News updates

Starbucks recently concluded its ‘Opportunity Café’ initiative launched in collaboration with Bayt.com and Education for Employment (EFE) foundation. This initiative is believed to be the largest professional training workshop on CV writing across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). As part of the Global Month of Service which takes place on April of each year, the workshop was held last April 18 at 29 Starbucks stores across 10 MENA countries with a wide participation of  35 professional trainers and 177 Starbucks partners (employees). The Opportunity Café trained 900 young men and women between the ages of 16 and 35, notwithstanding their academic background. The initiative provided training sessions to the region’s youth, in addition to strategic career advice from committed experts. The purpose of the initiative was to help those aspiring young people to realize their professional dreams through building the skills required during hiring interviews, and therefore enhance the chances of their employment.  (Al Mustaqbal, May 19, 2016)

 

In its edition of today, Al Akbar daily reported that after two and a half-year delayed justice in the case of the killing of Roula Yaacoub, a new court decision issued last week has confirmed that the cause of death was continuous and excessive violence by the defendant against his wife at the time of death and before. The newspaper pointed out that the accusatory decision then had overlooked all the evidence that indict the husband Karam Bazi in the murder and therefore prevented his trial. The new 21-page verdict has justified the accusation of the husband by 3 circumstantial evidences which are: first, the disappearance of the culprit with the start of the investigation; second, testimonials by the lawyer Bushra Khoury, Roula Yaacoub's who maintained that the husband showed up one hour after the death accompanied by his brother who was heard telling the criminal every husband quarrels with his wife and beats her; third, the information and enquiries collected by Halba police station and the preliminary investigations that sustained the perpetrator has violently beaten his wife on the head. What characterizes the new decision is that it detailed and separated the contents of the medical reports that have been disregarded by the earlier accusatory verdict. "In order to scrutinize the causative relationship between the acts of violence and cruelty committed by the defendant and the autoptic results manifested by death, this necessitates a return to the medical reports,” as came in the above decision. (Al Akhbar, May 18, 2016)

 

In collaboration with CCG, the Chamber for Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Tripoli and the North (CCIA) celebrated yesterday the International Day for Girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which aims to encourage and open up employment opportunities for young girls in that field. The event also aimed at motivating girls to follow up training sessions in various related fields, and sharing success stories that will inspire their careers. The event also offered a platform for interaction with CISCO experts, the worldwide leader in IT, so as to learn more about innovative developments, and sought to support outstanding talents so as to bring about drastic social and economic changes in community. In the same vein, the Tripoli Chamber ran another workshop entitled, ‘Girls Power Tech’ which included a lecture by Dr. Roula Naja and presentations of various IT projects designed by women students of different universities (notably, Al Manar- Al Islah- the Lebanese French University for Applied Sciences), scientific institutes (Tamkeen Vocational Institute), Al Fayhaa schools (Rawda Al Fayhaa High School) and CCIA business incubator. (Al Diyar, May 17, 2016)

 

The Cultural Development Association of Batroon organized yesterday a seminar entitled ‘Women Are Half of Society’ with the participation of the minister of the displaced, Alice Shabtini, former minister Demianos Kattar and a crowd of notable figures. Shabtini underlined the need to change the mentality controlling some systems and the discriminatory legislations against women. She said such laws promote unfair treatment of women as weak, incapable social components when the fact is just the opposite. She maintained that women in such communities are subjected to all forms of violence, humiliation and physical intimidation due to what she described as "fanatic, backward and authoritarian mentalities.” While she warned that it is high time for women to reclaim their full rights, Shabtini underlined their essential role in peace making, stressing the need to lift injustice through developing strict laws against conservative practices. For his part, Kattar considered that “the struggle for the rights of women is a big heading across the globe.” He said Lebanon suffers from chronic weaknesses and stagnation of reforms in the legal and personal law systems, as well as from a deep-rooted family/clan structure which prevents women from participating in decision making.” Kattar concluded by calling for the adoption of the quota representation system as a first step, noting that “it is a right and not a favor.”

Al Mustaqbal, May 17, 2016

 

 

Last week witnessed new developments in women participation in the upcoming municipal elections throughout Lebanon, ranging between staunch opposition to women candidates, the announcement of new lists which included women candidates as in the case of the opposition list in Saida, and finally the boldness and attitude of defiance of a number female candidates who choose to run solo against the very powerful coalition lists of political parties and families.  In the first instance, last week saw the announcement of a religious ‘fatwa’ rejecting the participation of women as candidates that was issued by Druze religious clerics of Khalwat al Bayada In this respect, Al Bayada senior chief cleric Sheik Ghaleb Kais told Al Akhbar newspaper that the religious institution informed all concerned political parties that it will boycott any list carrying the names of women. The newspaper pointed out to contradictory views among those parties (Lebanese Democratic Party, Syrian Social National Party, the Progressive Socialist Party), which while expressing full support to the political rights of women, in fact have decoded to bow to the will of the Druze spiritual leaders. It should be noted that some 54 candidates are running for the municipal elections, including four women, namely, Faten Sabeq, Samiha Abu Dehn, Samiha Sharoof and Ghada Kahki. Meanwhile, women associations in Hasbaya insisted that women nominees are decided to continue in their nomination despite the refusal of political parties to include them in their own lists of candidates. In the North, however, the situation looks somewhat different. The candidate list of the current head of Mashtah Hassan municipality, Hamzah Ahmad, which includes representatives of all families, also comprises four women, notably, Dr. Ruba Haddad, Alya Assad and Manal Ajaj. Likewise, in Nabatiyeh, Fatma Badreddine, who owns a driver teaching office since more than 25 years, decided to run for the mayor post in the Saray district of the town. In the same vein, former Minister Charbel Na7hhas announced his support to Claude Merji Bshara, as a candidate to run in Byblos under the banner of Citizens group of which he is a member. Claude Bshara is running under a political platform that cautions against turning Byblos into a second Solidere. (Al Diyar, Assafir, Al Akhbar, May 14, 15, 2016)

