News

Following its executive committee meeting yesterday, the NCLW expressed its concern that the law on quota for women was not endorsed despite the fact that it would have ensured an acceptable level of women's participation in parliament.  NCLW called for a speedy endorsement of a quota law and reiterated that the government, parliament and political parties are all responsible for blocking the law proposal which would have secured women's natural right for political participation.  NCLW also called on government to ensure that women are well represented in administrative appointments especially since there are many competent women who could take on such posts.
On a related vein, the Feker Hayat Foundation organised yesterday in Minyeh (North Lebanon) a training for women involved in the Women Empowerment project funded by MEPI.  The workshop entitled: “Women's Quota and Women's Participation in Political Life” was led by MP Kazem Khair who encouraged rural women to engage in political and social life.  He also endorsed various calls for the adoption of a quota law so as to ensure's women's right to political participation.

Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal 7 December 2012

Nasawiya organised the day before yesterday a seminar on women's economic and trade union rights.  The seminar was held at the Nasawiya premises in Mar Mikhael and discussed issues such as the situation of working women, the challenges of women participation in trade unions and the importance of trade union action in the informal sector.
The seminar was opened by Nabil Abdo from the ILO who raised a question to the audience, “namely how can we describe the economic condition of women in Lebanon?”  Participants pointed out to women being fired during maternity leave in addition to gaps and discrimination in the labour law.  Abdo steered away from discussing issues related to the legal framework and highlighted that most women are in the informal sector where they are deprived from their rights and where they are vulnerable especially since they do not have access to the national social security fund, maternity and tenure.  Abdo also pointed out to the gap difference in wages as well as discrimination in employment opportunities.  The seminar ended with a lot of questions which were left unanswered and women participants noted that they knew very little about trade union work and about their rights which means that they are not able to fight for these rights effectively.

Source: Al-Safir 7 December 2012

KAFA; Enough Violence and Exploitation, released as part of the “white ribbon” international campaign, a newsletter which included 9 articles written by men from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Palestine, aiming at stimulating a wider public and social discussion around the concept of masculinity in order to challenge it.
KAFA launched this new campaign on 26th of November on the occasion of International day to eliminate violence against women, under the slogan “Is this your manhood? Search for your humanity”. The campaign is expected to continue until December 10th, which commemorates the International Day for Human Rights, and constitutes part of the longer term project entitled “strengthening work with men and boys to combat violence against women”, implemented since 2009 in collaboration with Oxfam GB, and funded by the EU.
The campaign is mainly directed towards men in order to change their perspectives and behaviors on masculinity, dictated by patriarchal culture, and intimately linked to violence, power and control behaviors and mechanisms.

Source: Al-Akhbar 6 December 2012

The Institute for Health Administration and Social Care at the Saint Joseph University launched yesterday the “National Report on Health Statistics in Lebanon” in collaboration with the Ministry of Public health and the World Health Organisation and with the support of the University’s Research Council.  The coordinator of the project, Dr. Michelle Kosermelli Asmar, noted that in Lebanon there are indeed ample statistics, studies and figures for example related to morbidity, the health sector as well as health personnel.  However, this data base is dispersed amongst various Ministries and other institutions and difficult to access in the absence of a central reference or observatory.

This report, which is the second edition after the first released in 2004, constitutes according to Asmar an important reference for most health statistics in Lebanon and provides various public health indicators, namely: mortality rate, morbidity rate, health infrastructure, human resources, determinants of health such as poverty, environment and labour.  Asmar indicated that the child mortality rate has decreased from 33 per 1000 in 2000 to 18.3 per thousand in 2007.  Parallel to that, no major changes were noted in figures related to HIV-AIDS aside from a slight increase in 2007 and a slight decrease in 2009.  The report also noted that the number of holders of the disability card issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs increased from 10,000 in 1996 to 80,000 in 2011.

The report notes that the percentage of usage of birth control by women has increased to 53.7% in 2009 and also indicates that of the 260 to 280,000 registered Palestinian refugees, 144333 Palestinians suffer from chronic illness and 95% do not have any form of health insurance. To download the report, please click, starting next week, on the following links:
http://www.igsps.usj.edu.lb ; and http://www.leb.emro.who.int ; and http://www.moph.gov.lb

