News updates

A workshop on the MedGeneration programme was held yesterday at the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The event was attended by a delegation of 12 Lebanese business people working in Europe. This programme which is implemented by the Chamber with EU funding includes Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine and seeks to link local initiatives with successful established businesses owned by major Lebanese business people in Europe so as to learn from their experiences in leading these initiatives to success.
The member of the Chamber, Naji Mounther, noted that the Chamber is striving through this programme to mobilize resources abroad to support young talents through strengthening linkages between emerging companies in Lebanon and well established companies owned by Lebanese business people abroad.  This will cultivate a culture of entrepreneurship as well as productivity with the creation of companies that are able to innovate and compete.  The programme’s director, Hadi al Assad, spoke about the objectives of the programme and the progress done so far.  To be noted that a delegation of Lebanese business people used this opportunity to tour the Ministries of Economy and Foreign Affairs as well as IDAL, Berytech, and Kafalat and met with a number of presidents of economic institutions.
Source: Al-Diyar 10 December 2014

Journalist Janine Jalkh talked to L’Orient le Jour about the pervasive racism in Lebanese society vis-à-vis women domestic workers in Lebanon and who are exploited by employers, employment offices and law enforcement.  Janine was interviewed by the newspaper about her documentary entitled “Escaping to death” which highlighted the increasing phenomenon of so-called suicide of migrant women domestic workers.Jalkh contributed to the making of this documentary which has been shown on Al Jazeera last October and which has won the public freedoms and human rights award.
For viewing this documentary, please click on the following link: Escaping to death

Following the decision of the Tripoli municipality council to sever the contract of the president of the public relations and administration, Nada Elia, on 18 November 2014, the state advisory council presided by Judge Youssef Nasr rescinded this decision and reinstated Elia in her position.  The Council ruled that the Municipal Council abused its power and issued a baseless decision.
To be noted that the Tripoli Municipal Council has no choice but to implement the Council’s decision lest it is subjected for penalties for any delay incurred despite some indications that the ruling will be referred to the Municipal Council and will have grave repercussions given the internal situation within the Municipality.
Source: Al-Safir 10 December 2014

Information International published a study on youth migration covering the period extending between 1992 (after the civil war) to 2014.  The study looked at reasons for migration whilst distinguishing between the various profiles of migrants based on age, professional specialization and destination. The study noted that wars, security incidents, and economic crisis witnessed by Lebanon have all resulted in an increase in the proportion of migration in addition to the rise in national debt from USD 2.8 billion in 1993 to US 65.6 billion in July 2014.  Other specific factors included the degradation in the health, education and other services and rising unemployment.  The study further noted, based on data from the Beirut International Airport that immigration has significantly increased during the past few years (2011 – 2013) as the total number of Lebanese leaving the country reached 174,704 people with an annual average of 58,234 people.  Lebanese immigrants come from various social, cultural and confessional background with youth aged between 20 and 44 constituting 82.6% of total migrants which gives a very dire indication of the future which will have an aging population. Furthermore, the households’ livelihood survey of 2007 noted that 46.3% of these migrants are university graduates, which underscores an acute problem of brain drain.
Source: Al-Safir 9 December 2014

The Daily Star published a report about Lebanese women in the workforce, pointing out that even though women continue to outnumber men in higher education, they are still underrepresented in the workplace due to many factors namely, social norms, discrimination by employers and an inhospitable economy. The report noted that the most recent World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual Gender Gap Report issued in October 2014, found that only 26 percent of women in working-age are in the workforce in Lebanon, compared to 76 percent for men. Some 70 percent of working women are in the services industry, and there are few women legislators, senior officials and managers.  Another study conducted by the Collective for Research and Training on Development – Action (CRTD.A) on women in the labor force in Lebanon found that social norms limited women’s professional activity and some women preferred to stay at home, rather than fulfill career aspirations. The report also noted that the law and the economy play a factor in making the labor market a suitable environment for women, noting that many current labor laws are discriminatory to women.
In addition to the above, economist Muna Khalaf, told the newspaper that entering the labor force comes with its own set of difficulties, where women have too many consideration before accepting a job such as the flexibility of the work, the proximity of the workplace to home and the availability of day care centres, in addition to the fact that priority in hiring is given to men in general. For his part, Nassib Ghobril, a senior economist at Byblos Bank, believed that Lebanon has many capable women in the labor force, and questioned the methodology that had been used in the WEF’s mentioned report. Economist Kamal Hamdan said that the main issue was that the Lebanese economy did not create jobs that were suitable for highly educated women, noting that, 70 percent of investment in Lebanon is going to the construction sector which does not provide jobs for highly educated graduates, who were mostly women.
Source: The Daily Star 8 December 2014

