News

The IT-CEO association organised in collaboration with the American University for Science and Technology (AUST) a workshop entitled: “University ICT teaching systems and ways to meet the requirements of the local job market”.  The event was organised at the AUST campus in Achrafieh and included a keynote address by the President of the association, Nazaran Nabkolian, who spoke about the mission of the university and the objectives it seeks to meet through collaborating with other universities, with the banking, health care, educational and economic sectors, adding that AUST also collaborates with the relevant Ministries namely the Ministry of Telecommunication.  The Vice President of AUST, Riad Sakr, hoped that the students will benefit from this activity by connecting with the various sector in order to find employments.  He highlighted that AUST seeks to match its teaching curriculum with the job market and is continuously monitoring trends in that domain.
Source: Al-Diyar 9 December 2013

The Lebanese Association for Permanent Peace concluded, in collaboration with Diakonia, the first phase of its project in women’s participation in political life at the local level.  The end of this phase was celebrated last week during an event organised at the Press Club.  A key synthesis from the project was the reiteration of the importance of the role played by Parliament in promoting women’s political participation especially given the important role of women in peace building and because women are an integral part of society and of human rights.
MP Ghassan Mukhaiber noted during the celebration that promoting women’s political participation is the responsibility of the Parliament and, as such, the electoral law for the upcoming municipal elections should include provisions for women’s quota.  MP Chant Janejian discussed for his part the situation of women in Lebanon.  He noted that even though women have made some achievements, however, they have yet to become equal partners in public life and that is in view of the prevailing discriminatory family laws which clearly violate women’s rights and which have to be changed such as the penal code, NSSF laws, the pension system, the nationality law, personal status and electoral laws; the latter must make tangible provision for women’s representation.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 9 December 2013

The Lebanese Forces party co-organised last week in Beirut and in collaboration with Justice without Frontiers a seminar on combating violence against women.  The event was held at the Alexandre Hotel on the occasion of the International Day to Combat Violence Against Women.  The president of Justice without Frontiers, Brigitte Chalabian, gave a presentation on all forms of violence affecting women namely physical, psychological, sexual, economic and legal violence.  She highlighted that Lebanon has not yet ratified the CEDAW optional protocol and has not worked towards harmonizing its internal laws with the provision of international women’s rights conventions.
MP Elie Keyrouz addressed the legal aspect of violence against highlighting the current injustice in the laws notably in the penal code which allows for honor crimes, penalizing adultery amongst women only, allowing the rapist to marry his victim, and not protecting women from marital rape.  He referred to the proposed amendment put forward by himself and MP Setrida Geaga and aiming to abolish clause 562 from the penal code and which was approved by the House.  He also pointed out to the law petition to review clauses 487, 488 and 489 of the penal code with regards to “adultery” and which constitute a straightforward discrimination against women.  Finally, he also spoke about the law proposal to protect women from domestic violence which included specific proposals put forward by the Lebanese Forces, stating that the proposal was approved by the Parliamentary Commission, and currently awaits the endorsement of the House soon.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal 9 December 2013

Seven rural women cooperatives received yesterday a gift of agricultural equipment offered by the national programme to improve the quality of olive oil and to combat the almonds phytoplasma.  The benefiting cooperatives included the agriculture cooperative in Dar al Was3a - al Amira, the agriculture cooperative in Tarayya, the agriculture cooperative in Bednayel, the agriculture cooperative in Baalbak - al Qal3a, the agriculture cooperative in Haret Saida, the agriculture cooperative in Hareess - al Imad, and the agriculture cooperative in Ghaziyeh, which were awarded the equipments during a ceremony organised for the occasion under the auspices of the Minister of Agriculture (MoAg), Dr. Hussein Hajj Hassan who emphasized in his speech importance of supporting rural women cooperatives with a view to improving their crafts and home based production.  Hajj Hassan noted that in addition to being educators, women seek to become productive especially since many of them are fully responsible for the livelihoods of their families.

Hajj Hassan further added that his Ministry will offer training, financial and material support as well as assistance in marketing and other forms of assistance namely in the form ofdistribution of agricultural inputs (seedlings, pesticides, etc..) as he noted that training, quality control and improving health and safety measures are a sure way to increase profits andto ensure the sustainability of the cooperatives.  He also added that current modes of olive oil productions need some measure to qualify as organic production which would give oil production an international added value.  Hajj Hassan called on the cooperatives to organise into a union for the production of organic olive oil.  He emphasized that his Ministry would be ready to support such an initiative through the new marketing outlets that the Ministry is currently setting up in various parts of Lebanon and which will devoted entirely for this purpose.

Source: Al-Diyar, Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Safir 6 December 2013

SMART centre for media and advocacy organised last week three round tables with students from the LAU, AUST, and MUBS.  The events were part of a series of round tables organised within the framework of the "One Voice Makes a Change" project.  Participants discussed the importance of youth and women participation in public and political life through the electoral process.

According to SMART’s director, Randa el Yassir, the importance of these round tables stem from the importance of including youth in discussions about social economic and political problems as well as preparing them to contribute to find solutions through their participation in decision making processes.

