News

The Ministry of Telecommunication announced yesterday that, according to decree 1/194 dated 28/3/2014,  it will be issuing new postal stamps of the value of LBP 2,000 commemorating four Lebanese women namely, Alexandra Issa al Khoury, Mounira Solh hamadeh. Laure Moghaizel, and Anissa al Najjar.  According to the same announcement, 30000 stamps of each will be printed and these will be made available in all postal offices as of 22/5/2014.
Source: Al-Nahar 20 May 2014

As Safir newspaper published a report about a Syrian displaced woman from Idlib, Aush Haykal, who held on to her sewing machine and brought it with her to Lebanon with the help of her family given that the machine is big and heavy.  The machine was transported across the border and then to the displacement centre in Marje3yun.
Aush is now known as the seamstress for as many as 1500 Syrian residents in the displacement centre in Marje3yun who come to her and also from the nearby valleys of Mary, Mjaidiyeh, Sardeh, Wazzani.  Her machine is her key source of livelihood helping her to generate income of some LBP 10000 to 20000 per day which she uses to feed her family of five children as her husband died during the war.
Aush notes that her machine is needed by the displaced during all seasons and occasions.  She added that her work has developed from simple alterations of clothes distributed to the displaced to manufacturing wedding gowns as the displaced are marrying at the rate of at least one wedding a week.  Aush added that the wedding gown does not cost much because she can buy raw material including fabric and sequins from the popular market or she simply recycles old clothes and material in the camp.  Each wedding gown can cost between LBP 50 to 300 thousand whilst alteration of one trouser hardly costs LBP 1000.
Source: Al-Safir 19 May 2014

Economic circles as well as key social and business figures of Tripoli convened a press conference last week at the Chamber for Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of the North to warn against the decision taken by the Cabinet during its last session and which calls for freezing three major development projects in Tripoli namely the re-opening of the railroad, completing the land reclamation for the special economic zone, and the project to develop the Al Tall area.  The economic and trade union organizations warned against this move and asked the government to reconsider its decision as the city is in urgent need of such projects to create employment opportunities for the youth as well as contribute to the local economy especially after the massive losses to which Tripoli was subjected as a result of the various rounds of violence over the past years.
Within the same vein, the Minister of Social Affairs, Rashid Derbas, noted during the inauguration of the Ibda3 Company for micro-finance in Mina last week, his full support to the economic and business institutions.  He added that Tripoli was recently subjected to armed violence and is now calling for life.  For his part, Minster of Justice, Ashraf Rifi confirmed that the three development projects were listed on the Cabinet’ss agenda, but were postponed until next week and will definitely be endorsed.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Diyar, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 19 May 2014

L’Orient le Jour published an article yesterday on the arbitrary arrest of four Senegalese women domestic workers who wanted to spend the night outside their employer’s houses.  According to the report, the four women were arrested by the police whilst sleeping at a house used by the Senegalese community in Tarik Jdideh.  The women were brutally treated even though they had papers in good order. They were detained first at the general security premises in Sodeco and then moved to the detention centre in Adlyeh and were not allowed to contact their employers.
According to the newspaper, the reasons for the arrest vary by sources.  Friends of the four women noted that they were detained and mistreated so that they be interrogated about another Senegalese woman who fled her employer because of mistreatment.  According to the general security, they were detained because of the sponsorship system which forces migrant workers not to leave their employer’s home.
Human Rights Watch representative, Nadim Houri, condemned the mistreatment to which the four women were subjected especially in the absence of any clear accusation and also since their employers do not mind that they spend the night out.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 19 May 2014

The USAID-run programme aiming to develop the productive sectors in Lebanon organized last week at the Batrounyat centre, the “Avocado Day”.  The event included a number of activities notably a seminar on the health benefits of Avocado and the various ways to prepare it.  This programme is implemented in collaboration with the Batroun Development and Cultural League and with funding from USAID.
The president of the Batroun league, Joumana Abi Saleh Nasr, stressed the importance of organising an “Avocado Day” especially as a way to provide women with additional information on how to utilize this product.  Speaking of behalf of the USAID, George Iphram spoke of the assistance presented by the latter to NGOs and educational institutions notably school scholarships, funding water and environmental projects as well as collaborating with various sectors namely the agricultural sector.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 19 May 2014

The Daily Star newspaper published a report today about early marriages and how some judges are re-interpreting existing laws to protect underage girls from this practice. Judge Fawzi Khamis, who served as the head of the juvenile court from 2004-09, told the newspaper that the key to protecting girls from early marriage lies in how a judge chooses to interpret the legal definition of “danger”, as it relates to Articles 24-26 in the law for juveniles.  Khamis continues by saying that although the articles do not mention early age marriage in particular, they do state that “if a juvenile is subject to danger, either in an environment where they might be exploited or abused, the judge can use this article to protect them”. However, his jurisprudence often clashes with that of religious court, which argues it has the prerogative over marital matters. Judge Khamis also indicated that when laws are not explicit, judges must follow precedents or set their own, through broadening the application of the “danger” clause, by arguing that the marriage could imperil a minor. Khamis added that the question of danger in early age marriage becomes nebulous when probing the details, and that any future law prohibiting child marriage must tackle the underlying subtleties, adding that the issue may differ when a 17-year-old woman is marrying a 21-year-old man, or a 50-year-old man.
Another high-profile judge, who requested anonymity, said that Article 503, in the Penal Code, which relates to consent in a sexual relationship, in addition to the exploitation clause included in the 2011 anti-trafficking law, could also be used to protect child brides. However, the judge added, the problem often lies in the primacy of parents as consent givers, according to religious courts.
It is important to note that the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) is lobbying to have marriages registered in the personal statute, which would require the approval of a civil judge, making it possible for the judiciary to intervene if the marriage involves minors. NCLW, however, is still in the process of drafting a comparative legal study, looking at laws regulating early age marriage in Europe and the Arab region, in the hope of drafting a law to prohibit such marriages in Lebanon soon. “Doing so would require bypassing the core values of the confessional system”, according to a commission member involved in the drafting of the law, who also requested anonymity.
Source: The Daily Star 16 May 2014

