News updates

L’Orient le Jour published an interview yesterday with Noha Osseiran, the independent candidate to the elections of Teachers Trade Union (Beirut Branch).  Osseiran noted that it is her democratic right to be a candidate for elections and this has been denied to many for 20 years.  She added that private educational institutions choose their own candidate without consulting with the teachers.  As a result, these candidates normally follow the diktat of their institutions and not the interests of the trade union.  Osseiran affirms that she realized this situation during the latest mobilization of the Union Coordination Committee particularly since the discourse of the president of the Trade Union of Private Schools Teachers, Nehmeh Mahfuz, was in contradiction with that of the representatives of private schools.  Osseiran further added that she resigned from the school where she used to teach because of difference of opinion between her and the trade union representative on this particular subject.  Osseiran considers that there is no real “trade union culture” in Lebanon and hoped that the upcoming elections will contribute to raising the awareness of teachers especially in relation to their rights.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 14 May 2014
 

The Minister of Environment, Mohammed el Mashnuk, reiterated the importance of protecting the Lebanon Mountain Trail (LMT) and limiting the environmental attacks recorded by the LMT Association.  Mashnuk highlighted the importance of encouraging responsible eco-tourism and strengthening economic opportunities in rural villages. Mashnuk was speaking in a press conference organized yesterday by the LMT Association and attended by the association’s president, Karim el Jisr, who emphasized the importance of concerted efforts for protecting the environment notably by the state represented by environmental lawyers and police, as well as the municipalities, economic institutions and civil society organizations.
It is to be noted that the Lebanon Mountain Trail was established in 2007, with the USAID support, and aims to showcase the natural beauty and cultural wealth of Lebanon’s mountains and to expand economic opportunities in rural areas through environmentally and socially responsible tourism. LMT extends from Qbaiyat in the north of Lebanon to Marjaayoun in the south, and includes more than 75 towns and villages, (29 located in the north, 23 in northern Mount Lebanon, 10 in southern Mount Lebanon and 16 in the south), in addition to three natural reserves, 11 guesthouses, and three rest-points and one camping site.
Source: Al-Nahar 13 May 2014

A group of pioneer women as well as women active in parliamentary, government, economic, cultural and social sector attended the inauguration of the second edition of the Beirut Designers’ Week organized last week by GATA Events & Promotions s.a.r.l in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and Trade.  Some 70 women designers showcased their products and innovations which included fashion clothing, jewelry, furniture, vintage items as well as household crafts.  
In her keynote address, Lawyer Regina Kantara reminded the audience of the importance of international convention on rights which address women’s rights namely the international human rights convention, CEDAW and the Beijing Platform of Action.  She added that Lebanese women have proven that they possess leadership skills in many fields however, administrative, economic and political decision making remains in the hands of men especially given existing discriminatory laws.  Kantara called for concluding the process of ridding the Lebanese legal framework from all forms of discriminatory laws at the social and economic levels, namely by guaranteeing women’s rights to transmit their nationality and introducing a single civil family law, as well as adopting decentralization measures as stipulated in the Taef agreement.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Safir 13 May 2014

The General Federation of Chambers of Trade, Industry and Agriculture in Arab Countries organized yesterday in collaboration with the Rafiq Hariri University a seminar entitled “the economic implications of the influx of Syrian displaced”.  The event was held at the Adnan Kassar centre for Arab Economy and included inputs and discussions by academics and experts to review the economic implications of the displacement of Syrians amidst the absence of official procedures to regulate the displacement and mitigate its social and economic impact.
The honorary president of the Federation, former Minister Adnan Kassar, noted in his intervention that the Syrian displacement has had worrying implications on the overall financial situation, the health and education sectors and the infrastructure of public services.  This, according to Kassar, is likely to increase the budgetary deficit by at least an additional 6%.  Kassar also pointed out to the 2.9% yearly drop in economic growth between 2011 and 2014 according to the World Bank which is likely to increase unemployment beyond 20% and thus push some 170,000 individuals to join the ranks of 1 million Lebanese living below the poverty line.
Dr. Riad Chedid, the President of the Rafiq Hariri university noted that the purpose of highlighting the economic implications of the Syrian displacement is not intend to stir ill feelings as providing aid to the displaced is a duty but rather to ensure the adoption of a clear plan which takes into consideration the situation of the state.  For his part, the Minister of Public Health, Wael Abou Faour, alarming noted that the Syrian displacement is one of the most dangerous challenges facing the state and the Lebanese.  He added that despite repeated calls about the implications of this displacement, the state has yet to take any measures to address or mitigate the results of this displacement.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar 13 May 2014

