Other news

The new president of the Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB), Asmahan Zein, pointed out to gender-based discrimination in the local labor market. She said the 2012 figures of the Central Administration for Statistics indicated that while women constitute 55% of university students in Lebanon, but only account for 27% of the total local workforce. Zein who was speaking to L’Orient Le Jour revealed that women are marginalized, especially that the number of those in leadership and decision making positions barely reaches 18%. She clarified that since women’s rights are widely ignored in various legislations, she has decided to act and organize seminars and training workshops for working women and women entrepreneurs in order to enhance their skills and awareness on their role in society in order to create an enabling environment for women. (L’Orient Le Jour, 8 May 2015)

The Women Sector of the Future Movement in Baalbek organized a seminar on the negative implications of early marriage. The event was attended by assistant of organizational affairs, Nawal Mdalali, Baalbek Coordinator, Uzaina Shalha and members of the Coordination Council in addition to representatives of civil society. Expressing regret over the absence of a unified personal status law in Lebanon, Mdalali said that early marriage constitutes a clear violation of the basic rights of girls. Each religious confession in Lebanon, she added, has its own family law and some even approves of marriages of less than 18 years old. This situation, she noted, is in stark contradiction with the principle of equality stipulated by the Lebanese Constitution, in Article 7, which states that ‘all Lebanese are equal by law, and enjoy this equality in political and civil rights’. For her part, Rana Mbayid, considered that putting an end to this situation starts with enacting laws that set a unified minimum age for marriage for all citizens, men and women. She urged civil and human rights organizations to raise awareness on the danger of early marriage and its negative impact on underage girls. (Al Mustaqbal, 9 May 2015)

Following a domestic fight, a man defenestrated his wife in Bshamoon and went to sleep afterwards despite his wife’s cries of pain. According to neighbors and Kafa association, this was not the first time that the woman was abused and hit by her husband. Within the same vein, the Beirut Criminal Court decided to postpone the trial of Mohammed Nuheili for the murder of his wife Manal Assi on February 3rd 2014.  After noticing that the prosecuting witness who prepared the initial investigation record in the crime did not show up, the jury president decided to adjourn the court session until next June. The Court has earlier questioned Nheili who recounted details of the incident denying any intention of murder. During the hearing of his testimony, the plaintiff’s brother said that Manal was completely battered when he reached her house, while one of Manal’s sisters said for her part that she saw the blood on her sister’s body that was lying dead on the floor. (LBCI, Al Mustaqbal, 24 April 2015)

Law School students at Saint Joseph University held last Friday a mock trial under the heading ‘The nationality of the Lebanese Mother Passed to her Children from a Deceased Foreign Husband’. The ruling was inspired by a verdict issued five years ago by the Personal Status Court headed then by Judge Johny Azzi in the case of Plaintiff Samira Suwaydan. Judge Azzi had, back in 2009, ruled in favor of Suwaydan following the death of her husband. However, the Appeals Court of Mount Lebanon overruled Azzi’s decision in June 2010. According to An Nahar newspaper, a mock trial of the Suwaydan case was done whilst introducing few changes to the facts (a Tunisian instead of an Egyptian husband and two instead of three children).  By the end of the trial, the students’ council reinstated the Azzi ruling of 16/6/2009 and was not deterred by sectarian or racist considerations. The court spoke in favor of Lebanese women and the need to have equality between Lebanese and foreign women in transmitting nationality to children following the death of a foreign spouse according to clause 4 of the Nationality Law of 19/1/1925 which was re-interpreted in a way that is in harmony with the current times. Also in relation to the issue of nationality, Lebanese Forces chief, Samir Geagea, announced that the LF and the Free Patriotic Movement have agreed to veto any legislative session that does not have the new election law and the law to reinstate Lebanese nationality to immigrants among its priorities. In a similar development, As Safir newspaper reported in an article published today that the Finance Minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, has responded to the Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil’s request to approve the nationality bill to reinstate nationality to immigrants, stressing that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has always supported the said law. He clarified however, that the matter needs technical revisions within the Parliamentary Commissions that have begun studying this law and a sub-committee has been set up for that purpose. To be noted that the “My Nationality is a Right for me and my Family campaign” stated in a press conference held last April its opposition to any nationality law which will deny the right of Lebanese women to transmit their nationality to their family. (An Nahar, As Safir, 1,4 and 5 May 2015)

For the sixth consecutive year, migrant women domestic workers (MWDW) celebrated Labor Day yesterday along with civil society organizations. Demonstrators who numbered several hundreds rallied in Wata Musaytbeh early Sunday morning and headed towards Hamra Street where a cultural festival was held at an empty parking lot. Workers from different nationalities carried banners calling for the end of trafficking, the “kafala” system, for serious investigations into suicide incidents and for the right to form a trade union. In the same context, Al Akhbar newspaper published a feature on the newly-founded trade union for migrant domestic workers in which it estimated that the total number of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon ranges between 150 and 220 thousand out of a total workforce of 1.45 million people. The newspaper reported that the main obstacle facing MWDW today lies in the Labor Minister Sajaan Azzi’s rejection to legalize the ‘General Union of Cleaning workers and Social Care’ in Lebanon as officially named in the official registration request submitted to the Ministry. In doing so, the paper went on to say, Azzi is denying women workers their right to association which is recognized by international conventions. Azzi’s rejection is based on the double-ground that domestic workers are not covered by the provisions of the Labor Law, and therefore, are not entitled to establish a trade union, and so are non-Lebanese workers. In response to Azzi's arguments, lawyer Nizar Saghieh told Al Akhbar that denying this category of workers this right is and arbitrary act since the current law indicates that they are not entitled to the exact same provisions for founding a trade union as stipulated by current legislations. However, he added, this should in no case deny them altogether the right of forming an association or a trade union to defend their own rights, while noting that the newly founded trade union also includes Lebanese workers. (As Safir, Al Akhbar, 4 May 2015)

