News

The Lebanese artist Colette Haddad entered the Guinness World Record for the largest underwater painting measuring 6 square meters outscoring the Danish painter Jesper Kikkenborg, and achieving a breakthrough for Lebanese women by working in the cold water of La Marina Dbayyeh, for two straight hours. Her painting has embodied the aquatic nature of Lebanon combining a wide range of icons, including, the Pigeon Rock of Rawche, the columns of Baalbek, a Phoenician galley, the traditional folklore dance (dabke) and the Lebanese emblem, in addition to Lebanon’s 10425 km2 surface area.(Al Diyar, February 26, 2016)

 

A group of feminist and social activists launched what they named HarassTracker website containing a map that tracks incidents of harassment in an attempt to raise awareness on this condemnable manifestation. By visiting http://harasstracker.org one can view the areas, addresses and types of harassment incidents reported by victims or witnesses. One of the co-founder of the project, Nay Raii, explained that documenting the occurrences of harassment can assist women by warning them of certain places with high rates of such incidents. “Daily testimonies can help us in our advocacy cases and in the protection of women, as well as in pressing the government to meet our demands,” Raii pointed out, suggesting for example the issue of street lights as a preventative measure against harassment.. As for the long-term goal of the website, Raii further clarified that it aims “to open a debate about harassment and shift the public discourse from blaming the victim and talking down the subject to exposing the causes and potential interventions,” as she said. Raii finally expressed her hopes that the initiative will deliver the desired outcomes, and will be a starting point for stretching the services to all of Lebanon. (Al Akhbar, February 25, 2016)

 

The Federation of Municipalities of Mount Amel donated last Sunday a sewing workshop to Al 3ata2 association for women and elderly in the southern village of Taybeh. The opening of the workshop took place at the organization’s premises in the presence of the head of the Federation, Ali Zein, the secretary of the association in Beirut, Faten Kazan and member, Ghassan Mubarak, in addition to a group of concerned women. Kazan thanked the Federation of Municipalities for the generous contribution which will assist women through the creation of jobs or even recreation. (Al Diyar, February 22, 2016)

 

The Lebanese University School of Sciences, second branch, organized a conference entitled ‘Vocational Innovation and Development Challenges’ in an effort to promote the creation of new jobs for university students. The President of the Lebanese Industrialists Association, Fadi Gemayel, stressed the need to link higher education institutions with the labor market by linking talented graduates with the banking and industrial sector’s demand. Similarly, in his address to the students, the director of the Francophone University Agency (AUF), Pr. Herve Sabourin, urged them “to innovate and to carve a place for themselves in the presently very competitive labor world”.  For his part, the Education Minister, Elias Bou Saab indicated that the state-owned Lebanese University crisis is not the result of the lack of funds, but rather the outcome of the dominant bureaucratic system. The University should not be politically manipulated as is the case here in Lebanon, he stated. Turning to the head of the students committee, Bou Saab urged her to work in coordination with all the parties involved to carry out a successful new round of student elections and to protect the policies of LY from political allegiances, so as to bring about the much desired changes. (An Nahar, Al Mustaqbal, February 24, 2016)

 

The President of the Syndicate of Hotel Owners in Lebanon, Pierre Ashkar announced after a meeting yesterday with the Minister of Tourism, Michel Pharaon that both parties discussed ways of cooperation and agreed on a common mechanism to implement it. Ashqar revealed that the delegation of the new Syndicate Board has asked the minister for certain exemptions and for reduction of air ticket prices, particularly for Jordanian airlines to compensate for the difficulties in land travel to the Arab country which emerged because of the war in Syria, adding that MP Tammam Salam and other concerned ministers are presently attending to this matter. Ashkar further pointed out to an agreed cooperation for establishing a data center that acts as a census for hospitality jobs, and uncovered a new mechanism of coordination with the Minister of Tourism. In conclusion, Ashkar pointed out to the drop in occupancy rates in the hotel industry, lamenting a serious crisis in the sector as a result of the political turmoil, and the rise of political tensions with Arab Gulf governments. (As Safir, Al Mustaqbal, February 24, 2016)

