News

The President of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists Neemat Efram, launched during a meeting of industrialists which was held in Dbayyeh yesterday, four new model industrial cities and which are environmentally friendly and will secure 20,000 new employment opportunities.  These new sites include a readymade and state of the art infrastructure including a modern water and communication system according to a contemporary urban planning scheme which includes a harmonious industrial and agricultural environment.  Efram called for a partnership with the public sector based on the decree enacted in 2005 and which allows the setting up of a higher council for industrial cities.  He added that industrialists had to look for alternatives whilst focusing on mobilizing the private sector. He reiterated the importance of strengthening the services offered to industrialists as well as providing them with sustainability incentives and support so that they remain competitive. As such, Efram took upon himself the responsibility of sponsoring the project of creating an industrial city in Jezzine whilst Khalil Zantout in Nabatieh area, Wissam Ashour in Zahrani and Michel Daher in Terbol in bekaa.  
Source: Al-Nahar 18 February 2014

As Safir newspaper published today a report on the increase in the number of Syrian women agricultural laborers in the areas of Khiam in South Lebanon, an area which has now become  fully planted and utilized  with seasonal and permanent plants.  Indeed, after the liberation from Israeli occupation in 2000, the area including Sardeh, Omra and Wazzani became increasingly exploited for seasonal and tree planting and now hosts vast fruit and grapevines orchard in addition to potato and cauliflower fields after being set up with irrigation systems.
The report noted that the percentage of women labor in this area has increased with the influx of Syrians who have populated tents in Khyam and Marjeyoun.  Syrian women have found work as agricultural labor and are being recruited in teams thus securing some income and shelter.  These women have contributed their agricultural expertise especially those who come from similar agricultural areas in Syria.
Source: Al-Safir 18 February 2014

Krystel Assi, 30 years, was buried yesterday after succumbing to a lethal dose of poison.  Krystel leaves behind a five year old boy whilst her family has accused her husband for her murder.  Preliminary investigation have not yet resulted in the arrest of her husband who has been called for questioning twice only to be released last Sunday with a simple request to remain available for further questioning.  Krsytel’s mother, Josephine Abu Chacra, as well as her uncle, Jean Tahhan, confirm that Krystel was a victim of sustained domestic violence as her husband kept stalking her and refused to let her see her son who is living with her in-laws after she had fled her husband to live with her parents, and initiated a divorce procedure.  Krystel’s uncle noted that her husband had taken her to the hospital where she dies after ingesting a large quantity of poison.  At the hospital, he did not divulge his identity and did not sign her admission papers.  He simply called her family to tell them that she is in bad condition.

As Safir notes that the victim had resorted to Kafa more than a year and a half ago and had shared her horrific experience with violence and requested legal assistance.  However, she only came to Kafa twice whilst the organization declared yesterday that it is ready to provide legal assistance to the victim’s family in their case against her husband.  Kafa’s lawyer, Leila Awada, noted that Kafa will escalate its protest vis-à-vis the Parliament as of next month.
In a related vein, the Judge Raja Hamouche requested the penalty of forced labor in perpetuity for the husband of Manal Assi for the charge of murdering his wife two weeks ago.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Akhbar, Al-Safir 18 February 2014

Al Akhbar newspaper published a report on the project entitled “environmental recycling of solid waste in Teffahta” and which is implemented within the framework of the programme of the Ministry of Social Affairs entitled “strengthening the participation of women in local governance and development”.  The project is implemented, in collaboration with the local municipality and Ard Lubnan association, under the supervision of MOSA development services centre in Bissariyyeh/Zahrani area, and is funded by the Italian Cooperation office at the Italian Embassy.
The report noted that the project was initiated following the completion of a local opinion poll undertaken by MOSA and which showed that women in Teffahta would like to be trained in sorting solid waste and recycling organic and solid waste so that they can address the problem of unregulated rubbish dump which infest their village and cause both air and environmental pollution.  According to one of the activists in the project, Zainab Younes, when the project first kicked off, responsiveness was generally mild and that several field visits were required to convince women to sort their wastes whilst pointing out to the financial benefits of the project.  Indeed, the project has allowed women to engage with peddlers in nearby villages and who specialize in recycled goods namely glass, plastic, cardboard and metal.  Younes also noted that a number of workshops were organized for women in Teffahta to train them on how to sort and recycle household waste and produce products and artifacts that can be re-used.
Finally to be noted that the women of Teffahta have participated with their products in the a recent exhibition of successful and creative local projects, which was held last week at the UNESCO palace in parallel with the national conference on the management of solid waste and which was organized by the Lebanese Environmental Movement.
Source: Al-Akhbar 17 February 2014

