News

The current Minister of Labor, Sejaan Azzi, announced that his Ministry is about issue a decree which will define professions that are “exclusive for the Lebanese” and which will be endorsed by next Monday.  Azzi insisted that giving priority to Lebanese nationals is not a racist act and does not target anybody in particular. Azzi further clarified that this decision is due to the increased migration of the Lebanese caused by unemployment and the influx of Syrian labor, adding that this move will protect the Lebanese labor which is subjected to “exploitation and blackmail”. Azzi was speaking during a round table discussion organized by the Lebanese Businessmen Association (LBA) yesterday, which aimed at discussing various social projects suggested by the LBA in addition to reviewing the needed legal reforms for an enabling business environment
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Safir, Al-Diyar, Al-Hayat, Al-Nahar 12 December 2014

The current Minister of Labor, Sejaan Azzi, said yesterday that the first employment opportunities for youth project has now been dispatched to the Cabinet and is to be approved in principle next week.  The project will be implemented by the National Office of Employment in collaboration with the World Bank and will create 4600 new work opportunities for young men and women entering the job market for the first time. Azzi also noted that the Ministry of Labor is also working on strengthening links with international agencies in order to provide other new employment opportunities.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar, Al-Hayat, Al-Mustaqbal 12 December 2014

The Minister of Economy and Trade, Alain Hakim, inaugurated this morning the “Innovation Forum for Family Businesses” organized by the Lebanon Business Management Organisation in collaboration with the Economy and Businesses Group (EBG), where some 200 participants from Lebanon and the Arab region took part in this event.  Participants’ profiles ranged from family business holders to senior managers from banks, insurance companies, exporters and service providers in addition to a number of directors general and heads of economic institutions.  In his opening address, Hakim highlighted the importance of family businesses in the Lebanese economy and added that these are present in all sectors and are quite common in the commercial sector.  Hakim also noted that the key to the success of such enterprises is their ability to adapt to any economic environment.  The head of EBG, Ra2uf Abu Zeki noted that the main problem facing family businesses is their reliance during their inception phase on charisma of the founder, often a “self-made man” (!?) with strong personality and able to innovate in business or in industry. For his part, the president of the federation of chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture, Mohammed Choucair, added that these businesses helped Lebanon overcome the implications of the global financial crisis and protected Lebanon from the various setbacks caused recently as a result of the subsequent crisis that the country was subjected to.
Source: Al-Diyar, Al-Safir 12 December 2014

Fe-Male launched last Monday a documentary film entitled “Image on Demand” on women’s image in the media.  The film was produced in collaboration with the RDFL and directed by Jad Ghosn and Adib Farhat.  It highlighted the ways in which the media portrays women at the level of songs, soap operas and advertisement where women are shown to be sex objects to increase marketing.
In its coverage of the event, Al-Nahar newspaper noted that the responsibility of portraying women is not limited to the media only or to the promoters or the laws as responsibility falls also on women who agree to being objectified, insisting that the documentary should have tackled this aspect. For her part, Saada Allaw of As-Safir noted that whereas the documentary showed a number of issues related to women, it did not succeed in deeply addressing any of these issues. Allaw also noted that the film did not highlight the partnership between media and civil society which succeeded in advancing the rights of women. The third issue raised by Allaw was the fact that no mention was made of the stereotyped gender images reproduced by educational curriculum and which is reproduced by the media.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Safir 11 December 2014

As Safir newspaper published a report yesterday with regards to the food safety campaign of the current Minister of Public Health.  This Campaign had had a positive impact on the rural Mouneh sector particularly in Hasbaya where products are suddenly in high demand with producers unable to meet the requests of their new customers.
Salma Harfuch, a producer of various kinds of winter Mouneh, noted that requests are mostly for dairy products especially Labneh followed by free range chicken.  In addition, people are mostly going to small butcheries which depend on locally grazed livestock.  Harfoush commended Abou Faour’s action and expressed her pride with rural products whilst ensuring that they are natural and healthy and are devoid of artificial coloring and preservatives, adding that such products include fruits, vegetables, grains, milk and dairy products, olive oil and olives, figs and grapes in addition to jams and molasses.  Alia Assaf, also a Mouneh producer, had started making her own products for her household consumption.  She supported Harfush’s statement and added that their production meet health standards and is of better quality than what is on the market even if nicely packaged.  Hadia noted for her part that she works daily to prepare yoghurt and other dairy products from a livestock of goats owned by the family and is meeting local demand.  She added that this has encouraged the residents of Hasbaya to develop this skills thus making use of technical assistance provided by local and international organizations in the form of various training events and seminars.
Source: Al-Safir 11 December 2014

