News

The SMART centre for “specialized & advertising research & training center”organised an event in collaboration with the American Embassy in Beirut.  The event was held at the hall of the American Cultural Forum at the public library in Baaqline and was an occasion to announce the completion of the SheLeads programme funded by the American Embassy and which included a number of training workshops, and an English language competition in which 135 women from the region participated.  The overall aim of this initiative was to strengthen women's role in engaging in social, political and health issues in their communities.

The director of SMART centre, Randa Yassir, encouraged women to continue to find ways to develop and advance in various sectors.  For his part the American ambassador thanked all those involved in the programme and acknowledged the strong partnership through the Forum which offers to women and their communities, important information about the USA and its culture, and provides a space for learning and exchange between Lebanese and Americans.  He also added that women's success paves the way for their children to advance as well as for women to strengthen their role in society.  He also reiterated the importance of all the opportunities available to girls to continue their education and to pursue a career and to enjoy being well prepared mothers.  At the end of the event, prizes were distributed to participants who won the competition for best article.

Source: Al Mustaqbal and Al Diyar 29 March 2014
 

The Municipality of Tripoli honored the staff and workers at the municipality during a celebratory lunch organised on the occasion of mothers' day.  The event was attended by the head of the federation of municipalities of Al-Fayhaa Nader Al Ghazal as well as members of the municipal councils and women staff and workers.  Firas Hamza spoke on behalf of staff and reiterated the important role that women play in our society.
Nader Ghazal said that "all of us are aware of the role that his sister and every woman plays and their responsibility which exceeds that of fathers in raising the new generation".  He added that on this occasion, he compares the Municipality to a mother who taught her children the art to manage and to mobilise allegiance and, as mothers do, the Municipality teaches her children and cares for them and encourages them to raise their education. 

Source: Al Mustaqbal 30 March 2014
 

The Gathering of Women Organisations in “the Jabal” issued a statement last Friday welcoming the the formation of the new Cabinet and its vote of confidence in Parliament.  The statement hopes that this vote of confidence will lead to stability and the political, social and economic renaissance of the country.  The Gathering also thanked the President of the Republic for appointing a woman cabinet minister, Alice Chabtini, as Minister of the Displaced.  The statement further hoped that the Cabinet will be fairer to women so that we reach equality in citizenship, and demanded the enactment of a 30% women quota in the new electoral law and as per the stipulations of the Beijing Platform of Action which was signed by Lebanon.

 Source: Al Mustaqbal 29 March 2014
 

Data Investment Consult Lebanon organized a seminar in Beirut yesterday on the situation of small and medium enterprises during which a road map was presented including recommendation regarding the operations of such enterprises amidst global competition.  The seminar also discussed the recommendations of concerned institutions and ministries involved in supporting the economy.  Fouad Zmokhol, the President of the Lebanese Businessmen Associations (RDCL), spoke in the first session of the seminar in addition to Peter Mussally, the Deputy Director of the World Bank - Beirut Office, who insisted on the importance of finding good work opportunities in the region.  He noted that the statistics of the World Bank show that more than 20% prefer to work in the public sector.  He also spoke of the importance of evaluating loans in a comprehensive way, and the need to rely, increasingly, on the KAFALAT system.  He added that the Lebanese government and the World Bank have agreed on spending USD 30 million to facilitate financing through loans.  Zmokhol called for a transformation and reform of present systems particularly at the level of supporting investment and consumption.  He also called for moving away from political divisions and insisted on the importance of supporting the growth of the national economy as well as limiting unemployment particularly amongst the youth.  Finally, Zmokhol also called for rescheduling the debts of small institutions, as much as possible, with the help of the banking sector as well as attracting investors and diversifying the base of their capital stakeholders.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Diyar 28 March 2014

