News

The National Coalition to protect Women From Family Violence and Kafa Violence and Exploitation launched a campaign yesterday during its sit-in entitled “Our lives are more important than your seats”.  The sit-in was organised to coincide with the meeting of the Parliamentary Commissions which were discussion to proposed law to protect women from family violence.
Kafa endorsed a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House by a survivor of family violence and which was published yesterday in the Akhbar newspaper of 30 January 2013.  The author demands from the Speaker of the House that he includes the issue of the law on the agenda of the next meeting of the parliamentary commission.  Kafa also asked the MP members who were boycotting the assembly but who had nevertheless come to discuss the electoral laws to ensure that they attend the parliamentary Commission’s meeting and discuss the law following the invitation of President Berry.
The Coalition also noted that a series of letter by women survivors of family violence will be addressed to the Parliamentary representatives in the different regions and indicated that the Coalition will be organizing a march on February 24th is their demands are not met.
The participants in the event held slogans such as “if you forget, people will not forget you”, “women’s lives are more important than your seats”, “now and not tomorrow – endorse the law to protect women from family violence”.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Akhbar, Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal 31 January 2013

The Borj el Chemali refugee camp suffers from chronic unemployment as well as limited work opportunities which are limited to low income seasonal labor.  According to NGO sources, 70% of its residents work as hired field laborers in Tyre area.  Camp residents suffer from various legal constraints, no major economic enterprise within the camp and a shrinking of UNRWA services.  In order to tackle some of these issues, the World Vision, a US organization, launched an initiative with the Arab Union of Palestinian Women aiming at improving the health, nutrition, and educational status of children in the camps as well as in its nearby agglomerations.  The initiative was launched during a public event organized by the Centre for Palestinian Youth in the camp and with the presence of various Palestinian organizations.
The project will extend over a 4 years period and will target 197 beneficiaries from the camp and the nearby agglomerations.  It will provide support to business initiative and will help it to expand as well as create a more conducive environment for growth.  It will seek to help women to have an effective role in the community. The two organizations will provide technical support to business holders through a team of business counselors and will build the skills of the beneficiaries through providing them with business information, linking them with the market, training them in negotiation skills, project management and planning and in resources mobilization.  The project also includes the provision of micro credits to support the creation of new businesses.
Source: Al-Nahar 31 January 2013

The issue of civil marriage was at the forefront cabinet meeting yesterday especially in view of the divergence of opinions President Michel Suleiman and PM Najib Mikati which is strangely reminiscent of the events of 1998 when late Presidents Hraoui and Hariri played more or less the same role.
Indeed, President Suleiman reiterated that a draft Civil Marriage Law must be enacted especially since it was previously agreed in 1998.  The President also noted that the Ministers of Justice and Interior ought to be commissioned to either review the prior law proposal or draft a new one since, according to Suleiman, civil marriage is not directed against Islam but is in harmony with the Taef agreement which the president has a duty to honour.
Furthermore, the fatwa of Mufti Kabbani stirred both an uproar as well as a wave of support.  Phalangist MP Sami Gemayyel said that “the declaration of Mufti Kabbani is a violation to the civil state and to the right of each Lebanese citizen to practice what he/she believes in freely.  Gemayel added that ‘any violation to this right is a violation to human rights and to the Constitution.  He noted that ‘every parliamentarian has the right to protect citizens’ right to practice their beliefs”.   On the other hand, Future Movement MP Ahmad Fatfat considered that “it is for the best interest of the Lebanese people not to discuss the issue of civil marriage now”.  He clarified that Kabbani’s Fatwa only applies to those committed House of Ifta.

A number of Muslim Scholars extended their full support to Kabbani’s Fatwa and reiterated that civil marriage is against what the Shari’a dictates. The Islamic Action Front similarly praised Kabbani’s stand and indicated all Muslims, whether they are politicians or ordinary citizens,  must reject this dangerous idea and never discuss it again.

The president of the Hikmeyya Ma3arf Institute, Sheikh Shafic Jradi, clarified that the rejection of civil marriage is an issue agreed upon by both Sunni and Shiite clerics.  He added however that the term “apostate” is not applicable or commonly used as this only relates to he or she who shows a clear rejection of the Islamic faith.