Source: Al-Nahar 6 December 2013

As indicated on a previous news brief, Lebanon rates 16th out of 22 Arab countries mapped by the Thomson-Reuters Foundation in terms of respect to Human Rights. Avenir Liban presented this result during a seminar  it organised last Wednesday on the situation of women in Lebanon during a seminar entitled “CEDAW: Woman and Tomorrow in Lebanon”.  The event was organised at the Bar Association under the auspices of Minister of Justice, Shakeeb Kortbawi.  The seminar included several interventions on the realities of women inLebanon.  Nahlah Haidar, member of the UN CEDAW committee highlighted the importance of girls education whilst the Secretary General of the NCLW, lawyer Fady Karam, outlined the legal reforms achieved to date.  The president of the NGO Post Beijing Committee, Fahmieh Sharafeddeen, called for granting women the right to transmit their nationality to their children, as well as for abolishing clause 252 which protect perpetrators of so-called “honor crimes” and the imposition of a minimum age for marriage. For his part, the Minister of Justice, disclosed that his Ministry is currently preparing a civil marriage law that will allow couples to have a recognized civil marriage according to a Lebanese law which will rule over marriage, divorce and child custody but not over inheritance.

Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar 6 December 2013

The Islamic Association for Guidance and Higher Education (IAGHE) organised yesterday its sixth orientation exhibition entitled “A trade in the right direction” at the UNESCO palace. Some 26 universities and 10 vocational sectors took part in the event in addition to the military academy participating for the first time, and which introduced students to the process of enrolling in the military school.

The exhibition will be open for visitors till Saturday and will include a number of health-related, medical and agricultural activities. The inauguration of the exhibition was held under the auspices of the Minister of Public Health, Ali Hassan Khalil who noted that professional and career orientation is a social approach which includes various stakeholders such as the educational, professional and economic sectors.  He also pointed out to the importance of thinking beyond the classical educational molds and emphasized the important role that universities can play in resolving societal challenges and meeting needs.  He further added that the relation of the university with its environment should be based on a clear policy that takes into consideration competition standards as well as the realization of human and community development. It also should contribute to the building of a knowledge economy and society particularly given the absence of an official and strategic high educational vision in Lebanon.

Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Safir 6 December 2013

Al Mayadeen TV honored during a public ceremony organised the day before yesterday at the UNESCO Palace the renowned Algerian heroin, Jamilah Bu7hred, amidst a large crowd including MPs and Ministers, political and cultural public figures in addition to writers and artists from various Arab countries who offered poems and speeches in recognition of Bu7hered’s well recognised contribution to Algerian struggle.
Bu7hred is one of the key women figures who contributed to Algeria’s liberation from the French colonizer. She joined the National Liberation Front in the early fifties and participated in a number of heroic acts making her on the top wanted list of the French colonizer.  She was captured in 1957 after being hit by gunshots and was sentenced to death.  However, her death sentence was commuted and she was subsequently sent to France in 1960 in view of the international solidarity support she received.  She was finally released in 1962 after the declaration of Algeria’s independence and became the president of the Algerian Women’s Union.  Hezbollah’s Women Committees also honored Bu7hered in Mllita during her visit to the Mllita resistance museum yesterday.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar 5 December 2013

The Human Rights Centre are the Beirut Arab University organised yesterday a seminar on opportunities and challenges for gender equality in Lebanon, in collaboration with the EU delegation in Lebanon, and with the participation of the EU ambassador, Angelina Eichhorst, and 250 students from different faculties.  The President of the BAU, Amr Jalal Al-Adaoui, highlighted in his keynote address the role that BAU is playing in supporting human rights and women’s rights especially via the University’s human rights centre, the establishment of a women’s studies diploma and the legal unit where students provide support to vulnerable groups in defending their rights.
The director of the BAU human rights centre, Omar Houry, spoke of women’s rights to grant their nationality according to the Lebanese Constitution.  He noted that there are some 18,000 Lebanese women married to non-nationals but there are no exact statistics about the number of their children.  He also pointed out to the injustice facing these families especially in relation to their right to education, health, employment and other aspects of life.  The seminar also included speeches by the Austrian ambassador to Lebanon, Ms. Ursula Fahringer and Lawyer Leila Awada representing Kafa association.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 5 December 2013

Al Akhbar newspaper published a report on the case of young child Eva G. reminding the public of her plight and of the fact that the perpetrators have yet to pay for their crime.  The reported coincided with Eva’s hearing today in the presence of the Ministry of Justice Juvenile Department representative whereby she was asked to narrate her experience of living with her family after spending time with her abductors.  The case will then be heard by the juvenile judge.
The report reiterates that the perpetrators have not been investigated yet for the charges of abduction and rape as, according to the newspaper, the judiciary needs handholding to perform its duty.  In addition, the law enforcement which was empowered with special prerogatives to arrest the perpetrators did not take any action to that effect.  Law enforcement indicates that they have failed to arrest the perpetrators because they are “absent”.  Eva’s family contests this and advises law enforcement to ask the neighbors of the perpetrators for their whereabouts.  
Lawyer Manar Zeaiter told Al Akhbar that several legal issues make the judiciary directly responsible for that matter.  These include the age of marriage since Lebanon is a signatory to the child rights charter which stipulates children’s age range up till 18 years as well as the special clause regarding marriage of children.  The other issue according to Zeaiter is the fact that the marriage was not contracted by the religious court and, last but not least, the fact that the child was raped during 12 days of captivities.
Source: Al-Akhbar 5 December 2013