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Leila Shahud, Dima Jamali, Future candidates to help the deprived

27-3-2018

In its issue of today, Al Akhbar newspaper spotlighted the two women candidates on Future Movement’s North electoral list, Leila Shahud and Dima Jamali. Shahud, Al Akhbar wrote, is the first Alawite woman to run for and win the minority seat in the municipal elections in 2004 and 2010. Shahud was educated at the Tripoli public school and Jinan University where she earned a degree in information. She was a columnist (1993 to 2004) with Adib political newspaper where she was committed to writing about people’s lived hardships. Today, Shahud told Al Akhbar’s reporter, she decided to run for the parliamentary elections which will give her advantage to better serving her deprived community. Dima Jamali, on the other hand, has been the representative of UN Global Compact Network (GCNL) since 2015. She said the elections presented her with an opportunity to continue her late father Rashid Jamali’s journey in the service of Tripoli, recalling his chairing for years of the Islamic-Christian National Dialogue Committee. Jamali studied at Lycee Tripoli then graduated from AUB to follow up her post-graduate studies between the US and UK, where she earned her PhD in social policy and administration. Jamali told Al Akhbar that she has chosen to stay away from political discourse and focus on economy and development in her electoral program. (Al Akhbar, March 27, 2018)

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Sexual harassment draft laws unable to protect marginalised people

27-3-2018

In its issue of today, Al Akhbar newspaper referred to a study by researcher Mona Khneiser of the Issam Fares Institute, AUB, and which examines the sexual harassment draft laws in Lebanon. According to Al Akhbar, the study found that such laws contribute to adjusting legal provisions that impede the process of addressing various forms of systematic violence against women, and have a significant contribution in breaking societal silence of sexual assaults through giving harassment a serious social dimension that calls for deterrent policies. Yet, Al Akhbar said, the study revealed that the legislations, submitted by MP Ghassan Mkheiber and minister of state for women’s affair, Jean Ogassapian, to criminalize sexual harassment, still fall short of protecting marginalized and vulnerable groups or of presenting a comprehensive overview of sexual harassment as a form of gender-based violence and discrimination. Khneiser concluded her analysis by saying that harassment policies are based on “legalized neutrality” and an “ethical” approach that views sexual harassment as an act that impinges upon or violates “dignity” and “honor”. She mentioned that she did not take into account the unequal power relationships between the victim and the harasser in relation to arbitral procedures. For more on the study, kindly refer to the following link: :https://goo.gl/3kjbBG. (Al Akhbar, March 26, 2018)

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Lebanon stresses from NY the need to achieve gender equality

27-3-2018

The Commission on the Status of Women concluded its 62nd session at the UN headquarters in New York with the participation of representatives from all regions of the world with the priority theme, ‘Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls’. The new Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations in New York, Amal Mudalali, headed an official Lebanese delegation at the meeting. Cynthia Shidiac, the consul at the permanent mission of Lebanon, underlined the importance of achieving gender equality with focus on the active role of NGOs, civil society and women’s rights advocates in this regard. Shidiac stressed the need to weigh up all possibilities and use up all means to reach gender equality as an unswerving devotion to the advancement of societies. On the sidelines of the UN session, Lebanon organized a workshop entitled, ‘Towards transformational empowerment: the status of rural women in Lebanon’ aimed to highlight the pivotal role of rural women in the agri-food sector and in rural development. The workshop mentioned the main challenges facing the rural woman and spotlighted the innovative experience of the National Observatory for Women in Agriculture and Rural Areas (NOWARA). (Al Mustaqbal, March 27, 2018)

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Lebanese Women’s Council and My Nationality reject chauvinist nationality law amendment