Within the framework of the project entitled “developing penal justice in Lebanon”, implemented by the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC, with funding from the European Union, Minister of Justice Chafiq Kortbawi, launched this month the start of operation of the new sewing workshop at Roomieh prison.  Preparations are underway to set up two similar workshops in the Tripoli and Baabda prisons for women with a view to have them ready for operation shortly.
The new workshop aims at producing basic goods for prisoners and providing them with work opportunities and income.  In addition to the contribution of all the stakeholders listed above, the American Embassy in Beirut donated the sewing machines whilst the UNODC took the responsibility of rehabilitating the workshop facilities and provided logistical support, raw material and training for inmates in addition to the overall supervision of work. To be noted that production will be distributed within the health kit given to each inmate upon his registration in the project.
To be reminded, that Minister Kortbawi kicked off the project back in September 2013 with the creation of an administrative committee to run the workshop.  The Committee is entrusted with overall decision making as well as overseeing all matters to ensure proper implementation of the project including payment of workers.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 17 February 2014

The number of Sri Lankan workers in the Middle East is estimated to have reached 1.2 million the majority of whom are employed as domestic workers.  Recently, the Sri Lankan ambassador to Kuwait, C. A.Wijeratne, announced that his government is seriously considering putting an end the migration of Sri Lankan workers especially to the Middle East in view of the negative consequences of this phenomenon which, according to the ambassador, is leading to the dissolution of families.  The ambassador clarified that no decision has been take yet but is under serious consideration and without exceptions.  He added that the decision was also informed by the poor living conditions of Sri Lankan workers in the region, the low salaries they receive and the ill treatment that many suffer.
Source: AL-Diyar 17 February 2014

Within the context of heightened debate on the law to protect women from family violence and with the increased reporting of family violence and abuse against women and children, An Nahar newspaper published an interview with lawyer and legal scholar Ibrahim Trabulsi who gave an overview of the texts in the Christian jurisdiction which address violence and mistreatment and which protect tormented “spouses” and kids abused by their parents.  Current religious text address these through providing the possibility of separation as well as requesting divorce or annulment.
Trabulsi noted that Christian religious courts seek to protect the “family” through legal texts that do not recognize all possible cases of abuse whilst there is no social policy to protect family members from mistreatment at all levels.  He added that court decisions are often impossible to implement because of various procedural challenges.  Traboulsi also spoke of the absence of any form of civil protection since all matters related to the family are within the remit of religious laws.  He also reiterated that there is no reference or official recourse to go to in case a family member is subjected to mistreatment or abuse aside from civil society initiatives.  He added that the state should enact a comprehensive law to protect the family as well as mobilize social workers to investigate cases in addition to creating a specialized unit within the Ministry of Social Affairs as well as a social public prosecution to investigate crimes within families.
Trabulsi concluded that the proposed domestic violence protection bill, and which ought to be endorsed by parliament, should not be viewed as a battle between civil society and religious institutions as, according to Trabulsi, the proposed law does not intend to take away the responsibility of religious courts in matters related to the family.  He also added that the protection of Lebanese families is primarily the responsibility of civil institutions and not religious institutions notwithstanding the religious family laws which regulate family matters.