Erikson and the American University of Science and Technology, AUST, organized last week an event to celebrate the international day for girls in ICT.  The event was held at the AUST campus and was implemented as part of Erikson’s efforts to empower women and girls to work in this field, as Erikson seeks to increase women’s participation in the company to reach 30%, and, in recognition of the overall role that women play in society as well as in the ICT sector.  The seminar provided an opportunity to women students to know more about jobs in this sector and provided a space for speakers from Erikson to share the short term and long term views of their company in relation to ICT and the development of web communities and the role that this can play in developing this sector.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal 12 May 2014

For more information about women in ICT, please review the earlier post of the WEEPortal entitled:
Women’s participation in ICT professions is five-fold lower than men, published on 9/5/2014

The Minister of Tourism, Michel Pharaon, inaugurated last week the exhibition of Lebanese food and crafts which is organized for the third time at the Beirut Souks in the presence of personalities from the political, banking, trade and media sectors.  The aim of this exhibition is to encourage the work of Lebanese rural women cooperatives and to motivate the rural communities to steadfast in rural areas through facilitating marketing of their products according to international standards according to international fair trade standards.
After touring the different exhibitors and listening to their needs and ways in which they can collaborate with the Ministry of Tourism, the Minister congratulated the organizers and announced that his Ministry is preparing a programme to encourage eco-tourism at modest costs as this will allow tourists and residents to visit various Lebanese regions and to familiarize with customs and cuisines.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar 12 May 2014

The Women Training and Empowerment Committee within the Women Section of Future Movement continues in it present course of organizing IT training workshop targeting women members of the section in Beirut.  The first stage of this round of workshops was launched last month and the second stage has just begun.  This activity is part of the Section’s orientation aiming at empowering women at all levels.  The present IT workshop is organized at the Future movement premises in Kontari (Beirut) and seeks at helping beginner women to use IT namely in terms of transferring, storing and using all sorts of data.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 12 May 2014

The Arab Open University organised last week the “Annual Employment Day” at its campus in Tayyuneh with the participation of 40 local, regional and international companies working in various economic sectors.
The Director of the University, Dr. Feyrouz Sarkis, noted during her opening speech that the purpose of the event is to link students’ and graduates’ competencies with the opportunities available on the domestic and regional job market.  She also presented the various summer training courses that the university has designed for students, with the collaboration of the private and the public sectors, in order to support them in their professional lives and to upgrade their skills so as to enter the job market.  She also noted that the business entrepreneurship at the University offers advanced training programmes to various universities in Lebanon.
Source: Al-Nahar 12 May 2014

As Safir published a report about women in ICT related professions.  The report refers to findings of the International IT Federation according to which women’s interest in these professions is five-fold lower compared to men and despite the equal level of ICT usage amongst women and men.  The International IT Federation is an organisation working to lobby governments, the private sector and CSOs to recognize the important role that women can play in developing IT services and thus, the need to become aware of the importance of providing women with the necessary success tools and of carrying an overhaul of educational systems and infrastructure.
The report noted that although there are women who occupy important positions in large IT companies, yet, figures show another reality as men occupy most high level and high paying IT positions in both developing and developed countries.  According to various studies, women constitute 30% IT technicians and only 15% of directors and 11% of technicians involved in training and strategizing.  The report noted that mainstreaming women in the ICT sector is not only important for achieving social justice but is also a way to contribute to general economic growth as gender equality in higher position will positively affect financial performance of companies.
The head of sales at Erikson in the Middle East, engineer Najla Naim, noted during a seminar organized recently by her company at the AUST on the occasion of the international women in ICT day that the limited participation of women in IT education is due to the fact that the educational system is boring and not interesting.  
Source: Al-Safir 9 May 2014

The Minister of Industry, Hussein Hajj Hassan, met yesterday with the Assistant General Director and the Regional Representative of FAO, Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, as well as with FAO Resident Representative in Lebanon, Bruno Manjaw, to discuss ways of collaboration in the framework of implementing programmes that could benefit Lebanon especially its food industry sector especially that this sector is now well developed and is highly competitive in external markets.
Source: Al-Diyar 8 May 2014