The media coordinator of the Maronite Patriarchy, Walid Ghayyad, noted for his part that the “church does not approve of civil marriage since it is in contradiction with the Christian faith and its view on marriage as being sacrosanct.  It does however approve of civil marriage in the case of non-believers.  He noted that the Church shall not accept an optional civil marriage code because, according to him, this is a contradiction in terms as any law is binding.

Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar, Al-Akhbar, Al-Hayat, Al-Diyar, Al-Mustaqbal 30 January 2013

According to Human Rights Watch, one woman migrant worker (WMW) dies every week in Lebanon while 56% work more than 12 hours a day.  According to the same source, 21% of WMWs are subjected to physical violence and 31% are detained at home.  According to Kafa association, 80% of WMWs are not allowed to go out for a day off whilst 88% report having their passports confiscated.  In order to address this situation, the Jordanian Women Union, Amel Association and the Arab Women’s Organization in Cairo developed a model law to regulate and protect migrant women workers in Arab countries.  This was the key output of a workshop that was held in Alexandria last week (c.f. Civil organisations advocate the rights of migrant domestic workers in Arab countries dated: 15 January 2013)

The workshop was attended by representatives of Justice and Labor Ministries in addition to general security and employment institutions as well as the ILO and a number of CSOs and experts in the field.  The law proposal will be submitted to the Arab League of States to be discussed and adopted all throughout the Arab world.

In Lebanon, the discussions continues between various NGOs as well as the Justice and Labor Ministries in addition to the ILO and general security in order to review and submit to Parliament this proposed law which seeks to address all forms of violence, exploitation and trafficking that migrant women workers endure and ensure their protection.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Safir 30 January 2013

The students body of the National Liberal Party as well as students bodies other Lebanese and Danish political parties organized yesterday a seminar entitled “women’s roles in political parties” at the Saint Joseph University (USJ).  The event was organized by the head of the party’s external affairs section, Sally Sayyah, and is part of a series of activities that the Lebanese –Danish youth & politics network and NLP have been organising for several years.
The event included a series of workshops and dialogue with the head of the University’s Political Sciences department, Ms. Nadia Kiwan, the president of the Arab NGOs Network for Development, Mr. Ziad Abdel Samad, MP Ghassan Moukhaiber and Vera Yammine of Al-Marada party.  The workshops covered several topics including the role of young women in supporting women’s rights, young women’s roles in municipalities, and women’s role in fighting corruption.  The event also included an overview of main women figures in Lebanese politics and their achievements in addition of a discussion around women’s quota in parliamentary elections and the importance of such a step as a temporary measure to encourage women to enter political life and to encourage political parties to support women.

Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal 30 January 2013

National Employment Office (NEO) launched yesterday, under the auspices of the ministry of labor, Selim Jraysatee, the electronic system for trading job vacancies on its website. This renovated e-system links job seekers to employers for free, and contributes to lowering the cost of accessing information by both job seekers and employers, and will create opportunities to match the suitable candidates to the right job.
The “e-vacancy trading system” is the fruit of 4 years of collaboration between ILO and NEO, with financial support by the government of Canada through CIDA. You can visit the e-system through accessing the NEO website http://www.neo.gov.lb; which is available in 3 languages; Arabic, English and French.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Akhbar, Al-Diyar, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 26 January 2013

The Minister of Labor, Selim Jreisati, and President of Caritas, Father Simone Faddoul, signed a memorandum of understanding last Friday at the Ministry of Labor to coordinate aid efforts of to migrant domestic workers. The memo sets the framework for collaboration between the two parties in exchanging expertise, conducting training workshops for social workers, coordinating efforts for addressing cases of violation of migrant workers rights. The memo also emphasized the importance of developing the shelter center, operated by Caritas-Lebanon, which provides assistance to domestic workers in conflict with their employers.

Source: Al-Diyar 26 January 2013

The women sector of Future movement organized last Friday a talk entitled: “Gender and the Reality in Lebanon” at its centre located in Beirut, in which, the academic researcher, Azza Baydoon, intervened in the presence of several women activists.
Azza Beydoun gave a brief presentation of her recent book on gender and women’s conditions in Lebanon, whilst regretting that some people still make the liberation of women conditional to the liberation of our entire society!. Furthermore, Baydoon pointed out in her lecture to the limited participation of women in public affairs, despite the large number of educated women and women intellectuals, rejecting all arguments that justify the violation of women’s rights.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 26 January 2013