Le Jour daily yesterday highlighted the sad story of ‘Dina’ who, because of harsh living conditions, had to sell herself in order to sustain her only daughter. Dina, 30 years, from South Lebanon, admitted in an interview with the newspaper, that her father had forced her to marry a foreigner in exchange for some USD15 thousand when she was only 14 years old. When she turned 19, she had to flee her marital house after being constantly beaten by her violent husband and move with her daughter to her father’s place. Dina went on to describe the humiliating treatment  by her father and her step mother where they had to sleep out on the balcony and feed on leftovers. To carry on, Dina said she had to leave again and work in housekeeping at a hotel. There she met someone and married him by signing a customary contract (zawaj urfi), but not yet divorced from her first marriage. The second spouse, Dina grieved, was not better, and forced her to work as a prostitute for money before terminating the marriage contract. Today, L’Orient Le Jour wrote, Dina is homeless and lives on the streets of the capital selling her body for meagre money. Her daughter is now 14 and lives at the Lebanese Association of SOS Children’s Villages outside Beirut where she visits her once in a month. Finally, while Dina expressed hope to find a decent job with a decent but steady wage, she told the newspaper that she shall rest only when she knows that her father, the cause of her misery, has passed away. (L’Orient Le Jour, March 16, 2016)

 

In its issue of today, Al Hayat newspaper portrayed the return to traditional women-made handicrafts, particularly after the ‘import boom’ in the past few years of cheap commercial goods which covered almost all aspects of household and fashion accessories and which largely affected the local artisan industry. Since the latter, the newspaper expounded, requires extensive and strenuous work, it cannot be sold at low prices and therefore cannot compete with machine-made imported commodities. In this respect, Al Hayat pointed out that after the disruption of training workshops in rural areas, social centers regained their initiatives, particularly those related to empowerment of Syrian refugee women and their integration in the artisan sector. This, the newspaper explained, has directly impacted their Lebanese peers who live in the same area. In a tour on a group of artisan women working from their home or in collective workshops, the newspaper noted a remarkable demand on their relatively high priced products. The reason for this growing trend, L’Orient Le Jour maintained, is that customers have a preference for the possession of unique and quality handmade goods rather than low-priced poor quality products. In addition, social media has opened the door to women to promote and sell their creations on their own page, without having to worry about the cost of shop rent. On the other hand, skilled craftswomen stressed a need for official support, notably from the ministries of culture and social affairs, to help in the organizing of group exhibitions and in subsidizing raw material, as stated by pottery artist, Samira Fadel. (Al Hayat, March 17, 2016)

 

In coordination with the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO (LNCU), the Social Sciences Department at the School of Philosophy and Humanities, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, organized yesterday a lecture entitled ‘Women’s Commitment in the Arab World’. The purpose of the lecture was to shed light on the role of women as partners with men in building a community that respects human dignity and active citizenship. The event comes at a time women’s obligations have become more symbolic rather than human actions which help in bringing up a genuine non-sectarian society, as said the head of the Social Studies department, Professor Mirna Abbud Mizawak. Likewise, the LNCU secretary general, Zahida Jabbur, underlined the significant role of women in the Arab World despite “discriminatory traditions”. “It is time for women to strengthen  their presence, which in fact has started to develop as we can see in the steady increase in the number of women students at the various colleges, institutes and disciplines. At times, these numbers exceeded that of male students,” Jabbur said. For her part, Dr. Carol Andres Dissourn of LNCU, pointed out that women’s issues are part of the larger cause of humanity and cannot be “narrowed down to advocates of women who oppose men,” as she put it. “Many men have believed and still believe in women’s commitment to their society,” Dissourn said, adding, that the commitment of Arab women in particular is not new, but has a long history of struggle to attain their rights, and achieve citizenship and Pan-Arabism. (An Nahar, March 16, 2016)

 

The Minister of Industry (MoI), Dr. Hussein Haj Hassan, discussed on Monday with the Association of Lebanese Industrialists (ALI) the mission of the delegation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) currently visiting Lebanon to try and talk the government into joining the international organization. ALI members welcomed the minister’s bold and sincere position, particularly “his role and responsibilities in protecting the national economic interests and the productive agricultural and industrial sectors.” On the opposite side, and in a statement released this Monday, the Lebanese General Trade Union (LGTU) completely rejected Lebanon’s accession to the WTO before the “setting up of restrictions that protect its economy and realizing a reduction in production costs, including the prices of fuel, expensive services and infrastructure.” The statement criticized the promotional campaign that calls for speeding up the accession process, “on the basis that everything foreign is good.” The trade union warned that such a move will hurt the domestic economy through removing all economic restrictions and eliminating tariffs constraints on imported goods, noting that the weakened small and medium enterprises cannot compete with intercontinental companies. “This inevitably will lead to their collapse and eventual closure, while turning our agricultural landscapes into barren uncultivable stretches of land,” the statement concluded. (As Safir, An Nahar, March 15, 2016)

 

Some 200 students from various universities in Lebanon gathered at the Youth Speak Out Forum to discuss the basic problems they face in their communities. In collaboration with partners from the UNDP, Morgan International, UK-Lebanon TechHub, Info Pro, and Grenoble Graduate School of Business and others, students worked on a number of projects with the aim to solve a specific issues or problems. In this respect, two groups were announced winners. The first received the prize of implementation, and the second won a chance to participate in the ‘Bootcamp’ program supported by AltCity. As for the winning project which is expected to be carried out by the International Student Identity Card (ISIC), it is a newspaper targeting the young generation, with the aim to bridge the gap in terms of reliable information that express the youth’s state of mind. It should be noted, that the said forum has also invited a number of stakeholders in different fields to work together in raising awareness and achieving the goals of sustainable development. Speaking on behalf of Morgan International, Fadi Ghani said: “Young people should be well prepared for the future, and therefore should gain  expertise outside the classroom, as it is valuable in our world today.” He urged the youth to go abroad, volunteer, attend in conferences and get certificates beyond  their standard disciplines. This, he said, guarantees acquisition of skills and behavior needed for resolving above problems. (An Nahar, March 16, 2016)