News updates

The Women’s Sector- Al Azm Movement officer, Jinan Mbayed, stressed the importance of cooperation between various feminist organizations to endorse human rights and the status of Arab women in particular. Mbayed was speaking during her participation in the Women Leaders’ Summit in Istanbul organized by Raedat Network on November 28. The Arab world as a whole, specially Lebanon, is currently experiencing an uprising by the people demanding social justice and a decent living, Mbayed said. Arab and Lebanese women are called on to actively engage in shaping, rather than being a sideline observer, of developments and events, she added. This entails participation in drawing strategies and future visions, and also figuring out and formulating substitutes to the status quo which arise from both the needs and capacities of society. (NNA, December 3, 2019)
 

Hundreds of angry Indians took to the streets of New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Calcutta yesterday in protest against the gang rape and burning to death of a 27-year old female veterinary doctor. Protestors demanded quick and strict punishment of the perpetrators, including public execution, in a step to deter femicide and speed up trials in rape cases. In the details, a women vet disappeared on Wednesday and police discovered her charred body on Saturday arresting four men in their twenties and accusing them of collectively raping her and setting her body on fire in the city of Hyderabad south of India. Police said the suspects deflated the victim’s scooter tires when she was not there and then offered to help take her back where they dragged her to a park near the motorway on the pretext of fixing the tires. Commenting on the murder, a former lawmaker called for the public execution of the criminals, while other parliamentarians attributed the growing sexual violence to tardy court decisions. Recalling, that according to government figures, more than 33,000 rape cases have been recorded in the country during 2017, involving 10,000 minors. The courts looked into over 18,000  cases, while some 128,000 cases remain pending at the end of the year.  (An Nahar, December 3, 2019)
 

The Executive Secretary of ESCWA, Rula Dashti, said full participation of women in the economy, on equal par with men, could increase by USD 1.5 trillion the Arab GDP by 2025. Dashti explained that violence against women incurs huge direct and indirect losses estimated at USD 245 billion on the Arab economy every year. Dashti was speaking at a meeting held in Amman last week to set priorities for work on gender equality and women empowerment in light of the outcomes of the review of progress in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action after 25 years of its inception. For her part, the Assistant Secretary General of the Arab League, Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, stressed the need to intensify efforts for the economic empowerment of women. It is unacceptable for the economic participation of women in the Arab world to record the lowest rate among world countries, she maintained. Similarly, the Arab Women Organization Executive Secretary, Fadia Kiwan, called for more coordination and solidarity to fulfill the rights of the Arab woman. (An Nahar, December 2, 2019)
 
 

The ISF General Directorate-Public Relations Division, issued two statements related to gender-based violence. The first one noted that the department has received information filed to the Southern Detachment Police Station- the Regional Gendarmerie Unit, about a person blackmailing and threatening to publish the pictures of a girl in return for his silence. The girl begged the suspect to stop his threats which he agreed to if she paid him a specific sum of money. The ISF statement went on to say, that after a tight ambush, the man, born in 1994, was arrested in Saida and turned in to the competent judiciary. The second statement, released on November 29, stated that the CyberCrime Bureau received a complaint filed to Beirut Public Prosecution by a university student against an unknown person involving extortion and threat to publish intimate videos via social media. Upon investigation and surveillance, the suspect, born in 1996, was identified and arrested in Bliss Street, Hamra, Beirut. On the other hand, members of the Lebanese Army Maritime Center in al Mina, Tripoli, found a handcuffed girl thrown in the sea but still alive. The victim did not have identity papers. Under shock, the girl did not speak and was transferred to the hospital for treatment. Security forces are investigating the case. (Al Mustaqbal, November 29, December 1, 2019)
 
 

Hundreds staged a demonstration in the Tunisian capital on November 30 in protest against gender-based violence and in support of the rights of women. The demonstrators who carried brooms called for cleansing their country from all forms of violence against Tunisian women. Participants in the rally which was called by some 50 local NGOs, chanted slogans including, ‘A feminist revolution against backwardness is an obligation’; ‘No violence’; ‘Gender-equality does not kill, violence does’, and ‘One regime ends, another begins and violence stays put’. Some women also knocked on steelpans. The former head of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, Monia Bin Juma’, one of the rally organizers, said violence against women is an indicator of a backward mindset. For her part, demonstrator Salma Bahr appealed to the authorities to end all forms of gender-based violence and to act strictly and responsibly against perpetrators. It should be noted, that the mobilization of the Tunisian civil society has grown since October 11, 2019, after a video posted by a high school student went viral. The video showed a member of the legislature behaving indecently in front of the school. Also, recalling that the Centre for Research, Studies, Documentation and Information on Women, a government institution, has launched, end of October, an awareness campaign on sexual harassment in all public transport with the aim to encourage victims to break silence and report assaults. (An Nahar, November 30, 2019)
 

On the occasion of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the PSP Women Affairs Unit, in collaboration with Tha’era Network for Arab Women, announced yesterday the launch of a project addressing political violence against women inside and outside parties calling for an end to it. According to the organization, this is achieved through the implementation of laws that observe and ensure justice and civil citizenship, hence guaranteeing equal opportunities for women and men. The initiative, to be officially kicked off on the 6th of January, targets a group of women who will be invited for a round table to discuss forms of gender-based violence, notably political violence. It will also put forward a questionnaire to study the reality of women inside the PSP and prospects at hand to take up leadership positions, in addition to the challenges and future steps to overcome them. In a related development, the Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women (LECORVAW), announced the completion of work aimed to provide specialized services for women and girl survivors of domestic and sexual violence in all its forms, specifically rape. It stressed that it will continue to press for the adoption of legal amendments of articles related to this chapter in the Lebanese Penal Code which LECORVAW has called for. The Council also demanded stepping up the formation of a government comprised of non-partisan technocrats. This government will reportedly work for early parliamentary elections that will ensure the creation of a legislature that guarantees justice in laws and repeals discriminatory bills, including the introduction of a civil personal status law. (NNA, November 27, 2019)
 

In its issue of today, An Nahar spotlighted Joanna Medawar Nashef, the California-based Lebanese American conductor, the first woman from the Middle East to become a conductor. On her career path, An Nahar wrote that Joanna’s mother personally directed her to the world of music where she started piano lessons at the age of 7. Later, on the break of the civil war in her country, the family emigrated to the United States in 1976. Joanna joined an orchestral conducting university class and earned a PhD in conducting at 26, An Nahar said. Today, Joanna is a music instructor and director of Choral Activities at El Camino College. She has founded and is the art director of Joanna Medawar Nachef Singers, An Nahar wrote. (An Nahar, November 29, 2019)