For details regarding the text of Christian religious laws, refer to this link.(Arabic content)
Source: Al-Nahar 12 February 2014

The Lebanese Women’s Council organized a book signing ceremony to launch its new publication entitled “The History of the Lebanese Women’s Council – 1800 to 2012”.  The event was held yesterday at the Press Syndicate with the attendance of former Council’s President, Aman Shaarani.  The research volume, which was prepared  and documented by Fatima Kaddoura Shami, documents the struggles and achievements of the Council during that period, and introduces the public to the work and contributions of the said Council during the many phases of its existence at a time when women were part of the cultural, social and educational renaissance of the country.  The book includes 408 pages divided into 5 sections notably a) the impact of education and social renaissance in the Arab region on women in Lebanon and until independence; b) the history of the Council since independence; c) The struggles of the presidents of the various women bodies existing from 1921 to 2012; d) the efforts of selected consultants and experts in the steering committee; and e) legal and economic achievements, conferences, publications, exhibitions and documentation centers from 1921 to 2012.
In an interview with Al Mustakbal, Shaarani emphasized the importance of this book as a reference on Lebanese women.  Current Council President, Jamal Ghobril noted that this volume is the best that could have been done to document the achievements of the women movement and to highlight women’s struggles during a period where it was taboo for women to leave their homes.
It is to be noted, that the book was prepared with the assistance of Linda Kays Saab, Jamal Ghobril, Fadya Sinno, Nadia Al-Bawab, Lina Tamer, and Ra7ma Al-Hajj, as well as Najwa Ramadan, Hiyam Sharif, Iqbal Shayeb, Sanaa Soloh, Qamar Murad, Nada Saad and Saloua Maasri who helped in compiling the bibliography.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 12 February 2014

According to Dr. Talia Araoui, the Director of The Salim El-Hoss Bioethics and Professionalism Program (SHBPP) at AUBMC, women still face a number of health challenges in the Arab region, namely, early marriage, rape, female genital mutilation, aesthetic surgery, hymen reconstruction, violence, and neglect of elderly women.  Women have lesser opportunities to access health and medical care and are prone to exploitation during conflict and disasters.  This raid review was part of Dr. Araoui presentation at the scientific convention on Bioethics of women’s issue which was organized last week with support from the UNESCO office in Cairo and AUB Faculty of Health Sciences.  To be noted that this is the first conference of The Bioethics Network on Women’s Issues in the Arab region (Binwiar), which includes institutions and researchers from various part of the Arab region and working on issues related to ethics and women’s health in the Arab region.
In his intervention, Dr. Adnan Mroueh who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology, spoke of the problems that are likely to threaten women’s health in the future namely poor nutrition, drought, emergence of new diseases, increased resistance of germs strains, obesity, smoking, increase in caesarian birth. He also considered that the mother mortality rate in Arab countries is still high, while the fertility rate decreased from 7 in 1960 to 3.3 in 2002.
Faysal Kak, also specialized in obstetrics and gynecology, spoke of the legal framework and noted that Arab countries lack legislations that address complex issues related to the ethics of women’s health such as medical complications, techniques related to birth, in vitro fertilization, contraception, sexual awareness covering also STDs, choosing the sex of the fetus, etc…  Kak added that whereas most Arab countries had agreed to the universal declaration on bioethics and human rights which was adopted during the UNESCO conference of 2005, none has actually worked towards developing its legislative framework so as to be on par with the international dialogue on this issue whilst the religious discourse still dominates this arena.
Source: Al-Safir 11 February 2014

The USEK University in Kaslik launched in October 2013 the Baladyat project which aims at encouraging young women and men to take part in municipal work.  L’Orient le Jour spoke with the coordinator of this project, Mirna Abboud Mzawwik, who explained that the project extends over two years and will seek to encourage young women and men to engage in municipal work through providing them with opportunities which match their capacities.  Mzawwik noted that the project has three stakeholders: local governance, the USEK University and civil society organizations.  She added that participating municipalities currently include Keserouen – Ftouh and Jbeil whilst the project is seeking to enlarge the number of municipalities. Mzawwik also presented the current partners of the project which includes a number of embassies, local and international NGOs namely: Italian Embassy and Cooperation office, UNESCO, Initiatives Association, Arc en Ciel, Lebanese Montors Association, OFRA Association, Fair Trade, and Kun Hadi.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 8 February 2014