News

The president of the civil service council strongly denied yesterday allegation of gender discrimination in the appointment of assistant comptrollers within the customs services which is attached to the Ministry of Finance.  He noted that all forms of discrimination are unconstitutional and the council only takes the issue of competence into consideration when deciding on recruitments.  The notes of the official were made in a report published by the As Safir newspaper which investigated the delay in appointing assistant comptrollers from those who have successfully passed the entrance exam.  The candidates had accused the administration of customs services of concocting a plot against them over the past 11 months.

As Safir indicated that the root cause of the problem lies in decree number 124, which was issued back in May 13th 2009, which stipulated the agreement of the Ministry of Finance to appoint comptrollers without specifying the required numbers.  Two subsequent decrees were issued on June 15th 2011 (numbers 553 and 554) by the council for civil service defining the regulatory mechanisms for the entrance exams required for these jobs which are classified as category 4.  The council issued a subsequent decree on 5 July 2011 calling for an entrance exam on September 19th in which 1788 candidates succeeded. Finally the decree number 380/2 was issued in its final form, announcing the 280 winners candidates, of whom 200 were women and 80 men while the Council of Civil Service was trying to fill 120 vacant positions.

The winning candidates visited many parliamentarians for follow-up but empty promises and ignorance is all what they got. In a meeting with the Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, revealed the exact reason for the delay in appointment when he told the delegation he hosted: “See, women seems cleverer than you”. One of the senior officials at the customs’ administration was quoted as saying: “Is there a brighter truth that the problem is in the excess of femininity”, adding “Do you want them to say that I ruined the customs and made it all women?”

On a related note, a source at the customs administration, informed As Safir that “currently there are 97 man assistant comptroller and 42 women; hence, appointing winning candidates would not mess the gender balance. Since there is 64 vacant positions classified as category 4, and the borders’ centers do not need more than 25 assistant comptrollers all in all. Therefore the excuse that this job is of difficult nature and requires traveling to remote regions is not a valid. He added that this job is different from the customs control which includes around 1800 members and can be considered as an armed force.

Source: Assafir 7 November 2012

The Lebanese Association for Civil Peace organized in collaboration with the Union of Progressive Women and Diakonia organised a seminar at the national library in Baaqleen with the participation of 30 women active in local organizations.  This is the third such seminar to be implemented within the framework of the “Women’s empowerment in Lebanon: initiative and advocacy” and which was launched last month (see news briefs dated 9 and 24 October)

Diakonia and the Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Peace organize a seminar to discuss women and decision making

A new seminar on women's role in peace building in the Beqaa

During the seminar, the municipal head of Ain wa Zain, Ms. Nahla al Hussnyah insisted on the vital role that women play in improving the conditions in their villages and local communities.  The director of the teachers’ training institute in Anout, Ms. Ghada Ismail, also talked about the best possible ways to convince women that they carry potentials and that they should partake in decision making processes.
The seminar concluded with a number of recommendations namely the need to integrate children with special needs in local schools in Mazraet el Chouf, setting up municipal councils for school children in Sheheem, supporting women’s participation in student elections, campaigning on food safety, etc..

Source: Al Moustakbal and Annahar, 6 November 2012


 

On the occasion of 2012 international year for the Cooperatives, the Assafir newspaper continued to publish reports on different cooperatives in Lebanon focusing on the area of Koura.  The new article noted that the Agricultural cooperatives located in Koura suffer from poor public services and an absence of official support in addition to an overall fading trust in their capacities, a decrease in membership size and inability to address the needs of farmers.  Despite the overall similarities amongst agricultural cooperatives, those in Koura focus on problems related to the production of olive oil thus making this their top priority.  The Koura cooperatives highlighted their need for high quality laboratories to test the quality of their olive oil, as well as for government to buy part of their production, ensure access to internal and external markets, and securing social and health coverage for the membership.

According to the As Safir coverage, there are currently nine olive oil cooperatives in Koura: “Olive Developing Cooperative in Cossba”, “Deir Sayydet Hammatoura Cooperative”, “Olive Processing Cooperative in Dar Be’eshtar”, “Bechmezzin Cooperative”, “Bnehran Cooperative”, “Rural Koura Cooperative”, “Crops' Developing Cooperative in Bkomra”, “Development and Services Cooperative in Koura” and “Olive farmers Cooperative in Koura”

Ms. Dolla Habib, the president of the Agricultural Cooperative in Koura and which also specializes in olive oil production talked to the Assafir newspaper about the difficulties that the cooperatives face. She indicated that she visited political leaders in the area who provided her with an amount of money that she used to buy a tractor as well as other equipments to be used by other cooperatives that are unable to have access to such needed services.

The report also pointed out that despite the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture distributed last year various agriculture inputs and equipments needed (machines, fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, etc…) which benefited equally to all cooperatives, yet the cooperatives have other pressing needs namely tax exemptions, supporting small projects in rural areas, resolving the issue of common lands, digging wells, setting up emergency funds, directly supporting the cooperatives to market their products and decreasing the costs of production.

