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The health of domestic workers not okay

5-12-2017

Al Akhbar newspaper published an article by Dr. Faisal Qak portraying the health conditions of migrant domestic workers in the country. He said that while the overall number of migrant workers in the world stands at 11.5 million persons, nearly three quarters of them are women, with domestic service being the main occupation of girls under the age of 16 years. Qak pointed out that the total number of migrant women domestic workers (MWDW) in Lebanon and Arab countries has reached about 2 million women, noting that the refugee crisis resulting from war in Syria has increased the rate of employment among females. Al Akhbar feature also highlighted a report issued recently by the World Health Organization (WHO) which shows that working women contribute to the economies of states where they work despite poor work conditions in terms of low wages, long working hours, malnutrition and inadequate housing, in addition to their suffering from discrimination and social segregation. The WHO report has maintained that notwithstanding the validation by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 of the rights of MWDWs, yet the latter’s health conditions is not okay (For full article in Arabic please check: al-akhbar.com/node/287114). In a related vein, and as part its program launched in 2011 to support MWDWs, Amel Association International is holding today at Commodore Hotel a national conference entitled, ‘Towards a national protection mechanism for migrant domestic workers victims of human trafficking in Lebanon’. ( Al Akhbar, November 29, Al Ittihad, December 5, 2017)

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A training day for wives of Lebanese Army martyrs

5-12-2017

In cooperation with the Western Sector Command- the Italian Battalion, Paratroopers Brigade Folgore, the Association of the Martyr Lieutenant Colonel Sobhi Al Akoury organized last Friday a training day dedicated to the wives of the Lebanese Army martyrs at the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura. Some 50 women partook in the event which included joint activities with UNIFIL female troops, as well as courses in first-aid, military combat and Italian cooking under the supervision of Italian trainers. Women beneficiaries interacted with the activities demonstrating extraordinary aptitudes. Nadine Maalouf, a martyr’s widow, said this vivid day brought her back to life. On the occasion, the Commander of the Western Sector, General Rodolfo Sganga, described women as shadow armies, in relation to their role in bringing up and preparing soldiers in the Army. Al Akouri Association to recall is a non-profit organization supported by the Lebanese Army in the name of the army officer martyred in during the Nahr el Barid battles in 2007 and founded by his wife Lia in 2008 to help the children of martyrs. (L’Orient Le Jour, December 5, 2017)

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Economic cost of violence against women project

5-12-2017

As part of the annual campaign to combat gender-based violence, the minister of state for women’s affairs, Jean Ogassapian, launched yesterday a project to estimate the economic cost of violence against women in the Lebanon. Carried out in cooperation with ESCWA, the Central Administration of Statistics and UNFPA, the project aims to introduce a comprehensive reform of relevant policies through setting up a scientific foundation to upgrade the status of Lebanese women and reduce the rate of violence against them in line with international agreements. The initiative also supports national efforts to address gender-based violence under the umbrella of national action instruments and institutional structures highly committed to combat violence against women. This will reportedly impact, not only women, but also society and economy as a whole, in consistence with the government’s efforts to develop the first national strategy for combating violence, amend laws and provide services and response mechanisms to violence incidents. To note, the project is implemented in two phases: the first consists of a procedural plan to determine the executive steps based on broad national consultations. The second phase, results in an estimate of the cost of violence against women in Lebanon that can be calculated using an economic model which takes into consideration facts on the ground. (Al Mustaqbal December 5, 2017)

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Kicks off of small rural development projects

4-12-2017

In coordination with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UNDP and with the funding of the German Bank for Development, the labor ministry on Friday kicked off a set of small projects across Lebanon. The goal is to increase the number of short-term jobs through diverse infrastructure undertakings in the regions of Tripoli, Al Mina, Akkar and Zgharta, and other Lebanese regions. The ministry disclosed that the target is more than 2000 employment prospects within the framework of micro projects, in addition to establishing decent working conditions and labor laws the ministry is keen to streamline for the benefit of both the employer and the employees. One of these projects which started implementation is the restructuring the intermediate stakes in the northern capital, the ministry said. Additional projects include, the selective crop varieties, the construction of a modern irrigation network with reservoirs and pumps, improved infrastructure works and a number of agricultural roads in Akkar. Meanwhile, the municipality of Bkassine and the Lebanon Mountain Trail Association (LMTA) inaugurated yesterday the 22.3 km Bkassine Side Trail in the Jezzine area which is on the Lebanon Mountain Trail, in collaboration with the local communities and municipalities. The aim is to promote hiking, trekking and rural tourism while spotlighting the splendor of the country’s hidden beauty spots. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, December 2 and 4, 2017)

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Nada Sarduk receives French Merit and May Chidiac Minerva Prize

4-12-2017

In a ceremony held on Tuesday at the Pine Palace, the French Ambassador to Lebanon, Bruno Foucher, handed the National Knight Order of Merit to the director general of Lebanon’s ministry of tourism Nada Sardouk. On the occasion, Foucher commended Sardouk’s career life in high school and university teaching to educational inspection up to her current responsibility she holds since 2002. Praising her ideal civil service, Foucher described Sardouk as a dedicated ambassador of Francophonie based on her educational upbringing and her professional personality that are consistent with the French educational legacy in Lebanon. On the other hand, the Italian Ambassador to Lebanon, Massimo Marotti, awarded the founder of May Chidiac Foundation MCF, Dr. May Chidiac, Italy’s Anna Maria Mammoliti Minerva Prize for human and civil rights for the year 2017. Chidiac was handed the prize during her participation last week in a ceremony in Rome to honor women of the world who operate in knowledge-related fields. To note, the prize is one of the most important awards along with the presidential medal. (Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, November 29, December 4, 2017)

