News updates

After less than one day on the murder of Maymoona Abu al Aaila by her husband in the ‎Kesrwan town of Kleiat (http://bit.ly/2baCw9f), R. S, another woman victim of domestic ‎violence was successful in fleeing her home in Barja, Iklim al Kharoob in the Shuf area. In the ‎reported details, R.S managed to resort to the local security forces and reported her case, where ‎she spoke of incessant beating and physical abuse by her husband up to shooting in the air from a ‎hunting weapon. Beitiddine Judiciary Police Detachment unit succeeded in locating and arresting ‎the suspect in al Jiyyeh. After police questioning, the husband admitted threatening his wife with ‎a rifle. Over and above, the husband turned out to have a history of acquisition and use of drugs.‎

As Safir, Al Mustaqbal, August 12, 2016‎

 

The LAU Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) launched yesterday the ‎Beirut Appeal for Action at the closure of its international  conference, ‘Towards Prioritizing ‎Women, Peace and Security on the Agenda of the Arab Region”, which comes as part of a larger ‎regional debate on the subject (http://bit.ly/2bl4mxR ). The appeal, released at the end of the ‎conference, urged Arab countries, the UN, the Arab League, civil society, decision makers and ‎policy makers to adopt, act on and comply with its recommendations. The latter pressed for ‎drawing a new analytical approach that seeks to involve women in the making of peace at the ‎regional level and promotes the exchange of expertise and lessons learned to this effect. ‎Participants also called for the development of a new model that inspires peace and the ‎protection of women against violence, underlining the need to document the experiences of ‎women in war and peace. They also drew attention to the importance of exposing the complex of ‎so-termed military masculinity most evident during times of war, and to gender gap in policies ‎related to conflict and peace building, besides methods of engaging men in issues related to ‎women, peace and security issues as allies and advocates of gender justice and equality. ‎Recommendations finally called for supporting multinational partnerships in such they involve ‎conventional and non-conventional parties, including the academic, media, and non-political ‎players, as well as the private sector in order to sustain peace and tolerance. (Al Mustaqbal, ‎August 12, 2016)‎

 

In collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs Social Development Center in Tyre, the ‎Italian battalion in the UNIFIL organized an Italian cooking class for some 30 women from the ‎border village of Aita al Shaab, Bint Jbeil. It should be noted, that the two week long theoretical ‎and applied workshop on Italian cuisine, was launched by the Logistics Support Unit of the ‎Italian Battalion in coordination with the Sassari Brigade’s Civil-Military Cooperation Office, ‎and came as part of the communication and cultural exchange activities between Italian ‎peacekeepers and the local community. (Al Mustaqbal, August 12, 2016)‎

 

In collaboration with UN ESCWA Center for Women and the Danish Center for Research on Women and Gender, the LAU Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) opened on Monday an international conference entitled ‘Towards Prioritizing Women, Peace and Security on the Arab Agenda’. The purpose of the 3-day event was to enrich and expand the ongoing debate on issues related to women, peace and security in the Arab region, with focus on the role of institutions to this effect. In this respect, and during the opening session, LAU president, Joseph Jabra, noted that the principles of gender equality have started to gather momentum since 2000, especially with the adoption of the highly relevant UN Security Council Resolution No. 1325 promoting participation, prevention and protection. Jabra pointed out that gender sensitivity has reached the Arab countries after the request by the UN Council to comply and implement similar decisions. In the same spirit, IWSAW director, Lina Abi Rafeh, maintained that the participation of women in the making of peace and security is an essential component of human rights, noting that the Arab world has a historic opportunity to demonstrate this now, and calling for an end to normalization of violence in all its forms and everywhere. Deputy director of the ESCWA center for women, Mahrinaz Awadi, drew attention to three lessons she learned after 15 years of work in the Arab region. “Firstly, we cannot accomplish much through investment in a prevention scheme; secondly, the presence of women in leadership positions is very vital to achieve peace, and thirdly, the development of national work plans is at the core of the agenda for women, peace and security,” Awadi explained. (Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, August 6 and 10, 2016)

 

 

In collaboration with the German Friedrich Eibert- Stiftung FES, Nahar al Shabab association launched last May the third phase of the ‘Young leaders of tomorrow in Lebanon’ project (Lylot 3) aimed at promoting the participation of youth in social, political and economic life of the country. The initiative, kicked off back in 2012 and has achieved in its first stage a project for solar energy lighting in the public park of the northern town of Rashana, and organized during the second phase eight conflict resolution related workshops targeting some 100 beneficiaries. The coordinator of Nahar al Shabab, Ayad Wakim, told An Nahar newspaper that the third phase will be completed by the end of summer 2017 and will shortlist 35 out of 60 young men and women from five private universities outside the capital and from the state-run Lebanese University based on a test and evaluation by a competent jury. Wakim stressed that the selection of participants is very complicated as it has to take into consideration territorial and sectarian diversity. Similarly, FES director of programs, Pierre Saadeh, expressed hope in changing the mentality of the young generation in terms of respect and understanding of the ‘other’, emphasizing the impact of training to achieve this aim, especially amongst those affiliated with political parties. Saadeh noted that through the implementation of such projects one can clearly identity the levels of development of youth skills and capacities based on the review of the suggested priorities and needs. He disclosed that a committee formed from the two sides will choose the best two out of five or six ventures to be implemented, provided the cost of each project does not exceed USD 6 thousand. (An Nahar, August 9, 2016)

 

Following the mitigated 5-year imprisonment sentence against the killer of wife Manal Assi pronounced on July 14 by the Criminal Court of Beirut led by Judge Helena Iskandar while charging the victim with responsibility for allegedly unlawful conduct towards her husband ( http://bit.ly/2amjtWE),  some 167 civil groups signed yesterday a petition to consider cassation and upgrading of the above decision. The request pressed by the Lebanese Council  of Women chaired by lawyer Ikbal Dughan, was filed to the Discriminatory and Appellate Public Prosecution to pressure to this effect. The signatories considered that the Judiciary has completely ridiculed the Lebanese Parliament’s decision to repeal Article 562 of the Penal Code related to so-called ‘honor killing’, while they were expecting the justice system to advocate the rights of victims against culprits. To recall, the Appellate and Discriminatory Offices have a period of one month to appeal the ruling of July 14, meaning that the civil groups have only 6 days including a weekend to convince the competent authorities. (As Safir, The Daily Star, August 9, 2016)

 

The labor ministry lately received frequent queries concerning the employment of migrant women domestic workers (MWDWs) particularly on terms related to the recruitment costs; salaries and especially the deduction of the first two or three months of the worker’s salary that should be transferred to the recruitment agency, and allegedly encouragements to MWDWs by recruitment agencies to flee their employers’ homes and join the agencies in working per hour. In response, the Labor Ministry issued yesterday a statement clearing up the following: Firstly, the prior approval fee for the MWDW (fourth category) is LBP 36 thousand; the fee for workers (of the third category) is LBP 120 thousand; the fee for workers (of the first and second category) is LBP 600 thousand. Secondly, on the issue of deducted salary mentioned above, the statement urged domestic employers to pay the agreed salary directly to the migrant worker or otherwise face prosecution. Thirdly, on the issues of flight of MWDWs from their employers, the ministry threatened to punish the perpetrators and accomplices and to terminate the license of the violating agency. In this context, the labor ministry announced that it has decided to shut down 8 agencies for failing to comply with the above conditions, expressing its readiness to receive related complaints at its departments in Beirut and the provinces. A reminder that the 24/24 hotline for the ministry is (1740). (Al Diyar, August 9, 2016)