 

The president of the Chamber of Commerce for the North, Tufic Dabbussi, sponsored the distribution of checks to beneficiaries of the Syrian-Lebanese Partnership Support of the Small and Medium Enterprises Program in Tripoli, Zghorta al Zawiyya regions. Present at the ceremony, were the director general of the Business Incubation Association in Tripoli (BIAT) Fawaz H7amedi and the Coordinator of the Partnership Program, in addition to representatives of donor parties, including the Danish Refugee Council DRC and the Danish International Development Agency. On the occasion, Dabbussi stressed the “significance of strengthening ties between innovative Syrian and Lebanese talents amidst the present harsh circumstances prevailing in neighboring Syria which we hope will quickly come to an end,” as he said. Dabbussi also praised the constructive role of Danish funding organizations in offering continuous support for small and micro enterprises. It should be noted, that BIAT received some 128 applications, of which 42 were short-listed. The selected candidates underwent a 3-day training course that included orientation on how to prepare a feasibility study and on assessment of the viability of the submitted project. After being evaluated, nine projects were approved for funding on the basis of the defined standards and criteria. (An Nahar, Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, As Safir, February 22, 2016)

 

Your Right is a Guarantee for Your Family’ campaign aims to relentlessly continue with its activities until all discriminatory legislations against women, particularly the Social Security Law, are rectified. As such the campaign organised yesterday a closing ceremony for those activities launched in the framework the initiative entitled, ‘Everyone is a Winner: Social and Economic Empowerment of Women in Lebanon’ and which is part of the campaign (for the full news: http://bit.ly/1l4O6n8). Concurrently, Search for Common Grounds association, in coordination with ALEF-Act for Human Rights organization continue to receive applications for their jointly planned media competition which seeks to highlight the unequal social and economic status of women in Lebanon through the production of media material. The two main terms for the said contest, is that the proposed material should be submitted in Arabic, English or French; and the material and the registration form be sent no later than February 28. Winners of each category, who will be selected by a jury of media representatives and civil society activists, will be informed by email, and will be granted the opportunity to publish their material in An Nahar newspaper. During the closing ceremony, the project coordinator, Yasmine Masri insisted that: the project will not stop until all relevant discriminatory laws are reformed; adding that meetings with officials and deputies will resume once the work of the Parliament is reactivated. (An Nahar, February 23, 2016)

 

As Safir daily published yesterday a special feature on the industrial zone of Terbol in Zahleh, Bekaa which will soon be set up on a two million square meters stretch of land extending from Terbol to Kussayya at the foots of the Eastern Mountain Chains. The said special industrial zone is one of three zones, for which some 500 thousand euros of funds are required for the completion of necessary feasibility and technical studies. Furthermore, nearly 7 million euros are also needed in funding for the construction of the infrastructure for the three zones located in Baalbaq and Terbol in the Beqaa area and Joon in Mount Lebanon. Regarding the sources of funding, As Safir disclosed that under the heading of aid for Syrian refugees, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has pledged to secure the necessary funding to complete the studies and infrastructure work, while arguing that the establishment of such zones will ultimately provide hundreds of jobs for locals, as well as Syrian workers (!). Furthermore, UNIDO committed itself to complete the technical studies in approximately 6 months.

In the same vein, As Safir interviewed the mastermind of the Terbol zone, the head of the Committee for Industrial Cities at the Lebanese Industrialists Association, Michel Daher, who confirmed that the area which is only a few kilometers away from the land borders, is one of the largest industrial regions recently approved. The prime purpose of creating this industrial zone, Daher stressed, is to absorb young fresh graduates of the Central Beqaa area who struggle to find work within their country. He concluded by estimating that the special zone will create some 5 thousand new jobs, will also contribute to the development of the region and to the provision of additional revenues for local municipalities. (As Safir, February 22, 2016)