News

Within the framework of its EU EuroMed@Change project, the Arab Open University organised a second workshop entitled “Intellectual Property and its Impact on the Economy”.  The event was organised at the Antelias campus for the purpose of stimulating and supporting creativity which will contribute to strengthening the national economy and in order to protect creators through raising awareness on the importance of intellectual property and the impact of this issue on the individual and society as well as its positive effect on the national economy and private sector.
The workshop included four components; in the first the lawyer Nisrine Haddad from Sader law firm gave a presentation about copyrights and confidential information and its impact on private companies.  As part of the second component, AOU business instructor, Dr. Saher Annan discussed how to mainstream intellectual property in corporate strategic planning.
The third component included a presentation by legal expert on intellectual property at the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Wissam Ameel, which focused on mechanisms for obtaining intellectual copyrights and registering trademarks and copyrights whilst Kawkab Sinno from Brand Protection Group underscored in the last component the importance of awareness raising within all strata in society and highlighted various issues of health risks associated with counterfeit medicines and food products as well as health hazards on consumers, companies and the states as a result of decrease in investments.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar, 30 January 2014

A law proposal for an "optional” civil marriage developed by the Minister of Justice Shakeeb Kortbawi was published yesterday on the Ministry's website.  According to this new law proposal, Lebanese citizens may contract a civil marriage in Lebanon without necessarily having to delete their confessional identification from the civil registry.  The law proposal introduces some revisions in a number of legal clauses notably the clause 25 from the decree 60 L.R, issued on 13/3/1936, which stipulates that if a civil marriage is contracted in Lebanon or outside, it will be regulated by the civil law chosen by the spouses on condition that it does not violate public order.  In addition, clause 2 of the personal status law issued on 7/12/1951 is regulated and whereby the civil registry officer is provided with the mandate to regulate a civil marriage contract within his jurisdiction.  The law proposal also abolishes the clauses 79 of the civil procedures (Legislative Decree no. 90 issued on 16/9/1983) as a result of which civil courts become mandated to rule over such civil marriages contracted in Lebanon and not only those contracted outside Lebanon.  The new law also imposes a flat fee of LBP 500,000 to be paid to the religious court to which the husband is affiliated.
In reacting to this new proposal, the Legal Agenda considered that this new law proposal has broken a previous taboo by abolishing decree 53 and whereby Muslim confessions and laws become subject to being endorsed by the state.  This, according to the legal group, will undoubtedly be met with serious resistance from within the Muslim confessions.  From another side, the Legal Agenda considers that this new law has not addressed the legal loophole which came up as a result of the civil marriages contracted and recognised in Lebanon in 2013 through the new clause 25 which refers to public order thus leaving the judge wit the discretion to define what public order is.  The Legal Agenda also criticized the prohibitive fee of LBP 500,000 which makes such marriages only accessible to members of certain classes and also creates a precedent whereby the state raises funds for religious courts.  The Legal Agenda concludes that this law proposal reflects an intention to defuse the growing fear among religious institutions of loosing income as a result of increased civil marriages.  In addition, in prioritizing the confession of the husband the law clearly reflects patriarchal and discriminatory mindsets.
Source: Al-Safir 30 January 2014

The follow-up committee of the organizations represented in the olive sector met yesterday to respond to allegation about contamination in local olive oil.  The meeting was held upon the invitation of the president of the association of olive farmers in Kura, George Constantine Inati, who strongly emphasised that both Palestinian and Lebanese olive oils are considered to be amongst the five best in the world based on the findings of several research centres.  He added that the Lebanese olive oil sold by local farmers and cooperatives in all regions of Lebanon is pure whilst imported olive oil supplies are not.  Inati invited consumers to buy Lebanese olive oil in order to support the local industry, to protect it from the competition of lower quality imported oil, and to put an end to the greed of importers who exploit domestic consumers and undermine local producers.
Source: Al-Nahar 29 January 2014

