News

On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day (10 December 2013), the UNHCR organised, in collaboration with the UN Media office in Beirut a discussion with a group of media people and representatives of civil society organisations as well as human rights experts.  The discussion carried the slogan of “20 Years Working for Your Rights”.
The president of the Parliamentary Commission on Human Rights, MP Michel Moussa noted that the national human rights plan which was completed last year after extensive preparations, research, consultation and input from parliamentarians, local and international experts, will finally be implemented as soon as it is endorsed by the Assembly.
For her part, the director of the Beirut Office of the Arab Institute for Human Rights, Ms. Joumana Merhi, pointed out to problems that women still face in Lebanon and which mainly revolve around their exclusion from political life and from peace building during transitional processes.  She highlighted the regression in the implementation of CEDAW calling for serious endeavor towards achieving women’s full citizenship as well as mainstreaming human rights and equality in the texts of the new constitutions of countries in transition. Finally, Merhi also called for the enactment of new laws notably with regards to protecting women and girls from violence notably family and sexual violence.  Discussions generally focused on the global decline in human rights and called on UNHCR to translate its words into actions.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 17 December 2013

The General Directorate of General Security issued yesterday an administrative memorandum which provides women and men equal rights in issuing travel documents and approval to travel for their underage children.  This decision will come into effect as of 2 January 2014 after being uploaded on the Directorate General’s website.  Prior to that decision, the DGGS required both parents consent for acquiring travel documents for children below 7 years of age whilst consent for travel was only the prerogatives of fathers.
To be noted that the Progressive Women Union (PWU) launched a campaign over one year ago calling for the elimination of discrimination against Lebanese women in this particular issue.  The Campaign was funded by MEPI and was based on a legal study carried out by lawyer Paul Morcos and which seemingly played an important role in convincing the DGGS, according to the statement issued by the PWU.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar 17 December 2013

Within the framework of its relief project entitled Safety for Women and Girls and which seeks to strengthen the capacities of actors in civil society to meet the needs of women and girls affected by the Syrian crisis, Beyond Association organised, in partnership with Heartland Alliance and with UNICEF funding, a training workshop on communication through theatre.  The event was organised yesterday in Nabatieh and included a theater performance presented by Syrian girls, which deals with issues of economic and family violence as well as early marriage.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 17 December 2013
 

Lobnani Association celebrated last Sunday the launch of its 2014 plan with the graduation of participants in its workshop entitled "24 hours change my life".  The event was held under the auspices of the Head of the Economic Committees and former Minister Adnan al Kassar, and was held at the Kassar building for Arab economy.  The workshop was implemented in collaboration with the YMCA and targeted job seekers as well as people newly employed, while aiming to empower young people and train them on communication and conflict resolution.  The general director of Lobnani Association, Mr. Nadim Mansouri, described during the commemoration event the objectives of his association, which was set up in 2011, which is to raise awareness amongst the youth, to provide them with guidance, and to link business people across the world so as to create more space for young people in Lebanon as well as those living abroad. YMCA's president, Mr. Ghassan Sayyah, noted that the collaboration between the private sector, the public sector and civil society organisations is a necessary step towards resolving problems faced by the country, especially in terms of creating employment opportunities for young people and in order to achieve economic, social and political stability.  For his part, Kassar noted that the exclusion of young people from public, political, economic and social life jeopardizes the infrastructure for economic and social development in Lebanon and undermines the capacities of young people to play a key role in political and cultural development.
Source: Al-Diyar 16 December 2013

Statistics released by the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD indicate that only 20% of companies in the Middle East and North Africa region are run by women compared to 32% in OECD countries of Europe.  These statistics were released during the OECD-MENA Women's Business Forum on nurturing entrepreneurship and improving women's access to services and financing, which was organised by MENA-OECD Investment Programme in Rabat early this month.  The event aimed at reviewing mechanisms that would potentially strengthen women’s economic role in the region as well as assess the experience of women entrepreneur and their role in economic development.  The forum also sought to identify the optimal means to address obstacles facing women entrepreneurs in accessing financing as well as services offered by various support initiatives and identify the action plan of the Forum in 2014.
The seminar extended over two days during which participants discussed various subjects such as the role of ICTs in developing women entrepreneurship, women entrepreneur's access to support services, the participation of women in the private and public sectors as well as other related subjects.
The President of the Forum, Birgitta Holst Alani noted that the organisation of this event coincides with the unprecedented transformation in the MENA region and should lead into the creation of larger economic opportunities for women.  Alani also noted that although women in the region are both intelligent and active, yet this is not reflected in local economies as only 24% of MENA women are active in the economy compared to an average of 51% in other small and middle income countries of the world.
Source: Al-Diyar 9 December 2013