The 475 daily workers at the Electricity Company are still holding their peaceful sit-in to protest for not being paid their salaries for two months.  They have now adopted a new way to express their hardship as they resorted to selling flowers, kaak and cheese and legumes to passersby.  The daily workers intend to continue with the same tactic as, according to an interview by As Safi with one of the women daily workers, their plans are to sell corn on the cob and candy floss which have an even higher turnover rate!
With regards to the overall efforts to resolve this matter, sources within the Ministry of Finance told As Safir that the Ministry has not yet received any official communication from the administration of the Electricity Company on this subject.  The source confirms that the Ministry of Finance is not responsible for the delay in salaries payment for the daily workers.  The Electricity Company told As Safir that it is doing all that it can to safeguard the rights of daily workers and the continuity of their jobs and the obstacles are somewhere else.
Source: Al-Safir 16 May 2014

The Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Saida and South Lebanon in collaboration with the Federation of Arab Banks organized yesterday in Saida a seminar on the importance of financing and developing small and medium enterprises as a strategic choice for economic development. The President of the Chamber, Mohammed Hassan Saleh, noted in his intervention that small and medium enterprises represent 90% of business outfits worldwide and provide 40 to 80% of the total work opportunities and contribute to around 85% of the gross national product in many countries of the world.  He also insisted on the need to create mechanisms and financing programmes to support innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological advancement to strengthen the role of small and medium enterprises in social and economic development. The Chair of the Board of Kafalat, Khater Abi Habib, spoke about the services provided by Kafalat to small and medium enterprises and explained Kafalat’s objectives and the support it provides to strengthen productive sectors notably in agriculture, tourism and IT.
The seminar closed with a speech by the general secretary of the Federation of Arab Banks, Wissam Fattu7h, who stressed the importance of raising awareness on the importance of small and medium enterprises in Arab economies.  He noted that despite the importance of this sector and which is well recognized by developed countries, up till now, there are no sufficient strategies in the Arab region to strengthen this sector especially in terms of financing particularly since the share of this sector from overall loan portfolio of the Arab banking sector does not exceed 8%.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 16 May 2014

Al Hayat newspaper published a report on married and non-married women in Lebanon.  According to the report which quotes a study undertaken by Radio Holland, some 85% of Lebanese women in the marriage age category are unable to find spouses.  The study was based on statistics and data gathered from NGOs as sources of information.

The report talks about a new trend and that is the proliferation of tens of matrimonial/matchmaking sites on the web and via the social media.  Indeed, Lebanese women and men are now bombarded on a daily basis with advert claiming that they can help find their soul mate.  Such ads claim first that they provide services for free but when a match is about to be done, users are requested to pay fees ranging between 10 to 20 USD.  These sites use the profiles provided by their users as well as the characteristics they give for their desired soul mate.  The characteristics include height, skin color, nationality, color of hair and eyes, educational attainment, financial situation, etc…These sites are also taking into consideration the peculiarities of the Lebanese situation and have included place of residence and sect in their list of desired characteristics!  Many of the users of such sites note that the success rate is very limited as some are simply fraudulent, and people tend to give false information about themselves in addition to difficulties in communication.

The report compares real and virtual matrimonial and match making services.  One match maker said that she receives around 5 women everyday asking her to find them a suitable husband.  Men are more resistant to visit the matchmaker and prefer to send their mothers or sisters to find them a bride that is suitable to the social conditions of the family.  Sociologist Noor Hamadeh notes that whether real or virtual, the services of these matchmakers are but an illusion related to the ideal of finding a suitable partner.  She also cautions against the major fraud undertaken by many of these agencies which make a lot of money by encouraging people to marry.

Source: Al-Hayat 15 May 2014

LibanPack organized for the fifth consecutive year an event to commemorate the distribution of prizes to winners of the Lebanon Students Star Pack 2014 competition.  The event was organized yesterday at the UNESCO under the auspices and with the participation of the Minister of Industry, Dr. Hussein Hajj Hassan, and with the support of the Association of Industrialists and UNIDO.
The President of LibanPack, Suha Atallah, noted that this competition was characterized by a higher number of entries from Lebanon and beyond as 500 students from 10 Lebanese universities and 4 Arab universities (from Jordan, Palestine and Egypt) competed.  She noted that this further underscores the importance of this competition as well as the role of the association in raising the awareness of industrialists and farmers on the importance of packaging in improving marketing prospects, in upgrading quality and increasing competitiveness.
The Minister of the Industry, Hajj Hassan, spoke about the important role that packaging plays in boosting the value of products and their comparative advantage notably in terms of food safety.  He also added that Lebanon has high technical capabilities amongst its students which can potentially enable it to become a packaging hub for the Arab world and, in this way, can boost exports rather than the migration of young people.
The winners and their categories included the following:
Hala Toot, from the Lebanese University won the first prize for the skeletal design category, followed by Diana Thebian, from LU as well, Noor Abu Shaqra, from LAU, while Rudy Khuri also from LAU won the UniPack Prize for Innovation. In the visual design category, Nabil Haidar from Rafic Hariri University won the first place, followed by Jean Rizk, from AUST and Lina Haydar from LIU.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal 14 May 2014