Judge Peter Germanos released his presumptive decision in the case of the murder of Nisrine Ruhana and considered that clause 549 of the penal code, which stipulates the death sentence, applies to her husband J. D. now in custody.  The file was referred to the accusatory body for a decision.  The statement noted that on November 25th 2014, an army intelligence patrol called the police station in Ghazir informing it that a body of a woman was found in Naher Ibrahim River.  Forensic physician Elias Saadeh from Kesrwan was asked to examine the body.  He later asserted that the victim died from two gunshots in her right eye and shoulder.  On 26 November 2014, a Military Police patrol surrendered the victim’s husband who confessed to killing his wife when interrogated by the police in Ghazir.  He further repeated his confession during his interrogation and added that he had decided to kill her after the release of the court order by the urgent matters judge granting his wife custody of their children as well as requesting him to pay a monthly alimony of LBP 300,000 as well as a compensation of LBP 1 million.
On a related vein, the women sector of the Future Movement coordination in Juma area of Akkar organized a seminar on family violence at the municipality of Halba.  The event included the screening of a short film on a women killed by her husband followed by a presentation of the various stages of the endorsement of the law to protect family members from domestic violence.  The event concluded with a discussion amongst participants.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal 11 December 2014

A workshop on the MedGeneration programme was held yesterday at the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The event was attended by a delegation of 12 Lebanese business people working in Europe. This programme which is implemented by the Chamber with EU funding includes Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine and seeks to link local initiatives with successful established businesses owned by major Lebanese business people in Europe so as to learn from their experiences in leading these initiatives to success.
The member of the Chamber, Naji Mounther, noted that the Chamber is striving through this programme to mobilize resources abroad to support young talents through strengthening linkages between emerging companies in Lebanon and well established companies owned by Lebanese business people abroad.  This will cultivate a culture of entrepreneurship as well as productivity with the creation of companies that are able to innovate and compete.  The programme’s director, Hadi al Assad, spoke about the objectives of the programme and the progress done so far.  To be noted that a delegation of Lebanese business people used this opportunity to tour the Ministries of Economy and Foreign Affairs as well as IDAL, Berytech, and Kafalat and met with a number of presidents of economic institutions.
Source: Al-Diyar 10 December 2014

Journalist Janine Jalkh talked to L’Orient le Jour about the pervasive racism in Lebanese society vis-à-vis women domestic workers in Lebanon and who are exploited by employers, employment offices and law enforcement.  Janine was interviewed by the newspaper about her documentary entitled “Escaping to death” which highlighted the increasing phenomenon of so-called suicide of migrant women domestic workers.Jalkh contributed to the making of this documentary which has been shown on Al Jazeera last October and which has won the public freedoms and human rights award.
For viewing this documentary, please click on the following link: Escaping to death

Following the decision of the Tripoli municipality council to sever the contract of the president of the public relations and administration, Nada Elia, on 18 November 2014, the state advisory council presided by Judge Youssef Nasr rescinded this decision and reinstated Elia in her position.  The Council ruled that the Municipal Council abused its power and issued a baseless decision.
To be noted that the Tripoli Municipal Council has no choice but to implement the Council’s decision lest it is subjected for penalties for any delay incurred despite some indications that the ruling will be referred to the Municipal Council and will have grave repercussions given the internal situation within the Municipality.
Source: Al-Safir 10 December 2014

Information International published a study on youth migration covering the period extending between 1992 (after the civil war) to 2014.  The study looked at reasons for migration whilst distinguishing between the various profiles of migrants based on age, professional specialization and destination. The study noted that wars, security incidents, and economic crisis witnessed by Lebanon have all resulted in an increase in the proportion of migration in addition to the rise in national debt from USD 2.8 billion in 1993 to US 65.6 billion in July 2014.  Other specific factors included the degradation in the health, education and other services and rising unemployment.  The study further noted, based on data from the Beirut International Airport that immigration has significantly increased during the past few years (2011 – 2013) as the total number of Lebanese leaving the country reached 174,704 people with an annual average of 58,234 people.  Lebanese immigrants come from various social, cultural and confessional background with youth aged between 20 and 44 constituting 82.6% of total migrants which gives a very dire indication of the future which will have an aging population. Furthermore, the households’ livelihood survey of 2007 noted that 46.3% of these migrants are university graduates, which underscores an acute problem of brain drain.
Source: Al-Safir 9 December 2014