News

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, The Say No to Violence organization launched a media awareness campaigns focusing on various forms of daily violence against women.  The Campaign calls on all citizens to wear a “No To Violence Against Women” badge in solidarity with women and to mark their rejection of all forms of discrimination against women.
In its statement, the organization also called on the Lebanese authorities to help in challenging the marginalization of women and redressing the social structure as well as the social relations of gender so as to enable women to take on their role as partners who are equal to men.  The Campaign also urged women to engage in the forthcoming parliamentary elections as women in all parts of Lebanon and so as to consecrate the fundamental principle of equality in politics as well as create a pressure that will encourage the state to reform discriminatory laws.
Within the same vein, and also in commemoration of International Women’s Day, the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences at the Notre Dame University is organizing tomorrow a seminar entitled Women in the Public Sphere.  The event will be held at the NDU Campus in Zuk Mosbeh with the participation of Major Suzanne Hajj Hobeiche the head of the Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau at the Internal Security Forces, Ms, Suzanne Jabbour representing the Restart association and the Human Resources Manager in the Lebanese Forces, Ms. Nada Nachef.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 6 March 2014

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the NCLW launched yesterday, and in collaboration with The Institute for Women Studies in the Arab World - Lebanese American University, the National Campaign to protect girls from early marriage.  The event was held at the LAU Campus in Beirut.

The Secretary of the NCLW, Lawyer Fady Karam, noted in his keynote address that the failure of the state in protecting young girls is a violation to the Constitution and to the International Conventions that Lebanon has signed.  Karam said that underage girls are victims of customs and traditions that are not related to tradition and that the Lebanese legislators must ban early marriage or at least impose restrictions to ensure that take into consideration the health, social and psychological well being of underage girls and that ensure that they fully consent to early marriage.  Karam highlighted the complementarities of roles between civil and religious authorities on this matter.

Kafa’s Director, Zoya Ruhana referred to the International Anti-Trafficking Conference which was held last month in Vienna and which highlighted the death of 1 million girl child globally every year as a result of early marriage and rape.  She also pointed out to the numerous cases highlighted recently by the local media on early marriage but lamented that this coverage does not shed light on the key legal issues and that is that the laws in Lebanon legitimize early marriage. For her part, Arlett Tabet, Public Appeal Attorney and Judge Arlette Tabet, talked about the complexities in protecting underage girls in view of the confessional system in Lebanon and where each sect has set its won minimum age of marriage within a framework where there is no control on this matter from the state.

Ms. Randa Berri, NCLW Vice president, spoke on behalf of the NCLW president, First Lady Wafa Suleiman, about the realities of underage marriage in Lebanon and its devastating social impact and the fact that it is quite prevalent amongst the poor.  She noted that the Campaign must adopt three things, namely ensuring that the state adopts a minimum age of marriage law to protect young girls from all kind of violence, in addition to respect International Conventions especially the Child’s Rights Convention.  Berri went on to provoke women activists by rejecting the incrimination of marital rape on the ground that it is very difficult to prove such rape acts!.  
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 5 March 2014

The Batroon Development and Cultural League (BDCL) inaugurated yesterday a free English Language School located at the Association’s premises in Besbeena in Batroon.  The event was attended by the Association’s President, Joseph Shallita as well as members of the Association and other stakeholders. The School which kicked off with 33 women students who are enrolled in a 6 month English language course, targets only women from the nearby towns and villages and is open three mornings per week. To be noted that the setting up of the school is the outcome of collaboration between BDCL and “Ma3akom” association and of funding by the American Embassy in Beirut.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 5 March 2014

Nine women presented in Byblos yesterday their catering and hospitality projects to a jury of experts in the field.  This event was organized within the framework of a project aiming to provide social and economic support to women in rural areas through the development of tourism, hotels and women entrepreneurship.  The initiative is implemented by Spanish NGO named ONAY and Lebanese PRODES association.  The project’s budget is fixed at some Euros 620,000 of which Euros 510,000 were donated by the European Union.
This presentation came as the culmination of a training workshop that the nine women completed and which focused on starting and running small businesses in rural areas.  The candidates are now expected to be able to develop their ideas into a project through the drawing of business, marketing and action plans.  Furthermore, the program, which will support women in kicking off their projects, targets the areas of Byblos, Batroun highlands and Becharreh and seeks to empower women socially and economically in rural areas, to create jobs through vocational training in hospitality as well as small businesses by facilitating their access to financing.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Safir 5 March 2014

An Nahar newspaper published a report yesterday focusing on a proposed law for the creation of an autonomous Chamber of Agriculture that would be in charge of holding the Agricultural registry.  The report reminds of the history of the proposed law which submitted in 2003 and which was never put into effect.  The report relays the point of view of the president of the association of farmers, Antoine Howayek, who notes that allowing farmers to join the ranks of the other Chambers will lead to a radical change in the geographical and confessional composition of the Chambers.  This, according to Howayek, has prompted many political forces to stand against such change.
Howayek notes that the creation of an autonomous Chamber of Agriculture, in charge of the Agricultural registry, will facilitate farmers' access to their rights as it will allow them to register and subsequently to join the NSSF. It will also enable farmers to register their vehicles as private cars, and will big of great assistance in determining, with much precision, the properties of their holdings. This will subsequently assist farmers in securing an insurance against natural catastrophes. This key step will also enable farmers to have access to agricultural loans, regulate land usage, and improve farmers' productivity through the provision of extension services.
In detailing the project, Howayek noted that the proposal entails creating 7 agricultural chambers in Mount Lebanon, the North, Akkar, Baalbaq & Hermel, the rest of the Beqaa, South, and Nabatieh, thus ll providing an excellent example of economic and development decentralisation.  Financing for these Chambers will be essentially drawn from membership dues as well as from issuing certificates of agricultural origin.  He estimated that total proceeds from some 100,000 farmers will be no less than USD 10 million per year.
Finally, the report notes that proposal to create an autonomous Chambers of Agriculture was supported by a number of MPs when first submitted in 2003.  However, the proposed law was never endorsed. Later on, the Economic and Social Council Forum which was organised by the EU in 2009 discussed this matter again and recommended its endorsement but with no conclusive outcome yet.
Source: Al-Nahar 4 March 2014