On the occasion of the International Young Women’s Day in the field of information and communications technology, Cisco, the US pioneer company in networking programs and devices, organized two discussion panels in the framework of its program ‘Girls Power Tech’. The two events which took place at Cisco’s Beirut offices and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Tripoli, aimed at opening the doors to young women to pursue a career in ICT. To this end, Cisco invited 50 girl students from a number of schools of Beirut and Tripoli, namely, Azem, Al Iman Islamic school- Abi Samra, Al Inaya Al Ahliyya, hadadeen public high school, Al Islah Islamic school, Rawdat Al Fayhaa, the Evangelical school, all in Tripoli and the International School in Beirut. Cisco’s Regional Director for the Middle East region, Nivine Qadi, explained that the ICT sector in Lebanon is experiencing an unprecedented vigor, adding that the above initiative allows young women to learn about the existing job prospects, assist them in building their skills and prepare them to become entrepreneurs in the domain. (L’Orient Le Jour, 29 April 2015)

The Ministry of Social Affairs organized in collaboration with IWSAW at the LAU and with the National Commission on Lebanese Women (NCLW) a seminar on women in government. The event was held at the LAU Business School within the framework of the project entitled strengthening the participation of women in local governance and development, a project which is funded by the Italian Embassy Development Cooperation Bureau. The event included a short documentary on the importance of a wider participation of women in parliament and in decision making positions. The seminar was attended by the representative of the Italian ambassador and the Bureau of the Italian Development Coordination, Luca Portacoloni, Afifeh Sayed, representing NCLW, and several CSOs, media people and students. The national coordinator of the project, Zeina Abdel Khalek, noted that the Lebanese Parliament hosted only 10 women throughout its 61 years of existence whilst the participation of women in local governance does not exceed 4.5%. She also added that Lebanese political parties often entrust women with the responsibility of managing political campaigns but fail in nominating them as candidates. Portacoloni spoke about the obstacles women face in participating in political life such as gender based stereotypes, and how to strike a balance between work life and family. A discussion then ensued during which many of the participants called for a reform of educational curricula and for mainstreaming women’s issues in educational programs. (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, 30 April 2015)

Migrant Women Domestic Workers in Lebanon celebrate Workers’ Day for the sixth year running in collaboration with CSOs. This year, participants will organize a march that will start in Wata Mseytbeh on Sunday May 3rd and will conclude with a cultural event in Hamra. The theme of this year’s event is a demand for the recognition of the MWDW’s trade union. (As Safir, 30 April 2015)

Al Akhbar daily published today that a 12-year old Bangladeshi girl entered Lebanon with false identity papers so that she can work as a domestic maid in the country. The newspaper reported that the girl who did not receive a salary since she started working and who was subjected to abuse for 5 whole years, fled two days ago the house of her employer as they forgot to lock the doors of the apartment. Commenting on the subject, chief of the migrant domestic workers in Caritas- Migrants Center, Hissen Sayah, told Al Akhbar that the initial bone test showed that the girl is 17 which proves that she entered Lebanon when she was only 12, noting that the father of the victim forged her papers to facilitate her entry. Sayah said Caritas reported to Labor Minister Sajaan Azzi who immediately opened an investigation into the incident, adding that the Organization will take the case to court. For his part, an informed source at the Labor Ministry revealed to the newspaper that “a team of three inspectors familiar with the file are probing the case”. The source added that “the problem emanates from the sending country and the parties accountable include the Bangladeshi Government, the recruiting agency in Lebanon and the employer who agreed to employ her.” Likewise, the President of the Syndicate of the Owners of Workers Recruitment Agencies, Hisham Burji, said, “There are many such cases where parents forge the identity papers of their child worker;” while denying outright any responsibility on the part of the agency or the employer. (Al Akhbar, 29 April 2015)

For the first time in the MENA region, the ‘UF Concepts’ company, the creator of ‘Uf Shou Lazioz’ initiative, organized the local version of the international event entitled: “Walk a Mile in her Shoes”. The walk was held at the Water Front City on Corniche Dbayyeh and was held in support of Kafa and under its auspices.  The idea behind the event is for men to wear high heel shoes and walk a mile to express their rejection of all forms of violence against women and to raise awareness on this societal issue. Some hundreds of women and men partook in this event including scouts and civil society organizations. Around 100 men wore the event’s red shoes including celebrities such as Lebanese actor Badih Abou Shakra. Director Jaques Maroun and Bruno Tabbal. The event also included musical shows as well as a blood donation in cooperation with the association ‘Donner Sang Compter’. (Al Mustaqbal, 28 April 2015)