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On the occasion of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the PSP Women Affairs Unit, in collaboration with Tha’era Network for Arab Women, announced yesterday the launch of a project addressing political violence against women inside and outside parties calling for an end to it. According to the organization, this is achieved through the implementation of laws that observe and ensure justice and civil citizenship, hence guaranteeing equal opportunities for women and men. The initiative, to be officially kicked off on the 6th of January, targets a group of women who will be invited for a round table to discuss forms of gender-based violence, notably political violence. It will also put forward a questionnaire to study the reality of women inside the PSP and prospects at hand to take up leadership positions, in addition to the challenges and future steps to overcome them. In a related development, the Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women (LECORVAW), announced the completion of work aimed to provide specialized services for women and girl survivors of domestic and sexual violence in all its forms, specifically rape. It stressed that it will continue to press for the adoption of legal amendments of articles related to this chapter in the Lebanese Penal Code which LECORVAW has called for. The Council also demanded stepping up the formation of a government comprised of non-partisan technocrats. This government will reportedly work for early parliamentary elections that will ensure the creation of a legislature that guarantees justice in laws and repeals discriminatory bills, including the introduction of a civil personal status law. (NNA, November 27, 2019)
 

In its issue of today, An Nahar spotlighted Joanna Medawar Nashef, the California-based Lebanese American conductor, the first woman from the Middle East to become a conductor. On her career path, An Nahar wrote that Joanna’s mother personally directed her to the world of music where she started piano lessons at the age of 7. Later, on the break of the civil war in her country, the family emigrated to the United States in 1976. Joanna joined an orchestral conducting university class and earned a PhD in conducting at 26, An Nahar said. Today, Joanna is a music instructor and director of Choral Activities at El Camino College. She has founded and is the art director of Joanna Medawar Nachef Singers, An Nahar wrote. (An Nahar, November 29, 2019)
 
 

After that the dollar exchange rate exceeded the ceiling of LBP 2000 in the black market (https://lkdg.org/ar/node/19020), economic experts in Lebanon say that the monthly salary of the Lebanese is set to lose more than 40% of its purchasing value, adding that with most institutions planning to operate part-time, while cutting to half their workforce’s salaries, the majority of the Lebanese people will soon fall under the poverty line. As for the fluctuating prices of merchandise, the head of the Consumer Protection Directorate, Zuheir Berro, said that the price of one product has varied from one store to another and from one region to another. He pointed to a state of total chaos sparked first, by the rise in the rate of the dollar in the exchange market, and second, by greedy manipulative importers and traders who are trying to force their prices undeterred (noting that nearly 85% of consumer products in the Lebanese market is imported). Similarly, the director-general of the ministry of economy and trade, Alia Abbas, attributed the crisis of prices to the incomplete powers of her ministry which are largely confined to regulate the relationship between retailers and consumers and to recording violations. She disclosed that she has filed a letter yesterday to the justice minister requesting exceptional powers that will allow her ministry to give violations the nature of ‘urgency’ by referring them to the competent judiciary. Abbas maintained that such powers will also serve as a deterrent act enforced by an accelerated executive force. (Al Akhbar, Al Diyar, November 28, 2019)
 

The transitional Sudanese government endorsed on November 25 a draft bill which lets go the controversial ‘public order law’, in response to a key demand by the human and feminist rights organizations that deplore said discriminatory law against women. The official Sudanese news agency, SUNA, cited the information minister, Faisal Saleh, as saying that the cabinet ratified in an extraordinary session a number of draft laws, including ‘the annulment of the laws of the public order and morality in the provinces’. He revealed that these laws will be referred to the joint meeting of the cabinet and transitional council to be approved and become effective. Saleh explained that, in the absence of a transitional parliament, the meeting of the two councils, in accordance with the constitutional declaration, serves as the legislature which enacts bills, expecting the meeting to take place in the next couple of days. Recalling, that the ‘public order law’, in force since 1996, restricts public and individual freedoms and stipulates harsh penalties, including lashing and imprisonment up to five years, in addition to sizable fines, against women convicted of indecent clothing or drinking alcohol. (An Nahar, November 26, 2019)
 

