News

The US Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale met yesterday with Lebanese Economy Minister Dr. Alan Hakeem to discuss continued cooperation to boost American-Lebanese economic relations. The main focus of discussions was the resuming of the US Generalized System of Preferences GSP program which aims at strengthening commercial ties and promoting economic growth and stability, by granting Lebanese products a competitive edge in the US market. The long-term program provides preferential duty-free entry of eligible Lebanese goods, and other 121 selected countries, to the United States markets. Despite the suspension of the program in 2013, the recent law reauthorized the introduction of the GSP through the year 2017, thus allowing the US Customs and Border Protection to refund duties paid on such products during the suspension period. According to Al Diyar daily, Lebanon can become a big beneficiary from the program with a possibility to export nearly 3500 products. Hakeem pointed out that the US will undertake a general review of all products and beneficiary countries this coming August adding that Lebanon must compete against more than 5000 products from 122 nations, which could possibly benefit from the GSP program. (As Safir, Al Diyar, 23 July 2015)

During a Press Conference organized yesterday at the Press Club, five women announced the opening of membership to the so-called ‘Protecting the Privacy of the Family and of the Domestic Worker’ association which is still under establishment. The proud women, Helen Gearah, Arlette Bajani, Fadwa Yacoub, Ghada Zeitoun and Maria Jaarah Bardawil, launched their exceptionally racist undertaking without showing any feeling of remorse or ‘shame’ declaring that they count some 100 members so far. Unsurprisingly, the event started by defending the purpose of this association stating that it is not aimed against domestic workers but seeks to restore the relationship between the employer and the MWDW. However, the second party in this relationship, i.e. domestic workers, were not present at this gathering.  One of the founders, Helen Gearah insisted that “The domestic maids are not here to have a role”.   After Introducing the sponsorship ‘kafala’ system, Gearah then moved to describe the trade union for cleaning workers as a ‘heresy’, preferring that MWDWs join Lebanese syndicates instead but strictly objecting to their right to assemble under their own union.Gearah went on to say, “Imagine that you employ a domestic worker who is at the same time a member of the above trade union. Every now and then she will tell you that she is out to attend a meeting! Are these the qualifications anticipated in a domestic worker?” For her part, member lawyer Arlette Bajani, repeatedly said that the domestic worker is not a wage earner, rather she is a household member”. But this is quite misleading, as the domestic worker is not part of her employer’s family; rather she is paid for a specific job and does not expect kindness or compassion as much as she expects to exercise her natural and basic rights in freedom, justice, compensation and comfort. What really upsets the above association are the campaigns that tarnished the image of the Lebanese women driving sending countries to stop their citizens from travelling to Lebanon for work giving the way to increased smuggling of humans. The racist association is not aware of the risks that could face the domestic worker during trafficking, but is worried about the “excessive cost of bringing them into Lebanon illegally which devalues the quality of those workers”, as Jaarah put it. (Al Akhbar, 23 July 2015)

The Lebanon Industry Value Chain Development (LIVCD) project funded by the United States Agency for International Development USAID organized a press conference yesterday to highlight the achievements of the honey production sector in Lebanon. The event was held at the Lebanese University headquarters in Beirut in the presence of US Ambassador David Hale, the Lebanese Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb and a number of stakeholders involved in the beekeeping industry. According to As Safir newspaper, the outcomes of the project during the past two years showed an increase of 52% in the size of exports, which rose form 26 tons to 50 tons in 2014. With the start of the project in 2013, the number of beekeepers jumped by 794 (14%) accompanied with an upsurge in the value of honey production and processing estimated at USD 11 million annually. The newspaper pointed out that the program has modernized the practices of some 1728 local beekeepers in more than 70 villages across the country through providing them with equipment, innovative technology, training and technical assistance. Beneficiaries also profited from the 5% reduction in production cost and a rise in the value of sales. Over and above, the program assisted some 642 beekeepers in increasing their production though investments made in 3825 beehives in various towns and villages in the South, North, Bekaa and Mount Lebanon. Since its beginning LIVCD is estimated to have invested about USD 1.1 million in the beekeeping sector leading to remarkable results as such: 794 new beekeepers, 79870 new beehives and an additional 560 tons of honey with an estimated value of USD 11 million. One beekeeper, Hussin Kadmani, urged public officials to address the basic demands of beehive keepers by providing pest control drugs and transforming the pilot queen breeding units established by USAID into permanent centers. (As Safir, 23 July 2015)