The ILO issued its new report on pay last week during which it revealed that women are still paid less than men for similar work done and in all the 38 countries covered by the report despite the fact that they surpass men in terms of education, experience and productivity. The report noted that the highest gender gap is in the USA where women are paid USD 64.20 for every USD 100 paid to men.  The report added that the gender gap in pay in the USA may be attributed to other factors such as differences in productivity, education, and/or experience.  However, this does not apply to Europe, Russia, and Brazil where women supersede men in all these factors but the gender gap in pay remains.  The report further added that in many European countries, women should be paid 0.9% more than men, but, instead, they are actually paid 18.9% less.
Source: Al-Diyar, Al-Nahar 9 December 2014

Despite measures put in place by the Ministry, since three weeks ago, in order to protect milk producers and set the price of one kilogram of milk at LBP 1,100, milk farmers are facing now a new crisis, as demand for their products plummeted from 30 to 12 tons daily following the decisions of the Ministry of Public Health to closed down a number of dairy products factories, which did not comply with sanitary criteria.  In addition, still-operating dairy factories have exploited this opportunity to force a drop in the sales price of one kilogram of milk to LBP 900.
As such, milk producers organised, yesterday, a sit in during which they blocked the international road and spilled milk on the road to express their anger.  The milk producers called on the concerned officials to move fast to help this sector from impending losses and to alleviate the impact on hundreds of families who depend on milk production and cows rearing as their main source of livelihood.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Nahar 8 December 2014

The women committee of the Sinno kinship association inaugurated its first annual crafts exhibition at its headquarters in Snubra area of Beirut, last Saturday.  The event ran over two days and included handcrafts, accessories, and food products made by women.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 6 December 2014

The coordinator of the network of university women affiliated to the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), Leila Saadeh, noted that no women at all are appointed in high level positions in Lebanese universities. Saadeh added during the regional conference entitled “Academic women, women of power” held by the AUF in Dakar on November 13 and 14, and attended by 24 women from 15 countries, that this situation prevails not only in Lebanon but in all other countries.
Saadeh also noted that the academic world is discriminatory against women par excellence, and that only the level of discrimination differs from one country to the other.  Finally, Saadeh suggested that AUF places conditionality on its support to universities in Lebanon by including clauses that will ensure gender equality.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 4 December 2014

AUB held a round table last Tuesday to discuss the findings of a study prepared by the World Bank on the employment potential of the Middle East and North Africa. The round table was organised in the presence of economists from the World Bank and the former Minister of Economy and Trade, Nicolas Na7has, as well as professors from AUB. The study’s findings showed that micro-startups & firms, less than 5 years old and with less than five employees, accounted for 177 percent of aggregate net job creation and generated about 66,000 jobs in Lebanon between 2005 and 2010. The second largest number of jobs (12,000) was created by young large firms with 200-999 employees. The study recommended that the MENA region must reform policies so as not to allow few firms to dominate the most lucrative sectors of the economy, and in an attempt to promote equal opportunities for all entrepreneurs.
Marc Schiffbauer, a senior economist at the World Bank argued that there should be an understanding of the factors holding back new firms from entering the Lebanese market, explaining that startups have the capacity to create the number of jobs needed in Lebanon but red tape and restrictions curbing foreign direct investments must be removed since they are hindering the establishment of such firms. For his part, Ibrahim Osman, associate dean and business professor at AUB, emphasized the importance of the information and communications technology sector in creating employment. He noted that globally ICT employment has grown with top firms hiring more than 14 million people worldwide in 2011, an average increase of 6 percent from 2010.
Source: The Daily Star 3 December 2014