Pressures by civil society and the media to include the law to protect women from family violence on the agenda of the House have finally borne fruit as the law has been included as item 9 on a 70 item agenda for the parliament convening of 1, 2 and 3 April 2014 called for by the Speaker of the House Nabih Berry.  Another major development is the court rule yesterday by Judge Fouad Mourad sentencing the accused of murdering his wife Manal Assi to capital punishment.  According to Al Akhbar newspaper, this important development is a positive indication on how the judiciary should deal with crimes of violence against women especially given the skepticism that followed the release of the killer of Roula Yaakoub.
Public pressure in support of the law to protect women from violence had intensified recently particularly by Kafa who has called for a sit in on April 1st at the Solh Square in order to accompany the discussions of the law by Parliament and demand its endorsement.  In addition, 280 Faculty members of the American University of Beirut had addressed an open letter to the Speaker of the House read by Dr. Leila Dagher demanding the endorsement of the law during the sit in organized by faculty and students at AUB.  The letter calls on the Parliament to take the necessary to refer to justice all perpetrators of violence against women and children as well as declare its commitment to the dignity of women and children.  
Kafa for its part called for an endorsement of the law that protects women and children from family violence but not in its present form and for the criminalization of marital rape by abolishing the concept of marital sexual duties. Kafa also rejected the attempt to transmit penalties section to the Penal Code, and called for the law to address women’s concern and not the family generally. It is to be recalled that the national alliance for the legislation of the law to protect women from domestic violence of which Kafa is a leading organisation calls for the criminalization of the act of rape itself, and not only the harm resulting from it. The Alliance also considers that the protection law “should include all of those existing or residing with the woman at the time of violence, including children, since in this case, they are prone to violence or witness it, without undoing the declared juvenile protection law”.
Within the same vein, the movement of independent Lebanese women activists issued a statement to all civil society activists, as well as to the media, political parties and heads of religious confessions to pressure for the endorsement of the law to protect women as well as allocate air time on TVs and Radios to vote for the law.  The coordinator of the movement, Ruwayda Mroueh, said that if the MPs form the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) whose leader, Walid Jumblatt, publicly endorsed the law would actually sign it, then the total signatories would add to 71 out of a total of 128 MPs which would allow the law to pass without any changes.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal 28 March 2014

The external relations officer of the Federation of Unions of Banks' Employees, Faten Faqih, noted that the implementation of the collective contract scheme is still not respected by some of the banks namely in terms of applying annual increments as well as school and social benefits.  She clarified that even though the Federation is extending efforts to ensure that employees’ rights are guaranteed, there is nevertheless a marked regression in the number of adherents to the  trade union  namely amongst youth and women, where the latter represent 49% of those working in the banking sector.

Faqih was speaking yesterday at the annual regional meeting of banking sector trade unions at the UNI Finance in Middle East and North Africa held in Beirut with the participation of the Federation as well as representatives of bank employees’ syndicates from France, Italy, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.  Faqih pointed out to the important role of banks and financial institutions in terms of contributing to addressing economic regression especially that, according to her, unemployment and poor culture are major cases of this deterioration.  She added that the Federation, following a tough negotiation period last year, was able to preserve employees’ rights as well as create a solidarity fund which provides health care for the employees of the sector in 2014-15.  She also noted that the Federation is now working to increase the capacities of the pension fund.  The president of the Federation of Unions of Banks’ Employees, Georges Hajj noted that the realities of trade unionism in Lebanon is marred by political dissension as the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers is being dominated over the past years by political forces which have co-opted its decision and which led to schisms within the movement thus affecting its role as a defender of workers right.  He acknowledged however that the Federation of Unions of Banks' Employees succeeded in remaining autonomous and free from that abysmal situation.
Source: Al-Diyar 28 March 2014

The Minister of Labor, Sejaan Azzi, expressed his concern with the high unemployment rate in Lebanon.  He also highlighted the contradictions and poor quality of existing statistics.  Azzi was speaking with Al Moustakbal newspaper during the meeting of the High Cost of Living Committee which agreed on putting a halt on the unnecessary foreign labour in Lebanon as well as the need to study and review the existing statistics.
Azzi compared unemployment in Lebanon which reached 11% according to some sources with 11.7% in France and 23% in Spain.  He doubted the veracity of the Lebanese figures whilst confirming that unemployment is high amongst the youth.  According to him, unemployment rate ranges between is 22 – 23% and rises to 33% amongst the youth.  He added that these figures are very alarming.  He also insisted on the importance of reviewing the present very centralized structure of the state and moving into widespread decentralization.
With regards to estimates of high cost of living, the president of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers (CGTL) noted in an interview with An Nahar that an agreement was reached to review the figures of the Central Administration for Statistics with the CGTL, the economic institutions and other statistical institutions in order to determine accordingly the needed adjustments to salary scales in accordance with clause 6 of the high cost of living decree.
On the other hand, Azzi revealed that he has signed a project document which introduces “first jobs for youth”.  The project is implemented by the National Employment Agency and the ILO with a LBP 10 billion funding from the World Bank and ILO.  Within this project, any employer can hire young people between 18 to 25 years of age with the Ministry reimbursing the employer 10% of the salary.  The employer will also receive a one year waiver of NSSF fees as well as a waiver on VAT related to that same employee.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar, Al-Safir 28 March 2014