During a meeting held last week to discuss the distribution of this year’s tobacco harvest, the Executive Council of the Syndicate of Tobacco Growers in Lebanon reiterated the importance of continued government support to tobacco farming since it is a vital agricultural sector that largely contributes to social stability in the area.
The Council also called for raising the prices that farmers receive for their harvest because of increasing high cost of living, the dire general economic situation and the rise in production cost.  Two other major demands also formulated by the Council were the inclusion of tobacco farmers in the National Social Security Fund and to raising of the production ceiling from 300 to 400 kilograms per growing license so as to improve the social and living conditions of tobacco farmers.
Source: Al-Nahar 29 January 2014

Fe-Male launched last week its electronic awareness raising campaign under the slogan “Not by Commodification Your Product Sells” and which seeks to highlight various forms of discrimination against women in advertising and in order to stop the practice of objectifying women for the purpose of increasing sales.  The electronic campaign will go on for a one month period during which it will disseminate videos, cartoons and support messages.  It will later be followed by field actions which seek to pressure advertising companies and TV channels to stop exploiting women for enhancing consumerism.  The campaign will call for the portrayal of a balanced and non stereotypical image of women in the media.
Source: Al-Nahar 29 January 2014

The ICT sector in Lebanon has had a positive performance in 2013 despite the political crisis in Lebanon and the spillover of the Syrian crisis on various economic sectors.  These results were the major findings of a recent report released by the International Business Monitor and which has estimated the growth of the ICT sector in 2014 will reach 7.8% corresponding to a total business value of USD 397.6 million compared to 368.7 million in 2013.  This will be coupled with an increase in the individual yearly spending on technology from USD 76.3 USD to USD 80, which is expected to increase to USD 111 in 2017 thus scoring an average growth of 9.8%.  The entire ICT sector is expected to grow between 2014 and 2017 by 11% reaching a total value of USD 560 million.
According to the report, a further development of this sector will require investing in building technical ICT capacities as well as launching the electronic government.  The report also notes that the currently prohibitive communication costs are undoubtedly the key hurdles facing the development of this sector while its main strength resides in the availability of skilled and multi-lingual labor.  Furthermore, the report adds that situation of the Lebanese ICT market has the potential of making Lebanon a regional hub especially since it has yet to reach saturation level.
Economic expert Charbel Kordahi commented on these figures by saying that the ICT has contributed some 9% to the GDP by the end of 2013 compared to an average of 5.5% between 1997 and 2012.  He added that the significant investments in this sector have increased exponentially since 2012 and have strongly affected the GDP, the active labor force, as well as overall economic indicators.  Kordahi also noted that the contribution to the ICT sector into the GDP now exceeds USD 600 million if we include its direct and indirect impacts.  He explained that the ICT impact is not restricted to the level of ICT sales and employment opportunities but also can be measured in terms of improvements in the quality of services and increasing productivity of individuals and companies.
Source: Al-Hayat 28 January 2014

The Arabic Network for Immigrant Rights organised yesterday a conference on “Promoting Migrant Domestic Workers' Rights by Addressing the Migration Continuum between Origin Country and Lebanon” during which the Minister of Labor, Selim Jreissati, declared that his Ministry has introduced a number of new measures aiming to regulate the process of migration of foreign domestic workers.  These new measures include: the ratification of bilateral conventions with host countries, developing a guidebook in collaboration with the ILO, and the setting up of a national steering committee of 30 partners and stakeholders from relevant Ministries, the ILO, NGOs, employers and employees.  Jreissati also noted that his Ministry is currently working o n a new law for migrant workers and where the term “sponsor” will be replaced by “employer”.  The Ministry is also developing a new standard and certified contract which will be available in Arabic, French and English. Furthermore and at a later stage, the national language of the sending countries will be included so that migrant workers will be able to read the content of their contract before signing it.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Diyar 28 January 2014

