News

Women domestic workers organised a flash mob on Beirut’s Corniche on Sunday September 23d. The event sought to highlight the pitfalls of the Lebanese "sponsorship system", otherwise known as Kafala which literally binds the domestic workers to their employers.  The event which was  organized by two non-governmental organizations, KAFA and Insan, drew a large crowd.  To be reminded that, according to existing sources, there are 200,000 migrant domestic workers in Lebanon all of whom bound by the "Kafala" system.   KAFA had presented a draft proposal to replace the kafala system to Charbel Nahhas, the formed Minister of Labor.  The matter was not put up for Cabinet discussion. (The Daily Star)
 

In an interview for local Assafir newspaper, Darine Al-Masri, president of KidProof Safety described the most common incidents of violence that children are prone to in education establishments. These range from threats to children's personal safety, psychological and physical violence to sexual harassment.
 Al-Masri indicated that the KidProof educational curriculum will be a part of the essential educational curriculum starting the 2013-2014 school year. This project is now well into implementation with training of trainers being carried out in collaboration with the Centre for Educational Research and Development
 
Original text in Arabic: Assafir

The Shouf Cedars Reserve Association organized, in collaboration with the Maasser Al-Shouf municipality a “Souk Al-Tayyeb” event as part of the Jabalna festival.  
The event included exhibits of home made food and crafts.

Original text in Arabic: Al-mustaqbal
 

The Palestinian Women Forum in Lebanon organized in Tripoli, in collaboration with Najdeh Association and CAFOD, a British NGO, a roundtable on violence against women.   The event was funded by the EU and included several presentations by representatives from Lebanese and Palestinian women organisations and provided a space for discussing the manifestations and negative impact of violence against women.

Original text in Arabic: Annahar
 

The National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) organized a day-long workshop to discuss the national strategy for Lebanese women developed by the Commission and recently approved by the government. The strategy has as one of its key objectives to mainstream gender in government organizations through activating the role of gender focal points located in various ministries and public institutions.
During the workshop, the discussions revolved around the concept of gender and how it is linked to social discrimination based on sect, religion, gender and color. Furthermore, the practical needs of women in all work sectors and the strategies of the national strategy were reviewed and discussed.
There was a general agreement among the participants on the importance of implementation of all international treaties, conventions and human rights declarations signed by the Government of Lebanon. This particularly requires the lifting of all reservations regarding the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Original text in Arabic: Al-mustaqbal - Annahar

The Women's Committee of the Future Movement organized in Beirut a seminar on the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women as part of FM’s efforts to strengthen women’s political participation. The seminar sought to raise awareness about the Convention, its key areas of concerns and its implementation.  A reminder that Lebanon has already signed and ratified the Convention in 1996 but placed a number of its clauses under reservation, namely:

• Clause 1 of the article (16) on equal rights in the family
• Clause 1 of the article (29) on dispute between two or more States Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the present Convention
• Clause 2 of the article (9) on equal rights to transmit nationality

The seminar was organised within the franework of the Future movement's effort to strengthen women's political participation.

Original text in Arabic: Al-mustaqbal