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15 thousand visitors to Cooking Festival, Salon du Chocolat

1-12-2017

Hospitality Services, the organizer of the 7th and 4th editions respectively of the Beirut Cooking Festival and Salon du Chocolat held on November 17 at BIEL (https://goo.gl/afkyfE), announced in a statement the turnout of more than 15,000 visitors, with the minister of tourism, Avedis Guidanian, in the forefront. This comes after the confirmed return of Prime Minister Hariri to Beirut and his participation in the Independence Day, which reflected an atmosphere of optimism in the festival, the statement said. Joumana Dammous, the managing director of Hospitality Services, said that the success of the festival, despite the tense situation, is a testament of trust in the company and the faith of a nation passionate for life. “We are honored to host these two concurrent annual events that echo a true celebration of rich tastes and flavors in Beirut, the capital of taste,” Dammous boasted. (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, November 30, 2017)
Previous related news:
Cooking Festival and Salon du Chocolat in downtown Beirut

 

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Lebanese women entitled to grant nationality to her children, Qabbani says

1-12-2017

MP Mohamad Qabbani stressed in a statement on Wednesday that the rights of the Lebanese woman are basically her rights as a citizen and a human being before any other political or electoral rights. “Occasionally, we witness eventful salutations of the rights of women in political issues and calls to support them and to eliminate gender-based discrimination,” Qabbani said. “But, we also hear populist remarks cautioning against giving the Lebanese woman the right to grant nationality to her children, which are all overstatements that do not reflect reality or humanity,” Qabbani added. The right of a mother to grant nationality to her family members is actually one of the basic human rights before anything else, he maintained, describing as unfounded and ineffectual the justifications to abort those rights based on demographic change. The latter, he stated, has been underway since independence for social and economic reasons by 95%. (Al Mustaqbal, November 30, 2017)

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Battered women in the media either victims or criminals!

29-11-2017

Local newspapers last week covered news about crimes in the country involving women, but did that briefly or hastily without trying to investigate the underlying causes behind the acts. One sample of the news cited by Al Diyar said, that the Rabieh municipal police arrested an Ethiopian MWDW on charges of attempted murder of her employer and was handed over to the ISF Information Department. Similarly, Al Mustaqbal newspaper wrote that the ISF General Directorate has circulated the photo of an Ethiopian migrant worker believed to have killed her employer and burning down his/her house in Baskinta, and asked whoever spotted the suspect to drop by the Jdaideh Judicial Police Unit. Additionally, Al Mustaqbal daily mentioned that the ISF Information Department has successfully detained a Lebanese young woman and another stateless (non-registered) woman on charges of forming a ring to allure girls into prostitution and then stealing their money. The same newspaper reported another news related to the arrest by the General Directorate of State Security of a human smuggling network active between Lebanon and Syria and run by a Lebanese woman, who was arrested in the West Bekaa locality of Suweiri. Again, in a separate incident, Al Mustaqbal reported about a mentally disturbed person who slaughtered his sister soon after he returned from Deir al Salib Hospital where he was being treated. The newspaper wrote that the suspect told the court he had an argument with his deceased sister about being hospitalized for 3 straight years. Given his condition, the court gave the mentally ill criminal defendant a mitigated sentence reducing the death penalty to 7-year imprisonment at a custodial asylum, Al Mustaqbal said. (Al Mustaqbal, L’Orient Le Jour, Al Diyar, November 19, 25, 28, 2017)

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Honoring of women municipal police in Burj Hamoud

29-11-2017

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Regional Development and Protection Program for Refugees and Host Communities in Lebanon launched on Monday an audio-visual exhibition about female municipal police in Burj Hamoud. The event which honors these women aims as well to encourage other municipalities to recruit women. To note, the municipalities of Zahleh in Bekaa and Al Mina in Tripoli also hire women in their municipal police. On the occasion, the mayor of Burj Hamoud, Mardik Boghousian, called for streamlining the Burj Hamou model across Lebanon, boasting that the presence of 40 female police and 100 male officers in his municipality has proved to be a satisfactory experience. It started almost 18 months ago, he said, when a young woman asked to join the municipal police, noting that some of the female police work and study at the same time. Boghousian concluded by saying that while some people are still unaccustomed to the presence of female police on the roads, this nevertheless guarantees a kind of required balance. (L’Orient Le Jour, November 29, 2017)

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‘It is time to change the mentality’ women campaign

29-11-2017

The National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) said in a statement yesterday that, in coordination with the UNFPA and as part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, it launched its campaign for this year under the motto, ‘It is time to change the mentality’. The campaign, the statement mentioned, has been chosen to draw attention to the abuses against women and girls inherent in popular sayings which while demeaning the woman, they are reproduced in the prevailing cultural mindset. This nurtures discrimination against females and justifies violence against them, the statement said. In an attempt to uncover the cruel upshots of similar sayings and clichés, the NCLW sought to direct them towards males instead in order to expound their dreadful and humiliating effect, on either males or females, the statement added. The upside down proverbs will be aired and published on TV screens, billboards and online, for ‘it is time to change the mentality’ and blow the lid off the unacceptable violent ramifications of such sayings. The above campaign went viral particularly among the young social media users. On the other hand, The Commission has also hoisted and lit in orange a banner which read, ‘No to violence against women and girls’, which will remain on its Baabda premises throughout the 16 Days of Activism period. (Al Mustaqbal, November 29, 2017)

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