The ministry of labor- information bureau announced in a statement yesterday that it will not endorse any requests for bringing in foreign workforce except in urgent cases. This, step, according to the statement, has been taken in light of the surging unemployment among the Lebanese due to the calamitous economic conditions, and in order to cut the volume of money transfers abroad and create jobs for the Lebanese. The statement asked involved institutions and offices to act responsibly and use the local labor to the extent possible. Recalling, that the above decision does not cover the fourth category, namely the migrant women domestic workers (MWDWs), as confirmed the Business Echoes portal citing labor minister, Kamil Abu Sleiman. (Al Diyar, An Nahar, November 28, 2019)
 
 

Three women have been chosen as candidates for the prestigious human rights Martin Ennals Award, namely Hudan Sarari, 42, Yemeni lawyer who exposed torture and secret detention centers; Norma Ledezma, 53, Mexican anti-femicide activist and Sizani Ngubane, 73, activist for women’s and indigenous people’s activist. Noting, that for the first time, the jury, which includes 10 prominent human rights groups, namely Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, nominated three women for the prize. The winner will be announced at the Geneva-based Martin Ennals Foundation on February 19, 2020. Recalling that Martin Ennals is named after the first secretary general of Amnesty International who died in 1991. (An Nahar, November 27, 2019)
 
 

UN Women and NCLW kicked of yesterday the annual campaign, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women which falls on November 25 and runs until December 10. This year’s campaign entitled, ‘We reject violence, protection is your right’ focuses on challenges faced by women survivors of GBV offering them practical guidance. This includes: legal guidance, hotlines and prevention/response services, and encourages women and youth to forge change by speaking up on issues of gender based violence. On the occasion, NCLW president, Claudine Aoun Rukuz, stressed that the campaign which is released in Lebanon amid an uprising related to political practices, contributes to raising awareness on the need to address weaknesses in the legislative system, particularly on women with the aim to eliminate all forms of discrimination against them. For his part, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis, said the campaign is an opportunity to end the silence on violence, harassment and all forms of discrimination against women, pointing out that empowerment is the key to achieve this. Likewise, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Philippe Lazzarini, said the persisting GBV undermines the common goal for achieving gender equality, citing UNFP figures which showed that an average of 1 out of 2 persons in Lebanon reported personally they heard of someone who has been subjected to domestic violence. Nearly 71% of such incidences were committed in the perpetrator’s household. (Al Mustaqbal, November 27, 2019)
 

The Lebanese and Omani photographers, Zeinab Khalifeh and Wafaa Abdel Majid won the 9th edition of the ‘Moments’ photography competition organized by National Geographic respectively for the adults and children categories. The National Geographic Abu Dhabi (NGAD), affiliated with Abu Dhabi Information, in collaboration with Almarai, announced the winning photos in the contest aimed to promote the talents of aspiring regional photographers and provide support for photography amateurs. The event, to recall, was held last week at the Youth Hub at the Emirates Towers in Dubai. The photo captured by Khalifeh zoomed in on an old tailor in Saida Old Souks, South Lebanon, stitching his 40-years of life in the trade with all its sorrows and delights, while Abdel Majid displayed in her image the Mutrah Souk in the Omani capital, Muscat. The Adult category winner earned an expedition trip worth of USD 10,000 and the winner for the Children’s category will receive USD 5000 in photography equipment. Both winners will have their photographs printed in the National Geographic magazine Arabic edition. (An Nahar, November 27, 2019)
 

In its issue of today, An Nahar wrote that following the ousting of President Omar al Bashir and the rise of a democratic process in Sudan, Sudanese women are hopeful of a change in laws and mentalities in relation to women rights and the ending of violence against them. The newspaper cited Halima Abdallah (penname) as recounting that she was sentenced 9 years ago to 100 lashes. Losing hope in change in her country, she travelled with the intention to settle abroad. When the April 2019 uprising started, Halima said she regained her lost hope in a civil state and reopened her center for feminist studies after she was forced to close it in 2014. On the subject, the director of the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Unit in Sudan, Suleima Isaac Cherif (44), told AFP that violence against women in her country is systematic with the aim to reduce their participation in the political and social life. “We have laws that coerce or incite violence against women, and always by the spirit of law,” Cherif maintained. The public order act does not stipulate recognized and effective provisos, and is not a clear law, but is subject to the attitude of its executive party, Cherif stated. (An Nahar, November 26, 2019)