News

The government approved in its session of 1 February 2013an amendment to clause 15 of decree 5883 General Code of Conduct for Employees and its subsequent amendments thereby increasing the full paid maternity leave from 40 to 60 days for the private sector thus standardizing the benefits between the private and the public sector.  This new reform though will not be considered as part of the administrative and sick leave remains partial as it was hoped that the government will approve a fully paid maternity leave of ten weeks as initially requested and as per the law petitions which seek the revision clause 38 of the employees’ code of conduct and clauses 28 and 29 of the labor laws. It is to be recalled that these proposed amendments were endorsed last year by the parliamentary commissions of health, social affairs, women and children, administration and justice and were supposed to be approved by the general assembly on November 8th 2012.
It is to be noted that Prime Minister Mikati insisted earlier on the need to standardizing entitlements in the previous recommendation that he sent to the Speaker of the House last May and which also included the approval of the Cabinet for the amendment of the proposed clauses.
Source: Al-Akhbar 16 February 2013

The New Arab Woman Forum organized last week a press conference under the auspices of the honorary NAWF president, the head of the Parliamentary commission for education, Prime Minister Bahya al Hariri.  The founder and executive president of NAWF, Nadine Abou Zeki, also took part in this Conference together with the Director of the French Institute Orlien Le Chevalier.  The Press Conference was convened to launch the 6th session of NAWF which is planned to take place on 1st and 2nd of March 2013 and will be entitled “Unlocking the Potential of Women Entrepreneurs”.  Bahya al Hariri emphasized the importance of the key topics which will be tackled during this sessions as well as the quality of the main speakers hoping that this event will constitute a new starting point for Arab women and for building trust and bridges within the Arab region and between the Arab region and the international community.

Le Chevalier noted for his part the importance of strengthening women’s entrepreneurship and the important role that pioneer business women can play as the dynamo for women’s liberation and as a key element for realizing equality between women and men.  Finally, Abou Zaki indicated that this 6th session of NAWF responds to the increasing regional and international interest in small and medium enterprises as a mean to realizing sustainable and balanced development and to creating job opportunities for young women and men.

Source: Al-Nahar 16 February 2013

A number of women activists in Tyre contacted the Municipal head Hassan Dbouk calling for an emergency security plan including heightening security patrols by the municipal police and regulating the movement of motorcycles.  The activists also called for the setting up of a hotline so that citizens are able to report abuses, in addition to installing street cameras.  This is mainly comes following the increased incident of theft and kidnapping attempts targeting women in the region.  As a result of the meeting the Municipal head forwarded the petition to the South Lebanon governor, Nicolas Abou Daher, who promised to follow-up the matter with the security forces.

Source: Al-Akhbar 18 February 2013

The President of the Business Women Association in Lebanon and of the Tripoli Business Women, Leila Karameh Salhab, called for a meeting in Tripoli to discuss collaboration around environmental issues.  The meeting was held under the auspices of the Minister of the Environment Nazem el Khoury who was represented by Mr. Ghassan Sayyah and in collaboration with the Association of Green Lebanon. During the meeting, which was hosted at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Agriculture in the North, the head of the Green party in Lebanon, Nada Zaarour, shared the objectives of her party. Karameh for her part noted the importance of building a just state especially given the current challenges and damages faced at the political, economic, and environmental levels.  She also emphasized that Lebanon is ruled by a patriarchal mindset which excludes women noting the need to change towards a modern state.  At the end of the event, Sayyah shared the achievements of his ministry, especially in challenging environmental abuses in Lebanon namely the nomination of heads of departments in the Ministry for the first time in fifteen years, the approval of a law proposal to set up a district attorney for the environment as well as the decree for setting up the higher environmental councils. Other achievements noted include the ratification of the by laws for the Arab Environmental status.

Source: Al-Diyar 14 February 2013

The Coordination Committee of the Citizenship Campaign for a Lebanese Personal Status Law convened a meeting today in UNESCO palace to discuss possible actions in support of civil marriage and a civil family code.  Meanwhile, several activists who called themselves “lovers” and gathered yesterday in front of the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities to celebrate the civil marriage of Khouloud Sukaryeh and Nidal Darwish on Valentine.  The participants also thanked the Higher Constitutional Council for its decision to support the registration of the marriage at the Ministry of Interior.  For his part, the Minister of Interior Marwan Charbel told al Akhbar newspaper that he is still reviewing the file and will make a decision within the coming two days.
On a similar vein, the students club of the Syrian National Social Party at the American University of Beirut organised a symbolic wedding celebration in support of civil marriage during which students carried slogans such as “civil marriage not civil war” and “civil marriage is a civil right”.
Furthermore, the Lebanese Union for Democratic Youth for its part noted that the decision of the Higher Constitutional Council consecrated several important achievements among which: the rights of citizens who do not want to belong to a confession to contract a civil marriage in Lebanon and the fact that the public notary is the official reference entitled to contract and record a civil marriage.  The Union also added that with this resolution, married couple are the sole decision makers with regards to the law they want to marry under and which will legislate their family life and, finally, that there can be no longer an obstacle towards registering this marriage in the civil registry.

Source: Al-Safir, Al-Akhbar, Al-Nahar 15 February 2013

The Minister of Finance, Mohammed Safadi, signed an agreement with the World Bank representative for the MENA region, Farid Belhage, and the director of Kafalat, Khater Bou Habib, through which the World Bank will provide a loan of USD 30 million to Lebanon in support a programmes to finance innovative small and medium enterprises through Kafalat.  According to the agreement, the program seeks to strengthen the investment market and to provide financing got early investment in innovative institutions that are emerging and viable financially.  Grants will be provided to develop new ideas that carry strong potentials as well as develop strategies and plans.

According to Belhage, this initiative is part of the on-going collaboration between the World Bank and Lebanon and seeks to securing sustainable job opportunities, reducing unemployment especially amongst university graduates and creating small and medium investment companies which in turn will invigorate the Lebanese economy.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Diyar, Al-Nahar 14 February 2013

The President of the Federation of Lebanese Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the head of Beirut and Mount Lebanon Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Mohammad Choucair, launched the first fund of its kind aiming to strengthen small and micro enterprises with the support of FARO Lebanon "Le Fonds d'Aamorçage, de Réalisation et d'Orientation". The launch was made during a public inauguration event which held yesterday and was attended by the President of the Central Bank, Ryad Salameh.

FARO was set up as an initiative of the French government in order to strengthen economic development in the Mediterranean region through the creation of a fund to support creativity and innovation.  The Fund operates through a Mediterranean network led by the “Federation for Supporting Partnership between Small and Medium Enterprises”.  Lebanon is the first country to partake in this initiative after France with the understanding that the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon will be the host and centre of FARO-Lebanon.

It is interesting to note that several public institutions and other relevant bodies contributed to designing the project and managing it whilst the Beirut and Mount Lebanon Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture is entrusted with ensuring that the support reaches the selected beneficiaries as per the recommendations of the project’s board.  The FARO fund will allow creative small and medium enterprises to apply for financing to strengthen their capacity and operation as well as request technical support to prepare work plans and to meet other needs.
Source: Al-Diyar, Al-Nahar 13 February 2013