 

In collaboration with the Khiam Women Association, the UNIFIL’s Eastern Sector organized last Saturday the first photography workshop for women at the Social Cultural Club of Khiam. Some 22 women from the southern town took part in the training workshop which focused on the principles of photography. They subsequently participated in a contest to choose the best three photographs. At the end of the contest, the winners received certificates of appreciation distributed during a ceremony which was attended by commander of UNIFIL’s eastern sector, who urged participants to “follow up their dream and continue to be artists in their hearts.” For her part, the president of the Khiam association, Sabah Abu Abbas, underlined the objectives of the association aiming at motivating local women and creating new job opportunities. 

Al Diyar, May 15, 2016

 

The Nursing Syndicate celebrated International Nursing Day and organised yesterday an event at its headquarters in Sin el Fil which was attended by official figures, leaders from local syndicates, hospital directors, nurses and media representatives.  During the event, the President of the Syndicate, Dr. Nuhad Yazbek Dumit, noted in her keynote address that nursing is different from other professions as nurses sacrifice their body, soul, and heart to provide nursing care and this cannot be given a price.  She further noted that it is the duty of nurses to raise awareness on the concept of nursing care as going into nursing is very difficult as it relies on sacrifice.  In conclusion, Doumit announced that a new Apps will be launched to strengthen communication amongst nurses.  To be reminded that the Syndicate had initiated the preparations for the International Nursing Day last month in the form of a national campaign entitled "encounters with nurses in all cazas of Lebanon: participate, check and learn".  The said campaigns will go on until the end of July 2016. (Al Mustaqbal 13 May 2016)

 

On the 25th of January 2015, the decision of the judge in North Lebanon to release the husband of victim Rola Yaakoob, also allegedly her killer raised much controversy especially that the decision was made only one day after the parliament endorsed the new law to protect family members from violence.  Yesterday, the judge in North Lebanon issued its verdict and accused the husband of killing his wife and issued an arrest warrant accordingly.  To be noted that by the end of January 2014, Rola Yaakoob's family has lodged an appeal to the accusatory judicial body in North Lebanon.  The appeal was only accepted in July 2014 whereby a decision to undertake a full investigation was taken including hearing the witnesses.  Al-Akhbar newspaper noted that the decision of the accusatory judicial body is to be considered as an achievement which is likely to improve the performance of the judicial system in cases related to domestic violence.  Credit undoubtedly goes to the mother of the victim, Laila Khoury, who never gave up and pursued her struggle to request justice for her daughter. (Al Akhbar 13 May 2016)

 

The Arab Women Forum for Entrepreneurs opened yesterday under the ‘Empowering a new generation of Arab Women Entrepreneurs’ with some 300 participants coming from Lebanon and Arab and foreign states. The event which was organized jointly by Al Hasnaa Magazine and Al Iktisad Wal Aamal Group discussed methods of empowerment of women through innovation and entrepreneurship. On the occasion, the President of BLC Bank, Maurice Sahnawi, drew attention to the obstacles facing women entrepreneurs in countries that do not observe gender equality, an essential component for the development of any society and for the prosperity and advancement of its domestic economy. Similarly, the Lebanese Culture Minister, Roni Arayji, underlined the importance of the forum as a  source for sustainable motivation for women entrepreneurs in the Arab World. He praised the role of Lebanese women who, he said, proved their efficiency in the private sector and the various professions, and especially in the public sector. The only setback, Arayji maintained, is however in “women’s political participation, at the of municipal and parliamentary levels, and this, he noted, is a result of the patriarchal society or lack of desire on part of women.” The manager at Deloitte Middle East, Rana Salhab, focused in her intervention on the discriminatory laws against women that impede their progress and evolution. While admitting the low rate of women’s participation in the entrepreneurship sector, barely 26%, Salhab applauded their noteworthy contribution to the private sector, noting a relative parity in the recruitment of women in relation to their men counterparts. Salhab urged the entrepreneurship support campaigns to focus more on the target of attaining decision making positions in corporate boards, where apparently women's presence is shy, as she put it. (Al Diyar, An Nahar, As Safir, May 12, 2016)

 

 

A preliminary gender disaggregated rapid scan of the results of local elections in the Beirut and Beqaa indicates: that, in Beirut, out of a total of 114 candidates, 22 were women of whom 3 won municipal council seats (2.6%).  The three women in questions were candidates of the “Byerteh” list supported by former PM Saad el Hariri and the various other dominant political parties.  In the Beqaa, out of a total of 4427 candidates,159 were women of whom 51 won municipal council seats (1.15%) and were distributed as follows per Caza: Zahleh, 914 candidates, 40 women and 6 women winners (0.6%), Rashayya, 562 candidates, 29 women and of 12 winners (2.13%), West Beqaa 827 candidates, 28 women and 15 winners (1.8%). It is to be noted that the winner with the highest number of votes in that caza was a women affiliated to “Muwatinoon wa Muwatinat fi Dawlat”. Baalbaq recorded 1882 candidates, 53 women and 18 winners (0.9%) with the noticeable result that the winning woman candidate in Arsal collected the highest score. For its part, the casa of Hermel recorded 242 candidates, 9 women with no woman winner. It is also to be noted that the numbers of candidates referred to here are those published on April 28th by the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities before the deadline for withdrawing candidacies. Finally, and whilst the lists of candidates for the remaining regions are still in pipeline, it is worth underscoring that of the opposition list of the Popular Nasserite Organisation in Saida which counts 5 women out of a total of 21 candidates. (As Safir – May 10th 2016)