The president of the Parliamentary Commission for public health, labor and social affairs, Atef Majdalani, spoke yesterday during his commission meeting about the use of natamycin in dairy production.  He noted that factories which have used this product in dairy production (namely Labneh production) are in violation of the law in case they do not mention this on its list of ingredients on the Labneh containers.  To be noted that the only product permitted in the manufacture of Labneh is ascorbic acid according to the technical specifications issued by the Lebanese Standards Institution (LIBNOR) and even though natamycin is scientifically proven to be a natural product which prevents the formation of moulds and is deemed harmless.  Majdalani also revealed that there are some 450 food processing enterprises which are not registered and therefore not controlled.  He further hoped that the “Bassel Fuleyhan Law for Food Safety” and which has been in the pipeline for 11 years will soon become a reality even though many ministers are failing to do their duties in approving it so not to give away some of their current responsibilities.
The Minister of Industry, Hussein Hajj Hassan, noted that using natamycin in Labneh manufacture is a mistake no matter what the scientific justification are and manufacturers should stop using this immediately and withdraw their products from the market as well as apologize from consumers.  He added that LIBNOR will meet next Friday to review this matter and decide on a course of action based on available scientific evidence and so as to ensure that local Labneh manufacture is in conformity with the regional food safety protocol.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 27 March 2014

Ruqaya Ass3aad Munther, 24 years old and 6 weeks pregnant, is the new victim of domestic violence and was killed in cold blood shortly after Margaret Tannus, Manal al-Assi, and Christelle Abu Shaqra whilst the law remains absent.
According to the reports on the sinister event, Ruqaya’s spouse (27 year old) fired a shot gun at her last Wednesday after she asked for divorce as a result of his repeated physical abuse.  She was hit in the chest and her husband left her lying and bleeding on the floor for half an hour before his father came to take her to the Rassoul al Aazam hospital where she lost her life according to the medical personnel.  The killer took his two children (Hassan 5 years and Ruwayda 3 years) and fled.  However, the police called on him for investigation.  His father then phoned him to tell him that his wife is still alive and he should bring his kids and come home.  Upon this call, he returned home and was apprehended by the police and taken into custody at the Borj al Barajneh police station.  According to Ruqaya’s 16 year old sister, Zeina, Ruqaya was continuously subjected to harsh beatings by her husband and had marks all over her body when the family inspected her cadaver in addition to the bullet that killed her.  However, the forensic doctor who checked the body before washing it, did not make any mention of the fresh bruises which were obvious on her neck and chest.  This prompted her family to ask for a reexamination of her body according to Kafa who published the details on the site of the association.
Source: The Daily Star 26 March 2014

Daily Star interviewed the Bangladeshi Ambassador to Lebanon, who spoke about the size of Bangladeshi labor in Lebanon and which is estimated at 60000 women and men.  The ambassador noted that Bangladeshi workers reside in different suburbs of the cities with most involved in domestic work.  According to the ambassador, men tend to work in shops, restaurants, hotels, gas stations and cleaning companies whilst women are exclusively in domestic work.  He highlighted the various types of abuses to which Bangladeshis are subjected namely working extra hours as well as other issues that the Embassy tries to solve with the Lebanese authorities.  He referred to the work of human rights organizations concerned with the right s of women migrant workers and the fact that they are acting to stop exploitation and abuse. He also noted the absence of a law to protect workers and the persistence of the overwhelming sponsorship system which leaves workers at the mercy of employers and employment agencies.  In addition, the ambassador highlighted various forms of exploitation during the different stages of recruitment starting at selection in the home country while insisting on the need to set up a standard protocol of employment which will secure the rights of all workers.
Source: The Daily Star 26 March 2014