News

Caritas Liban inaugurated yesterday in Deir al A7hmar a cooperative packaging unit for potato and apple.  The unit is located within the refrigeration center in the same venue, and was established with a European grant of EU 224,000.  According to the President of the Deir al A7hmar Federation of Cooperatives, Sob7hi Khoury, the packaging unit is a vital project for farmers as it will help them stay in their land and take care of their agriculture.  He added that the capacity of the new unit is between 3000 and 8000 tons.  

(Source: Al-Diyar and Al-Mustaqbal 23 January 2015)

 

Further damages caused by Zina are now being recorded.  Following damages endured by farmers in Tyre, Akkar, and Byblos, Zina has also claimed additional large scale damages in the Metn, Shuf and Aley where pine trees and greenhouses used for flowers nurseries were destroyed.  According to As Safir newspaper, the significant destruction of pine forests in Higher Metn, Aley and Shuf highlands will surely affect next year’s harvest and will have severe social and economic implications on farmers in this sector estimated, throughout Lebanon, at some 50000 families according to the statistics of the Syndicate of pine tree farmers and workers.  Damages were also caused to apple trees yet; nevertheless, apple farmers were more concerned that their present surplus stock of refrigerated apples will not find markets abroad. On a related vein, reports indicated that the Syrian borders have now re-opened for six wheelers carrying Lebanese agricultural exports notably potatoes.  In fact some 230 trucks have crossed the border normally after a blockage of two weeks.  The closure was due to many reasons notably, poor weather conditions and the malfunction of the scanner machines which examines the transported goods and that are located on the Syrian side of the border.

 

(Source: As-Safir & Annahar 21&22 January,2015) 

 

According to As Safir’s issue of today, 28% of all working women occupy specialized professions (doctors, teachers, engineers,…) compared to only 8% of working men.  In addition, and according to data of the Central Administration of Statistics in 2009, women constitute 21% of the total membership of the engineers’ order in Beirut compared to 27% for the order in Tripoli.  The newspaper adds that although women’s share is rather low, yet, women engineers are constantly proving that women are able to attain professional success and reach high social and economic position while sometimes surpassing men.  Engineer Laila Awad noted that women have special skills and are able to effectively run their work and is able to deal with obstacles and challenges in a “cool way”, unlike men who tend to lose their temper.  Nabila, an agronomist, notes that women are patient and this reflects positively on their work and daily life and can be more resilient than men.  Jeanne D’arc, a computer engineer, noted that patriarchal mindsets which used to exclude women have slowly rescinded during the past few years mostly because women have proven themselves and their rights to have equal income and good positions as men. Regarding obstacles faced by women engineers, the newspaper noted the case of Samya, a civil engineer, who had to leave work after she had her first child as she was unable to continue working normally.

 

(Source: As-Safir 22 January, 2015)

 

According to a statement issued last week, the Economic, Social Fund for Development (ESFD) has supported 123 new projects during the last quarter of 2014 of a total value of LBP 3.46 billion, and thus creating 125 new employment opportunities.  These projects were supported from ESFD job creation component which works with local development unit to combat poverty and mitigate its impact on vulnerable communities.  With these latest figures, the total number of credits provided to SMEs since the initiation of the ESFD in 2003 and until December 2014 has risen to 8299 credits corresponding to LBP 137.6 billion, and resulting in the creation of 5853 new jobs. To be noted that ESFD was formed within the framework of European partnership, and through a financing agreement signed in November 2000 between the Lebanese government represented by the Council for Development and Reconstruction and the European Union.

 

(Source: Al-Mustaqbal and Al-Diyar 17 January,2015)

 

 

 

 

Lebanese family laws violate women’s rights but a civil code is considered an apostasy!

According to a report of Human Rights Watch, Lebanon’s religious family laws clearly discriminate against women.  HRW called on the Parliament to adopt an optional civil code which will ensure equal rights to women and men wishing to marry.  HRW also called on the government to exercise close supervision over the religious courts and authorities.  HRW’s report which was released last Monday and is entitled: “Unequal and Unprotected: Women’s Rights under Lebanese Personal Status Laws“,  indicated that there are 15 different religious family laws which all violate women’s human rights especially at four levels, namely in divorce, child custody, economic disenfranchisement and protection from family violence.