More than 70% of all women in the world are subjected to violence whilst 500000 to 2 million are trafficked every year.  Of the latter, 80% are women.  One in every five women is subjected to rape or to attempted rape throughout her life.  One in every three women is subject to physical violence in her life as well as to forced sex in addition to some 130 million women and girls who have been subjected to FGM in a number of Arab and African countries.
These statistics were presented by Lana Baydas, First Social Affairs Officer Center for Women- ESCWA, during an event organised by ESCWA last Friday and in which three studies on violence against women in the Arab world were released.
The studies were the following: “Policies to Empower Women in the Arab Region: Combating Violence against Women and Girls", conducted by the ESCWA and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of with support from the Norwegian Embassy in Lebanon. The second entitled: “Trafficking of women and children in the Arab region: A regional perspective”, where the third study was conducted in partnership with ABAAD and titled: Frameworks For Combatting Violence Against Women in the ESCWA Region”.
According to the ESCWA centre for women, Samira Atallah, the studies seek to develop a knowledge base on this issue as well as to provide comprehensive information on this dangerous phenomenon that Arab women are subjected to. The studies also aim to tease out recommendations and suggestions for developing laws and services to support national and regional efforts seeking to combat violence against women, within the framework of international human rights frameworks, including addressing the recommendation of the CEDAW committee, the provisions of the Beijing Platform of Action and the recommendations of the CSW. It is to be noted that the conclusions of the latter in March 2013 during its 57th session, indicated that all countries of the world should commit themselves to use all possible juridical, social, legal, and economic means to protect and strengthen human rights and basic freedoms for women and should provide care for women victims of violence and punish perpetrators of violence.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Akhbar, NNA 16 December 2013

Wafiq Association for Economic Development and Investments organised in collaboration with the American Lebanese Chamber of Commerce a conference on “food safety development law: the new food safety matrix - Lebanese obstacles and hopes”.  The event was organised last Friday at the headquarters of the Chamber of Industry and Agriculture in Beirut and Mount Lebanon under the auspices of the Ministries of Agriculture, Economy and Trade.  The conference sought to help Lebanese industrialists in understanding the law on food safety which was issued by the American Food and Drug Administration as well as encourage them to apply it so that they can export to the USA and secure health and economic benefits for Lebanon and the region.  The Minister of Industry, Freij Sabounjian, noted that the Ministry is working to strengthen strategies seeking to improve food safety.  He highlighted that the food industry sector is growing fast internally and is also in high demand internationally.

The conference coincided with a report published by As Safir newspaper on this food safety bill which has been in pipeline since 2005.  The report notes that Judge Bassem Takieddine issued on last Friday as well, a court decision, ordering the closure of a warehouse in Ashrafyeh as it contained food items which had expired in September 2011.  The court order stipulated a sentence of one year in prison and a penalty of 50 million Lebanese pounds.  The president of the Consumers’ Society, Mr. Zouhair Berro noted that the issue of the food safety law is not addressed seriously as many commercial interests will be harshly hit if the law was to be implemented.  He expressed his concern with the nonchalance of legislative and the executive powers in dealing with this issue especially since such law will cut on the profits of those currently benefiting from total impunity.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar, Al-Hayat, Al-Safir 16 December 2013

Lebanese Youth Support Association organised with Cr Group last week a press conference at the Press Club to launch its new project entitled “do you want USD 40,000?” The new housing project aims at enabling young Lebanese to buy apartments at low cost.  The project builds on a study done by the association and which showed that 80% of the Lebanese youth cannot buy residential apartments at market rates which often exceed by two times their earning power.
The residential project entails the construction of residential agglomerations of 500 housing units each in various rural areas in Lebanon.  As such, it seeks to relieve the cities from the current population over density and make use of the available space in rural areas.  Each agglomeration will also include shops and will attempt tp become a model village.  Housing units will be offered on the basis of 80 square meters (at a cost of USD40000), 100 square meters (at USD65000), 120 meters (at USD85000), or 140 meters (at USD 110000).  Construction will be in accordance with international architectural standards.
Acquisition will be governed by certain specific criteria.  Prospective owners must not have another property and must commit not to rent or sale their estate or use it for commercial purposes.  The law governing this project has also allocates 60% of the housing units in each locality to young people registered in these localities and the remainder 40% to those living there for more than 10 years.  In doing so, the project, according to lawyer Charbel Chawwa7h, seeks to safeguard the current demographic balances in the regions.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar, Al-Safir 16 December 2013

The US Embassy in Lebanon and Hayya Bina organised a graduation ceremony for the students of the English for Women programme which is implemented with funding from the American Embassy.  The event was organised last week with the participation of the US ambassador who distributed certificates to the 800 graduates from 35 villages in Lebanon.  The programme started in 2008 with a current total of beneficiaries reaching 4000 women.
The Ambassador hailed the efforts made by the beneficiaries hoping that learning English will help them reach their goals and that they will continue to gain new skills to hep their families and communities.  The president of Hayya Bina, Lukman Slim noted that the programme seeks to empower Lebanese women especially those living in peripheral areas and also focuses on fighting the culture of violence in social and political life especially since many sessions were entitled “making peace in the classroom and within society”.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 16 December 2013