Source: Assafir, 3 November 2012

The recent meeting last week between the Minister of Economy and Trade, Mr. Nicolas Nahhas and the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Fadi Abboud, has resulted in the drafting of the new version of the long awaited the Food safety law. At the end of that meeting the Minister of Economy and Trade declared that the revised law will be referred shortly to the Cabinet and later on to the Parliament for consideration and approval.
In an interview with the Al Diyar newspaper, the president of the Consumers’ Lebanon, Mr. Zuheir Berro, noted that it was about time, 11 years later, to conclude the discussions over food safety and formulate a law in this regard.  Berro hopes that there will be in the new law no loopholes which will allow corruption to continue. He also noted that his association took part in the drafting of the old law but has not been privy to the new version issued by the current minister.  He added that he has high hopes for the new law which will require greater collaboration between various Ministries and public administrations to ensure effective implementation.  Berro concluded by saying that this law is important to all citizens since the dangers emanating from poor food security can affect all.

Source: Al-Diyar 4 November 2012

The president of the “Sa2adat Al Sama” association, Mr. Gerard Cherfan, announced yesterday the opening of the “Maryam Village” centre in Ghosta which is dedicated to the rehabilitation of women suffering from substance abuse.  The opening took place under the auspices of the Minister of Social Affairs, Mr. Wael Abou Faour represented by his advisor, Mr. Yasser Zebian.  The director of the “Mayam Village” centre, Ms. Chantal Kallas indicated that the purpose of the centre is to address the needs of women suffering from substance abuse and to provide various options for treatment especially given the increasing numbers of substance abusers, and to assist them in transiting back to normal life.  She added that the centre will provide medical, social and spiritual support and will seek to change the outlook of the women to life and ensure that they will have no relapse.  The treatment period will extend between 7 to 20 months.

Source: Al Dyar, 2 November 2012

The Ministry of Labor announced that it has just received official notification from the Embassy of the Philippines regarding the lifting of the ban on the travel of migrant domestic workers, both women and men, from the Philippines.  The decision will be put into effect as soon as a number of procedures are completed.

The Ministerial Committee headed by Minister Mokbel and entrusted with the revision of the last section of Clause 4 of the law regarding the transmission of nationality met to discuss this matter. The meeting was attended by Committee members Minister Chekib Kortbawi, Adnan Mansour, Marwan Charbel, Walid Daouk and Selim Jraissati.
The head of the Committee, Minister Mokbel, indicated at the end of the meeting that he has suggested to the other Committee members the need to have an audience with women organizations so as to be able to draft the committee report and recommendations to the attention of the Cabinet. Sources within the Committee indicated that the committee members considered the issue as quite complex and includes various legal, social, humanitarian, demographic and political considerations. They particularly reviewed the positive and negative impacts of a possible reform of the law at the level of the number of potential beneficiaries and whether “Lebanon can absorb them”. Another “complication” is whether the law should include spouses or simply children.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Assafir, Al-Diyar 2 November 2012

The Conference on “Women in Arab Societies” which was held from 23 to 26 October at USEK concluded its proceedings by noting the necessity to draw specific plans for Arab women through insisting on the identity of women as human beings.  The Conference also stressed the need to stop the marginalization of women’s efforts and roles as producers of religious knowledge. The Conference called for a new pedagogical and media dynamic and approach to promote a gender sensitive educational renaissance that starts at school and continues within the community at large and which seek to challenge gender stereotyping. The Conference also highlighted the need to give due attention to resisting all forms of visible and hidden forms of violence against women and increase women’s awareness of these issues.  Finally, the Conference stressed the important role that solidarity networks play and the need to reinforce them.

Source: Al Dyar, An Nahar, Al Moustakbal, 2 November 2012
Refer to previous newsbrief "USEK conference on women in Arab societies"

The National Commission for Lebanese Women’s (NCLW) Executive Bureau held a meeting in Baabda presided by First Lady Wafa Suleiman and with the participation of its vice-president, Ms. Randa Berri.  The meeting reviewed the progress and achievements of the “Wayn Ba3dnah” campaign concluding that the campaign succeeded in revising laws and decrees which impacted women’s economic rights negatively.  The campaign also succeeded in enacting a decree regarding equality in maternity leave which now guarantees 60 working days for women employed in both the private and the public sector.
The NCLW also noted the success in revising and reforming three laws to ensure equal treatment between men and women namely in the area of reduction of taxation as well as tax fees on inheritance, in addition to the revision of the pension benefits for the military which now recognize all wives of the deceased, in case of polygamy, to be beneficiaries of the deceased military’s pension.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 2 November 2012

Safadi Foundation organized yesterday an advocacy training workshop at the women academy center in Tripoli targeting a local women committee. Mona Bukhari, the center’s manager, facilitated the training event which was attended by 15 women from Daher Al-Magharr – Tripoli. The training focused on the importance of advocacy for achieving women’s rights as well as raising awareness around the dire social and security conditions which results in gross violation in citizens’ rights (mainly of women, children and youth), and discussed ways of addressing the present situation. At the end, the local women committee emphasized the importance of lobbying the authorities to find and implement the right solutions that will bring back stability and security to the region. It is worth mentioning that the training session was part of the “Road to Peace Project” which the Safadi Foundation is implementing since last June in North Lebanon.

Source: Al-Diyar 1, November 2012