27-3-2018

The Lebanese Women’s Council and My Nationality is a Right for Me and My Family campaign announced in a joint public statement yesterday their rejection of the fourth paragraph of Jibran Bassil’s draft amendment of the current nationality law. The proposed law allows Lebanese women to pass nationality to their children with an added clause excluding what the text refer to as “neighboring states”, and this applies also to men wed to Syrian or Palestinian refugees in an aim to prevent settlement, according to the current foreign minister. The statement went on to say that, such defenses are totally rejected, because the right and freedom to marry for both Lebanese men and women is a constitutional right. Naturalization is to grant Lebanese citizenship to any non-Lebanese, who is not related to the country from his/her mother’s or father’s side, whereas resettlement is an international political matter that is completely different from the individual constitutional rights of citizens, the statement explained. The above clause prevents the Lebanese man from passing nationality to his children if his spouse is a national of a neighboring country, which is unacceptable, because women demand equality with men to this effect. Moreover, the exception-paragraph did not specify exactly what is meant by “neighboring countries”, hence left it open to interpretation. LCW-My Nationality statement also pointed out that the draft proposal stems from a distinction between men and women to a distinction between a man married to any woman and another married to a neighboring country national, up to a distinction between a woman married to a foreigner and another wed to a national from a neighboring state. It did not determine the criteria to draw a line between he who entered Lebanon as a refugee or displaced and he who has long been living and investing in the country and married to a Lebanese. In conclusion, the statement asked: “Does the Lebanese State keep registers of the refugees or displaced citizens? Do we have to ask our Arab brothers not to marry Lebanese women?”. (An Nahar, March 27, 2018 )

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Widespread condemnation of chauvinists and discriminatory amendments of nationality law

26-3-2018

The draft amendment to the current nationality law proposed by foreign minister Jibran Bassil on Mother’s Day has drawn wide condemnation and resentment from concerned mothers, human rights groups and feminist and women’s associations. To recall, the said suggestion allows Lebanese women to pass nationality to their children, just like men, with the exception of spouses from “neighboring states”, and it also applies to Lebanese men married to refugees or displaced women (c.f: https://bit.ly/2pHk2lB ). In this respect, Zoya Ruhana, Kafa director, described as ‘xenophobic’ Bassil’s initiative for it endorses a racist attitude towards Palestinians and Syrians and discriminates between women themselves, as well as, between men and women. Ruhana told AShark Al Awsat newspaper that Bassil, instead of playing fair to women, treated both men and women unjustly. Similarly, former justice minister, Ibrahim Najjar, said the draft legislation violates the Constitution, as it discriminates between men and women and the nationality of those who marry. Legal expert, former MP Salah Hnein, maintained that the legal rule is one that has no exception nor discretion, and any other interpretation is dubbed racist. On the other hand, Al Diyar daily cited informed diplomatic sources as justifying the purpose of Bassil’s proposal to prevent naturalization and permanent resettlement. It also facilitates the affairs of Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese, except for neighboring countries, to avoid uncalled-for trouble and added burdens on the country. The exception-clause, Al Diyar analyzed, can be understood under the fears of settlement of Syrians and Palestinians, but it remains a matter to be debated and discussed before ratification. (Al-Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, March 22, 25, 2018) Previous related news: A discriminatory draft amendment to Lebanese nationality law https://bit.ly/2pHk2lB

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Mira Wakim, Najwa Azar, women candidates promote youth, women rights

26-3-2018

In its continuous support of women’s nomination for parliamentary elections, L’Orient Le Jour spotlighted the career life of the Kataeb Party’s candidate for Tyre-Zahrani district, Mira Wakim, and Najwa Azar running on Michel Murr’s Metn electoral list. Mira Wakim, pharmacy graduate, does not come from a political family, the newspaper wrote. She wanted to contribute to change, she said, but discovered that the only possible way to do this is to join a political party. Therefore, she chose the ranks of the Kataeb (phalangist party), which largely resembles her aspirations. Wakim went on to say that, her support to the Party was first limited to activities within the pharmacy specialty, but later in 2014, she became an official member of the party’s central committee. Her ambition to participate extensively in Kataeb services pushed her to run for elections, with the full backing of current leader, Sammy Gemayel. Her electoral program, she boasted, aims basically to support young people to find jobs in the country and prevent further emigration. Azar, on the other hand, is an internal medicine physician, from a family involved in public life and close to the Murr. Her father has served as the mayor of Aintoura for 40 years, which gave her the advantage of being closer to the people and to help them in her field of work, Azar told L’Orient Le Jour. In order to extend better public service, she decided to run for elections. Azar’s electoral program focuses mainly on women’s rights and on full access to health care. If she were lucky, Azar told L’Orient Le Jour reporter, she will have to work on the inclusion of the 30% women representation quota in Parliament, and to advocate for equal pay between men and women. (L’Orient Le Jour, March 24, 26, 2018)

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‘Something from Lebanon’ for rural women