An Nahar daily published an article featuring the absence of sex education in the national curriculum while shedding some light on the increased incidents of sexual child abuse on the internet. In this respect, an official at the Education Center for Research and Development (ECRD) told the newspaper that the biology syllabus for the 8th grade had tackled back in 1997 the topic of reproduction among living organisms, including human beings. He noted that learners in this age group would supposedly have reached adolescence and biological maturity; however, some religious authorities objected to this and pressured political authorities to cancel the subject. The latter was eventually integrated in the curriculum and thoroughly taught in the third secondary class under the biology topic and partially in the second secondary under the humanities topic. In his response to the assumption that ‘sex education might lead to an increased practice of sex among young adult students’, the ECRD official pointed out that the national curricula does not present sex education as a subject, but merely provides students with information in a scientific method respectful of their age to prevent them from seeking out unreliable and misleading sources through friends, pornographic magazines or films. He further confirmed that the new curriculum related to reproductive health elaborates the topic of fertility through providing the adequate knowledge and skills that help learners protect themselves against sexual abuse or harassment. For his part, Andre Andraos, president of ‘Bikaffe’ organization to stop child sexual abuse expressed regrets over the absence of sex education from school curricula as their presence in the curricula will enlightens students on the dangers of sexual harassment on the internet and otherwise. In this respect, Bikaffe data have shown that one child out of 6 children are subjected to sexual abuse and that 75% of them do not speak up. Andraos revealed that his organization is presently drafting a law in collaboration with psychologists and lawyers to be submitted later to the Ministry of Education in this regard. He disclosed that a large number of schools are refusing to cooperate with his organization in awareness-raising campaigns for fear of discovering incidents of sexual abuse within their premises. Andraos concluded by stating that his organization is providing assistance to victims of sexual abuse through various physical, psychological, legal care and treatment services. (An Nahar, 20 July 2015)

In an interview with An Nahar newspaper, founder of Non-Violence University for Human Rights, Dr. Ugarit Younan, noted that the personal status law which she drafted with Dr. Walid Salibi, has been on the agenda of the common parliamentary committees since 2011. Younan pointed out that the Civil Campaign for Personal Status which is an umbrella for concerned associations and individuals will resume its action after a forced break imposed by the paralysis in political life, which the Campaign stigmatized. Meanwhile, the Campaign produced a booklet featuring a synopsis of studies on personal status laws and proposed various alternatives to contract civil marriage. “There is no state law as such in Lebanon, the governance of personal status in the country is assigned to confessional authorities by virtue of the Constitution,” Younan said while highlighting the major contradiction in Lebanese law and practices of citizen rights. On one hand Article 9, she explained, ensures respect of the personal status systems of the different religious sects, it does not necessarily mean confining the subject of personal status to those sects. On the other hand, the Constitution as stipulated in Article 19 has granted leaders of confessional groups the right and authority to appeal in the event of any case that violates their personal status systems. Based on this, Younan demanded that the Government develops a personal status law for all citizens, indicating that no country in the world is in a similar situation except Lebanon. She went on to say that Lebanon has a firm and progressive ground for civil marriage despite the present dire sectarian atmosphere, and criticized the fact that the media only focuses on extremism. Finally, Younan concluded that women’s rights are better preserved and protected by civil marriage as confessional laws are largely discriminatory against women at all levels. (An Nahar, 16 July 2015)

The World Bank said that the Lebanese economy is suffering from numerous structural hurdles which curtailed its growth and its capacity to create employment and hence undermined the chance of ending poverty and inequality. In its report entitled ‘Promoting Reduced Poverty and Common Prosperity- Systematic Diagnosis of Lebanon 2015’, the World Bank noted an a domestic growth rate of 12.9% in the period between 1991 and 1995, dropping to 1.7% with the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011. According to WB data, real economic growth rate recoded 4.4% for the period of 1997-2009, against only 1.1% for employment. The report pointed out to three key sectors which contributed to the creation of jobs in 2004-2009: trade (created some 100 thousand new jobs), services (50 thousand jobs) and construction (16 thousand jobs). However, the World Bank study noted that the economy’s major dependence on the service sector - which accounted to nearly 74% of the GDP between 1997 and 2011 and which was hit by various security and political crisis, led to major cuts in employment opportunities especially for qualified persons. The study also revealed that the capacity of business institutions to create jobs was hampered by various factors, namely political instability, weak infrastructure, particularly electricity supply, and corruption. In addition, the WB highlighted the fact that financial institutions do not provide adequate support to small or medium enterprises. (L’Orient Le Jour, 14 July 2015)