Daily Star newspaper published yesterday a report on the achievement of mechanical engineer Rana Chemaitelly, the founder of the " little engineer" company, in the second of a series of interviews to be published by the newspaper on women pioneers in various sectors.
According to the newspaper, Rana Chemaitelly graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1993. In 1997, she founded her first company in Lebanon, a digital imaging business. She then moved to a teaching position at the American University of Beirut where she got the idea for the “little engineer" project.
Chemaitelly told the newspaper that she observed her first year engineering students who left their studies when they realized that this is not the field they would like to specialize in.  She then got the idea to set up an institute which would allow them to understand the field and to decide early on whether this was the specialisation they wanted.  The Little Engineer project initially arose as an attempt to help her young son overcome his isolation. She started her project from home, and then expanded into an orientation centre which operates at two levels.  First, the centre offers entertainment and educational activities for kids between 4 and 14 years of age in order to help them develop their skills in creativity and engineering inventions and to assist teenagers, who are getting ready to enter university, to expand their ideas and to decide on their future professional career
The project now includes four centres with plans to open 5 more centers in Lebanon and later to expand into the Arab region through a franchise that is being created. It is to be noted that Chemaitelly received a number of prizes for her Little Engineer project notably one for the best workplan in the Arab region for 2010, which she won through a competition organised by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT.  She also received the Cartier prize for best pioneer woman. Rana's advice to women pioneer is not to be scared but to insist and persevere to reach their goals.
Source: The Daily Star 4 March 2014

Arabian Business magazine published the list of the 100 most powerful women in the Arab region, which is an annual list of women who are the most influential in many sectors such as art, media, politics, science and economics.
The list includes 17 Lebanese women with the top place going to Naila Howayek (6th), the CEO of Swatch group, whose fortune is estimated at USD 3.9 billions.  Former Minister Leila al Solh, vice president of Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation remained 14th on the list. Other Lebanese names include Aya Bdeir, the founder of Karaj, the first Lebanese workshop for experimental arts and science, ranked 39th  whilst Grace Hajjar, management consultant for the private and public sector ranked 45th .  The writer Anissah Helou held the 46th rank ; followed by movie director Nadine Labaki (49nd), Fairuz (58th), the journalists Hanan Al-Sheikh (59th) and Joumana Haddad (62nd), Hind Hobeika inventor of Instabeat, a revolutionary swimming device (76th), social and human rights activist and philanthropist, Rabab Sadr ranked 79th, Mona Bawershi, the CEO of Ghzeiri Transportation (83rd), and finally the founder of Semsom channel, Christine Sfeir at 87th.  For the full list please click on the following link.

Source: Al-Nahar, L’Orient Le Jour 4 March 2014

As Safir newspaper published last week a report on the beekeeping sector in Lebanon, which is presently facing major challenges that will be difficult to overcome as it estimated losses of beekeepers between 30 to 40% of total production.  The newspaper added that these losses will not affect this season only but will extend, according to the beekeepers, to the next summer season with the areas of Aley and Metn expected to be particularly affected by the decline in production.
The report also noted that the sustainability of the beekeeping sector is directly depended on the citrus season which largely determines the size and quality of honey production.  The low rainfall this year caused an unprecedented decline in the number of bee workers per beehive, and forced citrus growers to use pesticides during this season to combat the dangerous insects that might jeopardize the production. These unfavorable circumstances are likely to affect the income of hundreds of families which will cause a major social and economic disaster.  The report relayed the demands of beekeepers that the state and its institutions financially mitigate the impact of this crisis.
Source: Al-Safir 4 March 2014

The May Chidiac Foundation – Media Institute (MCF-MI) launched yesterday the second edition of its “Women on the front lines” Conference in commemoration of International Women's Day.  The event which was held in Beirut highlighted the experiences of pioneer women who were able to create change within the Arab region and in the public arena through their various expertise and discipline whether in economics, social work, media, politics and others.
Former Minister Mona Ofeishe spoke in the event in addition to Minister of Health Wael Abou Faour and the president of the Foundation May Chidiac. Speakers highlighted that despite the struggles of women in the Arab region, they still have a long way to go before any tangible legal changes are reached.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 4 March 2014

The League of Women’ Rights (LWF) organised yesterday a get together with the media on the occasion of International Women's Day.  During the event, LWF expressed a number of demands related to citizens' livelihoods including the need for safety and stability at social, political, economic, and democratic and trade union level.  LWF noted the need to continue working on the reform of discriminatory laws such as the penal code, the NSSF, protection of women from domestic violence, the nationality law as well as the civil family law.  The women organisation also called for changing women's negative image in the media and for creating more spaces for women's issues to be covered by the media.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Safir 4 March 2014