Source: Al-Safir 5 December 2012

The Nationality Campaign took part in the meeting of the Ministerial Commission set up in March 2012 and mandated to review the current discriminatory nationality law.  The delegation consisted of Lina Abou Habib and lama Naja of CRTD.A, Iqbal Doughan of the Working Women League and Joumana Merhi of the Rassemblement Democratique des Femmes Libanaises.  The meeting was held at the Grand Serail and was attended by the Commission Chair, Minister Samir Mokbel, and the Commission members, the Ministers of Labor, Justice, Information, Foreign Affairs, and Interior and Municipalities.  The Commission members invited the Nationality Campaign delegation to share its views regarding the reform of the nationality laws, the challenges facing the reform as well as the impact of this discriminatory law on women and their families.
During the meeting, the Nationality Campaign delegation asked the Commission on the fate of the ministerial proposal for the law amendment whilst insisting on its position regarding the indivisibility of this right and the need to detach the rights of women from any other political and confessional consideration. The Nationality Campaign delegation also pointed out to the parallel law proposal submitted to the Comission by the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW). The Commission denied receiving any such document.
In an interview with the An Nahar newspaper dated 30 October 2012 (see news brief First lady Ms. Wafa Sleiman: Yes for women's quota and for women's right to transmit nationality)
, First Lady Wafa Suleiman, had clearly stated that the NCLW had prepared this law in consultation with former Ministers Baroud and Tabbarah amd in collaboration with Lina Abou-Habib and Judge John Azzi.  Ms. Suleiman confirmed in her interview that NCLW’s law reform proposal seeks to allow women to transmit nationality to their children.  She also noted that the law was indeed submitted to the Ministerial Commission headed by Minister Mokbel who has not yet responded.
The meeting which extended over half an hour was concluded by a commitment by the Commission that they would be doing their utmost in completing their study and investigation whilst clearly noting that they recognize and endorse unequivocally the right of Lebanese women to transmit nationality.  Commission members also noted that they will resume their meetings this month so as to fine tune their suggestions to the Cabinet whilst promising that they will seek to take the best decision in this matter.

Source: Al-Diyar 5 December 2012

An Nahar newspaper published a report on a young woman, Fadia, who has faced many challenges in her life and who is trying to reclaim her right to life with the support of Dar Al Amal.  Fadia is in her mid twenties and came to Dar el Amal to seek support in dealing with two major abuses she witnessed during her life.  The first was a long term abuse and forced sexual encounters with her father which extended for more than 11 years and the second was her pregnancy and delivery of a little girl after Fadia was raped by an unknown man.  The director of Dar el Amal, Ms. Houda Kara, noted that Fadia lives in very poor conditions especially after leaving her family home and after her rape, from which she had a baby girl that can hardly walk and suffers from several health problem as well as nutrition and is in dire need for medical treatment.

Fadia is nevertheless seeking to overcome her experiences find work and become autonomous.  She would like to rent her own apartment and raise her daughter. She indicated that she wishes to upgrade her skills in needlework and other handcrafts.  This however can only be possible if she is provided with support as well as child care services for her daughter; both needs Dar Al Amal is seeking to attend to.

Source: Al-Nahar 5 December 2012

Arab Open University AOU organized a ceremony to deliver 125 scholarships to students, in implementation of the memorandum of understanding concluded between MoSA and the Arab Gulf Development Program (AGFUND) directed by HH Prince Talal Ben AbdulAziz. This memorandum entails the delivery of full tuition grant to around 100 students of low income, thus brining the total number of beneficiaries to 200 students until now.  On that occasion, Minister of Social Affairs, Wael Abou Faour, indicated that students used to receive these scholarships through applying to MoSA, but that was a temporary procedure which has currently changed with the completion of the first phase of the poverty alleviation project to which the scholarship project is now tied.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Akhbar, Al-Nahar 4 December 2012

The Made at Home association concluded yesterday its second training sessions for the empowerment of women in rural areas, which is funded by the US Embassy in Lebanon.  The organization is implementing a training cycle of 6 sessions revolving all over Lebanon.  The event that took place in Bedghan included an exhibition of food produced by the workshop participants.  The aim of the workshop was to enable these women to produce according to the international HACCP standards for food safety.
The president of the association, Wafa Abed noted that the aim of this initiative is to encourage rural women to stay in their villages.  The workshops, she noted, are part of an awareness raising campaign seeking to introduce women to international safety standards.  They are being implemented in collaboration with the municipality as well as key organisations and leading figures in the region.  During the workshop, participants were provided with materials and brochures which carry the slogan “together, we guarantee the safety of our families” and that include information and instructions on how to contribute to the national campaign for food safety.  The entire venture is part of the general effort of the association to revive heritage and traditional food making. Abed concluded that such training workshop seeks to build the capacities f women in producing safe food as well as increasing the productivity of rural women.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 4 December 2012

The Maarouf Saad Social, Charitable and Cultural Foundation organized last week an awareness raising workshop on CEDAW at the Mada Centre in Saida.  The workshop which was attended by 36 women including activists from local civil society organizations, was facilitated by two social workers who focused on various forms of discrimination such as that against Lebanese women married to non-nationals, and against non-Lebanese children in public schools, child custody after divorce, gaps in the national social security fund where women are unable to benefit their spouses and thus lose out on their social entitlements.

Source: Al-Diyar 4 December 2012