On the other hand and while addressing the same issue, the current Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Nehad el Mashnook, made a public declaration five days ago in which he invited those who wish to contract a civil marriage to do so in nearby Cyprus!  To be noted that the former Mufti of the Republic, Rashid Kabbani, also accused of apostasy all those who support civil marriage even if only optional.

The HRW report can be accessed via the following link: Unequal and Unprotected: Women’s Rights under Lebanese Personal Status Laws

 

A delegation of the World Bank (WB) headed by Nigel Twose, senior director of the World Bank’s Jobs Cross-Cutting Group,held discussion seminar organized by WB last Friday on employment and unemployment and that is after meeting with the Central Bank and with the Ministry of Finance to discuss a strategy to boost the economy in order to create employment.  The Delegation noted during the seminar that such strategy is yet unclear and discussions are still at the level of brainstorming.  Twose noted for his part that the Lebanese economy suffers for a toxic mix of structural problems, poor growth, and lack of interest in creating jobs.  He added that the rich and power holders are doing well and the remaining majority is not.  On the outlines of such strategy, Twose noted that it is not acceptable to use the excuse of political stalemate and the strategy adopted by the Central Bank in terms of providing incentive packages and training is still way below meeting challenges.  He insisted on the importance to provide conditions for real growth of job opportunities.  He added that growth will come from emerging enterprises (start ups) however, challenges facing such enterprises are poor competitiveness, poor infrastructure namely electricity and transportation, high financing costs and the limited prospects, except for services and  IT which are benefiting from subsidized loans offered by the Central Bank).

 

(Source: Al-Akhbar 19 January,2015)

 

The Genrman Orient-Institut Beirut and Goethe organized a seminar last week on food industry.  The event was held at the Goethe Institute in Gemmayze under the auspices and with the participation of the German Ambassador to Lebanon, Christian Clages, and with the participation of farmers, business people, activists, artists, politicians, chefs and academics.  The purpose of this event was to highlight food policies in the Arab region, and to make the voices and insights of various stakeholders heard in relation to this subject.  Participants analysed dietary habits, food and cuisine cultures as well as organized an exhibition entitled “Food for Thought.  The purpose of the exhibition was to present the Lebanese society through the food products sold on the Lebanese market.  The event which extended over two days and closed last Saturday, also explored the relationship between globalization, local food production, consumption and the impact of what is produced and consumed.  Participants also discussed whether civil actions such as boycott campaigns have any impact on the economic policies of large companies.

 

(Source: Al-Mustqbal, Al-Diyar 16-17-18 January,2015)

 

Two emerging enterprises won on Friday the dairy production competition organized by the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Zahleh in collaboration with the XX Investment Nework and the European Coalition Network.  A number of farmers took part in this event and exhibited their production to a jury which included Lebanese and European experts.  The projects presented included a variety of special dairy products and the winners were Ain Al Areesh women cooperative Aita Fokhar and Qebb Elias dairy factory. The first enterprise produces green Kechek whilst the second produces organic goat Labneh.  Each of these received a USD 10,000 prize in addition to technical and marketing support for 2 months to be able to complete their project.

To be noted that dairy products were selected to be the theme of this competition after a study that showed that each Lebanese individual consumes some 189 liters a milk yearly which makes Lebanese one of the highest consumer of dairy worldwide.  The value of production of the dairy sector is estimated at 2.2 billion dollars which constitutes 5.7% of total agricultural production.

 

(Source: L’Orient le Jour 17 January,2015)

 

A new report released by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) notes that 53% of women living in the 75 countries of OIC (which accounts for 1.6 billion people) do not participate in the job market.  The report insists on the importance of raising this proportion by 15% by the year 2025, and as part of the region’s ten year plan, so as to catch up with the world average of 57% and the average of 66% for developed countries.

According to the same report which was released two days ago by OIC, the low level of women’s participation  in the job market is essentially due to poor educational attainment compared to men thus resulting in the clear gender gap. The report further indicates that the poor participation of women in the job market leads to their marginalization and denial of their right to social security.  The report also placed special emphasis on rural women who remain without protection and are unable to adhere to any social protection scheme and highlighted that women in OIC still face discrimination on education and in the job market.  Finally, the report insisted on the necessity of strengthening civil society’s involvement in women’s empowerment, “building families” as well as building the capacities of youth and elderly in order to achieve social development in the countries of OIC.

 

(Source: Al-Diyar 19 January,2015)