26-3-2018

The women empowerment Blessing Foundation organized its annual event on Friday at Sursok Museum, Ashrafieh to promote new mentoring relations between women leaders in business and emerging women entrepreneurs under the patronage of the minister of state for women affairs, Jean Ogassapian, and in the presence of a large crowd of women activists. The gathering included the launch of ‘Something from Lebanon’ project aimed, according to Blessing founder, Rima Husseini, to encourage rural women to implement their creative and skilled design, artisan, craft, sewing, drawing and sculpture works and market them through above project. The event also saw testimonies from mentees which stressed the importance of the program which allows mentors to pass their experience and help beneficiaries benefit from the dynamism of the early startup years, identify their desired goals and overcome challenges to success. (Al Mustaqbal, March 24, 2018)

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Syrian awareness campaign against marrying foreign fighters

23-3-2018

In its issue of today, Al Diyar newspaper shed light on a new phenomenon seen in a number of Syrian cities which involves local women marrying foreign fighters and a counter awareness campaign to stop it. To this effect, Syrian activists launched in December 2017 so-called ‘who is your husband’ campaign that seeks to prevent and discourage Idlib and Aleppo women from having relationships with non-Syrian combatants and trying to educate the public through posters and graffiti – about the challenges these women and their children face. The campaign founder, Asem Zeidan, told the British Guardian that foreign fighters who disappear or get killed leave behind their children and wives which negatively affects their lives. Zeidan pointed out that since the start of the campaign, their team of 150 volunteers recorded around 1,735 women in Idlib and west Aleppo who have wed foreign jihadists, and that 1,124 of those women have given birth to some 1,826 children. The campaign, Zaydan went on to explain, has another goal, which is to help the children born of such marriages to receive recognition from their local councils, noting that only these councils can give children the required official documentation. On the subject, The Guardian said in a report published on March 21 that the reasons for marriage to foreign fighters vary in degrees. Some women feel that they have no other options, while others seem to be excited and thrilled to marry someone who they believe is brave and dauntless. These women, the Guardian added, have many things to worry about, especially that the Syrian woman cannot pass nationality to her husband. (For the full report, please visit the link below: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/mar/20/syrian-women-wed-foreign-fighters). (Al Diyar, March 23, 2018)

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A discriminatory draft amendment to Lebanese nationality law

22-3-2018

On Mother’s Day, foreign minister Jibran Bassil, presented in a press conference yesterday an amendment to the current nationality law allowing Lebanese women to pass nationality to their children, just like men, with the exception of the neighboring states, in connotation to Syrian and Palestinian children. The exception also applies to Lebanese men married to refugees or displaced women, on pretext of preventing collective naturalization or resettlement. Commenting on Bassil’s move, the coordinator of My Nationality is A Right for Me and My Family campaign, Karima Shebbo, said the new proposal which is projected to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender does in fact discriminate between Lebanese women and continues to undermine the right of a woman to choose her partner irrespective of his nationality. Shebbo warned that the file should be handled separately from the electoral bazaar and political skirmishes. Lebanese mothers married to non-Lebanese have been struggling to prevent the alienation of their own children and to guarantee them a decent life in the face of the pervasive patriarchal nationality law which according to its first article, ‘a child is deemed Lebanese if the child is born of a Lebanese father, with no mention of the mother at all!. (For more on the draft law: http://bit.ly/2pvP7cY). (Al Akhbar, Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar March 22, 2018)

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Touch and LG also celebrate women and mothers’ days

22-3-2018

The leading mobile and data operator in Lebanon, Touch, hosted its annual Mother’s Day luncheon in honor of women in the media, journalists, customers and Touch mothers, as well as, mothers working at the ministry of telecommunications. On the occasion, Touch CEO, Emre Gurkan, praised the perseverance of mothers to reconcile work and motherhood, pointing to this year’s campaign under the slogan #Naturally Connected# because not every connection needs technology like the mother-child connection. For its part, LG launched its free application ®LG SmartThinQ which allows women to coordinate the daily chores in their kitchen in just one click using a simple application on their smartphones. LG Levant general manager, Hong Ju Jeon, said the company focuses its March women celebrations on female consumers, stressing that LG is a gender sensitive workplace and always strives to design innovative products adaptable to the woman’s needs in terms of saving time and making housework easier. (Al Mustaqbal, March 22, 2018)

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