The Director of the Economic Development and Globalization Division at UN-ESCWA, Dr. Abdullah Dardari, confirmed during a media seminar that was held last week at the UN House, that the influx of Syrian labor into Lebanon has raised unemployment particularly amongst unskilled young laborers, a category which is usually the main victim of unemployment. Nevertheless, this phenomenon also triggered an increase in the average growth rate since it provided local entrepreneurs with cheap labor.  
Dardari, who was speaking during an event was convened by ESCWA to discuss “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014”, predicted an increase in the GNP from 1.3% in 2013 to 2.4% in 2014, and from 3.2% in 2013 to 3.9% in 2014 in Jordan, stating that these figures need to be considered with caution in view of the side-effects caused by a 25% increase in residents in Lebanon and 15% in Jordan. As for the overall economic and development situation in the region, Dardari concluded that the geo-political stress related to the Syrian situation, will continue to negatively impact the neighboring countries.
Within the same vein, the Minister of Economy and Trade, Nicolas Nahhas, highlighted during the meeting the inability of Lebanon to absorb the influx of labor as Lebanon can only creates 3000 jobs a year whereas 25000 are needed in normal situations.
For her part, Sandra Sino of ESCWA highlighted in more details the negative impact of the Syrian crisis on the GDP and GDP per capita of Lebanon while exacerbating the social, educational, employment and health difficulties, and resulting in an increase in the rent levels for small apartments and in the cost of land transport which affected both exports and imports. She also pointed out to the steep decrease in the numbers of tourists, and revealed that some USD 11 billion of Syrian funds entered Lebanon, but only a mere USD 1 billion was effectively employed in the Lebanese economy.  She called on the government to put in place the appropriate economic policies to avoid disasters, raising serious alarms about the capacity of the country to absorb the increasing number of displaced and expecting unemployment to reach 24% in 2014.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar, Al-Diyar 25 January 2014

As Safir newspaper published a report about the once popular market in Arab Salim and which was set up by one of the local residents, Hasan Nadar, with a view to provide easy marketing opportunities to the residents as well as a space for consumers to buy goods.  To be noted that popular markets are usually an important outlet for families with limited income as the available goods are of low prices compared to regular markets especially since rent, taxes, and the cost of utilities are either waived or subsidized.
The market started with 40 stalls spread over 3 dunnums but has now shrunk to only 20 stalls after several interruptions, and with a limited choice of goods.  Consumers are now mainly relying on the Monday market in Nabatyeh to buy their products hence decreasing local demand significantly. However, the market remains an important need for Syrian displaced, according to Aamneh Nadar, a member of the women agro-industry cooperative, who exhibits her food products at the market including jams, essences and traditional food, as she lamented the difficult economic situation that prevails in the region.
Source: Al-Safir 27 January 2014

Roula Yacoob’s husband was released with no prosecution following the legal instructions of Judge Alaa Al-Khatib requesting halting the prosecution and confirming in a 13-page report that the deceased did not succumb from the beating as this was not proven in the post mortem exam and there were no marks of abuse on her body and she was not beaten on that particular day.  According to judge, thorough investigations were carried out and involved the appointment of 4 medical committees of 16 physicians.  The first two committees included two forensic doctors each, the third committee included five physicians selected by the Order of Physicians in Beirut whilst the fourth included seven doctors chosen by the Orders of Physician of Beirut and of Tripoli.   The physicians included radiologists, brain surgeons, neurosurgeons, orthopedics and forensic doctors,
The head of the medical committee who was entrusted with the task of preparing the report on the cause of death of Roula Yacoob, Dr. Claude Semaan, noted that the committee could neither establish nor refute whether the beating was the cause of death and could not also ascertain whether there is not a congenital malformation which has caused death because the post mortem examination was undertaken quite late after the time of death.
For her part the president of Kafa, Zoya Rouhana, was quite surprised by the decision and confirmed that Kafa will pursue this matter with the family of the victim.  The news and the release of the victim’s husband also came as a shock for the family and friends of Roula in Halba and Akkar.  They confirmed that their daughter did not die of natural causes but suffered injustice along with her family.  The family lawyer, Raymond Yacoob, noted that he was studying all necessary legal channels to appeal this judgment and so that justice can be done.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Akhbar 25 January 2014