Other news

On the evening of June 27, Mary Fakhoury, 27, rushed out of her house engulfed in fire and screaming for help. She ran naked in the street close to the southern port of Tyre shouting ‘alcohol, cigarette’. In the meantime her neighbor who hurried for her rescue said she saw the husband dashing in and out of the house and pleading ‘wrap her in a bed sheet’ while he was preoccupied in put out the fire in the sofa leaving his wife to her fate. Immediately, Mary was rushed to Jabal Amel Hospital and from there to Geitawi as she was suffering from severe burns all over her body. She stayed there for nearly five days before she passed away last Thursday. Her husband took her dead body without informing her family who had arrived the next day, Friday, to find their daughter dead and her body hijacked by the suspect who declared that he will bury her in his hometown in the district of Byblos. This angered her family who wanted Mary to be buried in Tyre. In this respect, the family’s attorney Samar Traboulsi said the parties agreed to bury her in Tyre after the intervention of the Prosecutor in the South Judge Rahif Ramadan. The death incident remains a mystery with no clear evidence that the perpetrator is the husband. Meanwhile, sources indicated that victim’s family was planning to sue the husband for murder. (Al Akhbar, 4 July 2015)

The Promotion and Social Development Association (Prodes) celebrated in the town of Maad, Byblos, the completion of its project entitled: ‘Strengthening Socio-Economic Women Role in Lebanese Rural Areas through the Development of Tourism, Hospitality and Small Enterprise Networks’. The project was financed by the European Union and implemented by Prodes in collaboration with the Spanish Association ‘Tertio Pilastro’. The celebration ceremony was held at the training center of the Institute of Management and Services in the presence of 50 stakeholders in the fields of tourism, education and development in addition to women micro-entrepreneurs from the villages of Deir Ahmar, Bsharri, Abrin, Dooma, Fatri and Ehmej. Prodes president Juliana Najem praised the successful cooperation between her association, the municipalities and local communities. The project officer, Caroline Khalifeh, noted that the vocational training workshops organized in the villages have strengthened relations between rural women on the one hand, local associations and authorities on the other, stressing the need to engage the private sector in development programs. (L’Orient Le Jour, 3 July 2015)

The Institute of Political Sciences at Saint Joseph University organized a seminar to present the findings of a survey on early marriage funded by the Canadian Embassy in Beirut. The Lebanese database was gathered from electoral constituencies while the Syrian statistics were provided by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, in addition to a field study that was conducted by Political Science students in the North, Bekaa, Mount Lebanon, Beirut and the South. Political Science professor, Dr. Hala Itani, analyzed the collected data which indicated that 13% of girls in Lebanon got married under the age of 18, with the Alawite community recording the highest figure (16%) followed by the Sunni  (13%), Shia (12%) and Druze (10%). Among Christians, the Maronite and Greek Orthodox communities scored the highest (7%) followed by Greek Catholics and the remaining Christians (6%). Apart from confessional differences, Itani clarified that the study showed differences between regions with Hermel area in Beqaa accounting for 16%; Minyeh in Diniye, Tyre, Hasbaya, Tripoli and Akkar (14-15%); Batrun, Jezzine, Matn, Baabda, Kesrwan, Byblos and the Chuf areas reported 14-15%, and lastly, Beirut which recorded 8%. Concerning Syrian refugee women, UNHCR data indicated that 23% of girls living in Lebanon got married under 18 years of age. Similarly, 4454 Syrian girls in the age group 12-17 out of 70269 girls got married under 18, which is equivalent to 6.3% for girls against 0.2 for boys. (An Nahar, 1 July 2015)

The Religious Shiite Authority, Sayyed Ali Fadlallah noted that any gap in the level of women’s participation is not the result of weakness in women’s capacities, but is mainly due to the constraining traditions, laws and norms. Fadlallah made this important statement during the annual Iftar hosted by the Women Committee of Mabarrat Charitable Association at Al Kawthar Compound and Khadija Al Kubra, located on the airport road. He underlined the responsibility of all of society in encouraging the participation of women in political life of the country. Defending women’s rights is the duty of all societal constituents, including religious scholars and over and above, the responsibility of legislators, politicians and decision makers. Fadlallah called for improving and revising all women-related legislation, religious interpretations and norms, stressing the need to improve laws aiming at protecting women from violence particularly in view of recent cases of wife killings. Fadlallah further urged concerned authorities to develop all means for protecting women and for preventing any possible abuse or marginalization of their rights, most importantly in matters of divorce or custody of children especially given the absence of sufficient sanctioning mechanisms. (Al Diyar, 1 July 2015)

Basmeh and Zeitooneh is a grassroots community-based group set up by a group Syrians. It runs a community center in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila, trains women on entrepreneurial skills and provides successful trainees with small grants to assist them in launching their own business. Basmeh and Zeitooneh aims to empower women financially and provide psychological support in order to help them gain more independence. The training part of its current project stretches over two and half months, during which women are taught basic techniques of entrepreneurship such as how to buy, sell and barter goods, and ways of developing sustainable relations with customers. Top students are then invited to submit project proposals for starting their own business. Selected proposals can receive $800 in grant. Basmeh and Zeitooneh completed the first pilot of the project a few months ago following which 40 of the participants submitted their project proposals of which 31 were selected for funding. Successful projects included a nursery set up by four women, a sweets shop and a clothes’ store. However, despite being popular the project of Basmeh and Zeitooneh is now short of funding. According to the Daily Star who featured the work of the group, international donors who once supported the project have turned their attention away from Beirut which is no longer considered a priority area. (The Daily Star, 30 June 2015)

L’Orient Le Jour daily published in its yesterday’s issue a feature on women inmates at Barbar Al Khazen prison commending the good deeds of Social Movement association for the orderliness inside a jail where some 50 female prisoners of different nationalities are confined. According to the newspaper, Social Movement is assisting women inmates through the development of their embroidery and sewing skills and the marketing their finished crafts via L’Artisan Du Liban outlet. Speaking to L’Orient Le Jour reporter, Malika, from Sri Lanka, proudly mentioned that she sends some of the money she makes from sewing to her family in Sri Lanka. Ola, another women inmate from Syria, noted that she spends her money on personal needs, while others use it for entertainment, they said. It is to be noted that this SM initiative is also targeting women inmates in Roomieh prison. (L’Orient Le Jour, 30 June 2015)

The ‘Maakum’ social association organized a "cultural" field trip to Jarabta and Rashana located in Batroon and Bsharri as part of the ‘English for women-2015’ program financed by the Diplomatic Bureau at the American Embassy in Beirut. Some 150 women participants from different regions across Lebanon took part in the activity and visited St Joseph Monastery and the Shrine of St Rafka where a tree was planted at the main entrance upon the initiative of US Ambassador David Hill. The participants later headed towards the village of Rashana and visited the Alfred Basboos Museum, and were later hosted for a luncheon in the area. (Al Mustaqbal, 30 June 2015)

Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development in collaboration with the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit at AUB (ESDU) and with the support of Dr. Scholl Institute launched the first phase of its ‘Social Kitchen’ project in Old Saida City aimed at empowering women within their households. The initiative targets Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian women and girls of Old City and its environs, who possess cooking skills but need some support. To this end, Hariri Foundation organized a training workshop for over 20 participants on food safety, healthy diet and kitchen management. Nutrition experts Marwa Subra, Dominic Anid and Salwa Tawk from ESDU gave an elaborate presentation on nutritive ingredients, their benefits and role in the vital body functions and the ultimate conditions for a healthy diet. (Al Mustaqbal, 27 June 2015)