News

Al Akhbar newspaper noted that Lebanon appears on the global list of the top five countries smeared with human trafficking.  The information was made public during a conference organized by the local organization Services Infirmiers a Domicile (SID).  The Conference sought to share the results of a study on grassroots interventions with vulnerable and high risk groups notably sex workers in Lebanon.  Despite this damning fact, local officials and politicians continue to evade the matter and defer all responsibility to the General Security who operate according to “official instructions” rather than looking at deficiencies within the law.

Al Akhbar newspaper also noted that the current Minister of Justice who has signed the Palermo agreement in 2011 indicated clearly that “Lebanin is signing this treaty simply to please the international public opinion”!  

The study which was presented by Nadia Badran of SID indicated that despite the social stigma surrounding sex workers, these often resort to sex work because of family dysfunction, poverty, poor education and low self esteem.

Original news in Arabic: Al-Akhbar
 

The Palestinian Youth Democratic Union denounced the decision not to include Palestinian children in the free schoolbooks programme.  In fact, Palestinian school children were notified that they will need to purchase their school books!  The Union asked the Ministry of Education to review its decision and address this discrimination and injustice which is hurtful to Palestinian children and does not serve to strengthen ties amongst Lebanese and Palestinians,
The Minister of Education, Hassan Diab, reiterated that the decision to provide free school books for elementary and intermediate classes was according to law 211 which was decreed in 2012 and which only benefits Lebanese children.  Diab also indicated that 24000 school children are currently registered in the programme to support the poorest families which is subsidized by the cabinet and are able as such to attend schools free of charge and benefit from the free school books plan.  Based on this, the cabinet had subsequently decreed law 211/2012 and released 5 million USD to cover the cost of school books for 270000 “Lebanese” school children.
Diab estimated that that the number of “non-Lebanese” students registered in public schools is anywhere between 30 to 50 thousand child for whom the Cabinet will need an additional one to one and a half million dollars to pay for their schoolbooks.  Finally, the Minister noted that he had submitted a request to the Cabinet to look into this matter and secure the necessary funds.

Original news in Arabic: Al-Akhbar

Kafa organized on Saturday September 29th an awareness raising activity on sexual abuse against children and on violence against women in the village of Bakkifa (West Bekaa).  The activity was organized under the auspices of the Minister of Social Affairs, Mr. Wael Abou Faour, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs social centre and the municipality of Bakkifa.
The activity aimed at introducing Kafa and its activities to the local community and sharing information about its different projects aiming at preventing sexual abuse against children and violence against  women.  A presentation was made covering Kafa’s various activities including its hotline, the campaign for the domestic violence protection bill, trafficking against women. And engaging men in working on violence.
In addition, Kafa organized an awareness raising day in the village of Yammouneh on the question of discrimination and violence against women in collaboration with the village’s local cultural club.  Participation in the event was rather limited with no notable presence of women and men from the local community.  Participants included representatives from Kafa, Oxfam GB as well as visitors from Palestine, Jordan and Iraq as well as the local cultural club members.  Discussions revolved around the spread of violence against women and strategies to combat it.  Members of the local cultural club presented short film they had produced and entitled “pink and blue” and which tries to highlight the local customs which discriminate between girls and boys.

Original news in Arabic: Almustaqbal - Al-Akhbar - Assafr

A number of UNRWA graduates organized a sit-in across from the UNRWA headquarters in Bir Hassan in order to demand employment opportunities within the UNRWA schools.  The demonstrators were joined by a delegation for the Palestinian Democratic Youth Union.  Demonstrators raised banners pointing out to the responsibility of UNRWA in finding employment for its graduates.  In their public release, the demonstrators asked UNRWA to address their demands promptly and within a specific time period especially since the graduates do not have opportunities for employment outside the framework of the UNRWA schools.

Original news in Arabic: Al-Akhbar - Assafir

The White Land charitable association organized in Lebaa and exhibition of handcrafts produced by 70 local women trained by the association over the past few months and in collaboration with the Lions’ club of Jezzine as well as the Ministry of Social Affairs social centres of Jezzine and Lebaa.  The exhibition included products made with glass and metal in addition to various ceramics.

Original news in Arabic: Annahar

The two social centres affiliated to the Safadi Foundation , namely the "Women Academy" and "Haratuna" located in the old serail in Tripoli, organized a number of activities targeting women and children.  In the "Haratuna" centre, three seminars were held on physical fitness in addition to 4 workshops on nutrition and health care.  The centre also organized 3 trainng workshops on crafts making and 4 on traditional toys.  
For its part, the "Women Academy" implemented several activities within the framework of its summer programme including a sports event for 30 women and girls in addition to a summer camp closure event aiming to raise awareness on environmentally friendly behavior such as recycling and preservations of trees.

The Palestinian Right to Work Coalition organised a round table discussion on the realities of Palestinian women and men nurses in Lebanon.  The aim of this activity was to highlight the hurdles that Palestinian nurses face within this sector which was supposed to be legally accessible to them.
Discussions revolved around Palestinians' right to work and the increasing trend for Palestinian nurses to work in the "black market" with no contracts and low wages.  This is essentially caused by the difficulties Palestinian nurses face in securing a work permit issued by the Ministry of Labor.  During the discussion, a study on the situation of Palestinian nurses was presented.
The study which was prepared by Mr. Fathi Kleib of the Massar Institution for Culture and Media highlighted the arbitrary practices in issuing work permits and also provided data indicating the Palestinian nurses often work for UNRWA and the Palestinian Red Crescent as well as within medical practices in the Camp.  Some also work in Lebanese hospitals but without contract or any form of benefits.  
Lawyer Roger Abi Rached, the Nurses Order's legal adviser, indicated that the main hurdles actually lie within the Ministry of Labor whereas the Order of Nurses rejects the idea of setting up a parallel Order for Palestinians.  He also indicated that the Order's by-laws allow for the membership of Palestinian nurses.
This raised questions as to why actually the Ministry of Labour is not issuing work permits while stating that the reason is because of the internal by-laws of the Order of Nurses!

A week after aggressing activists of the civil campaign for electoral reform, the security forces responsible for the Parliament attacked this time activists from the Chaml organization who staged a small sit-in in front of the Parliament calling for a civil family code.  The security forces justified their action by indicating that the sit-in was not pre-authorized as per Lebanese laws regulating such public actions.  The civil action aimed at pressing for the adoption of a proposed law on civil family code that Chaml had submitted to parliament on March 18th 2012.  The law proposal was referred to the specialized parliamentary commission but has not been processed to date. To be noted that as apart of the action, Chaml activists organized a role play depicting a wedding and raised banners calling parliamentarians to "free the proposed law from confessional considerations" just before the attacks by the armed forces.

Original text in Arabic: Assafir - Al-Akhbar - Annahar