Other news

Kafa released a statement the day before yesterday condemning the stonewalling of the Urgent Matters Court in Aley in a matter involving a woman awaiting a protection order to safeguard her and her children from her husband's repeated acts of violence.  The matter has been dragging since last July and, according to Kafa's statement, the Court has requested the woman in question to procure a number of documents which necessitate protracted time to be issued thus postponing the matter indefinitely despite its urgent nature.  Kafa's statement concluded by challenging the logic of such postponement in an issue that news swift attention of no more than 48 hours and which is dragging for more than 3 months.
Source: Al- Akhbar 8 October 2014

The launch of Kafa's latest campaign last month which focuses on the sex industry in Lebanon and which was covered in WEEPortal on September 16th 2014, instigated several articles in local newspapers. The latest was an article published yesterday in the Al Akhbar newspaper tackling the ways in which judges and investigators deal with sex workers.
According to the writer, sex work in Lebanon is considered to be a vice crime and law enforcement extends large efforts to arrest sex workers as they are considered criminals, adding that in most cases, law enforcement does not investigate the possibility of trafficking and coercion.  In this context, the author referred to a study produced by Nizar Saghieh and Ghida Frangieh entitled “Prostitution is a moral crime or an exploitation crime?” that was launched by Kafa in 2013. The study indicated that the law is enforced selectively on the marginalised sex workers, but that a blind eye is turned on the various forms of illicit organisations of sex work, and on trafficking in women across borders for the purpose of sex work. Moreover, the study stressed that clients do not have any legal liability whereas sex workers are given harsh sentences against a background of superficial investigations which fail to take into consideration their vulnerable social and legal background.

Source: Al-Akhbar 7 October 2014

As Safir newspaper published last Saturday an article by Sheikh Youssef Ali Al Sbeity, a follower of the late Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadellallah commenting the draft law to regulate early marriages in Lebanon, which was submitted recently by MP Ghassan Mokhaiber in collaboration with the NCLW and which was posted on the WEEPortal on 30 September 2014. Sbeity noted that the draft law does not meet the expectations of civil society activists, adding that he favors the full banning of early marriage altogether especially in the case of girls. Sbeity based his arguments on his social and religious experience and highlighted the negative impact of early marriage.  He noted that some old women who went through early marriages confided in him saying that they regretted it, since they did not consent to it. Sbeity called for a law that would set the minimum age of marriage at 18 years especially since there was nothing in religious texts which prevented this practice.  He also added that 18 years is the legal age of consent when a marriage is contracted by choice. Sbeity insisted that the approval of the child's guardian is in no way sufficient and that it is the duty of guardians to seek the best interests of the child rather than to waive her/his responsibilities.
Sbeity concluded by emphasizing that Lebanon needs a reform in various personal status laws used by religious courts especially in cases of marriage where laws must be enacted to safeguard the right of women in cases of divorce and in terms of child custody.  He underscored that “Fatwas” just based on the moral authority of the clergy were no longer adequate and there was a need to formulate new binding laws that are compatible with the Sharia.

Source: Al-Safir 4 October 2014

Students of Tripoli secondary public school for girls organized last week, a sit-in in the school’s courtyard, to protest the decision of inspection board which rejected the earlier decision issued by schools administration to increase the average of 22 students from 9.4 to 9.5, in order to allow them to move up a class. The administration explained that it took that decision in view of the hazardous location of the school in the area of clashes between Bab Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, adding that frequent clashes resulted in regular and prolonged disruptions of classes during the previous academic year. For its part, the school’s parents’ commission issued a statement, in which it supported the claim of students and demanded justice. The statement also pointed out to the recent decision by the government to issue unconditional affidavits to all baccalaureate students in Lebanon without consideration of their actual performance. The girl students decided to escalate actions if their demands were not met, while threatening to resort to the full suspension of classes in their school.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 3 October 2014

The Minister of Social Affair, Rashid Derbas, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UNICEF representative, Anna Maria Laurini, aiming at implementing MoSA national plan to protect women and children in Lebanon.  The signing took place during an official ceremony held the day before yesterday at the Serail with the participation of EU Ambassador, Angelina Eichhorst.
The plan will be implemented during an 18 month period with funding support from the European Union and will include the provision of quality services for women and children at risk especially from gender based violence. The programme will also provide psycho-social support and basic health care to some 198,000 children and youth.  It will also offer awareness and information on existing services to some 410,000 individuals of various age groups and from different communities.  The plan is also expected to target service providers and therefore will seek to building the capacities of MoSA staff both centrally and locally, thus covering some 57 MoSA centers, in addition to those of partner CSOs and local community structures.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 2 October 2014

Kafa Violence and Exploitation issued yesterday a statement in which it rejected the new draft law to regulate underage marriage in Lebanon and which was submitted recently by MP Ghassan Moukhaiber in coordination with the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW). Kafa called for the withdrawal of this law petition given its contradiction with the concept of human rights.  The statement noted that the draft law supports confessional authority and provides a legal justification for marrying 9 or 12 year old girls.  The statement added that it is inadmissible for any legal or religious or family authority to decide on marriage especially when it regards underage individuals, indicating that any disregard of the concept of consent will transform marriage into a rape.  The statement concluded by asking how is it possible for the NCLW or for MP Moukhaiber not to realize that consent is not real when it concerns minors.  The statement rejected the argument which states that regulating underage marriage will actually protect minor girls.

The WEEPortal published the above-mentioned draft law previously, on 30/9/2014, under the title: "A draft law to regulate minor marriages in Lebanon and to penalise offenders"
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Akhbar 2 October 2014

Al Akhbar newspaper published a report about films participating in the current Beirut International Film Festival.  Many of these films reflect the Arab meaning given to masculinity and femininity whilst several dissect the construct of Arab communities and their common problems.  The report focused on three movies.  The first is entitled “al Daleel” and is about a man who refuses to admit his sterility even if this would liberate him from his problem because this will strip him of his masculinity in the macho Algerian society.  The second film, “al Shallat” tells the story of a young man who used to ride his motorcycle in Tunis and cut women's bottoms with a blade.  His ghost still stirs fear amongst Tunisian women to this date.  According to the movie director, a woman, many young men who came to the casting wanted passionately to play this role.  The third movie entitled “More than 2 hours” talks about the predicament of a young woman in Iran who risks dying from hemorrhage because the law prevents the hospital from carrying out a surgery for her without the presence of her parents.  She simultaneously faces the danger of death should the doctors discover that she is not a virgin.
To be noted that the 14th edition of the Beirut International Film Festival kicked off last Tuesday and will go on until 9 October.

Source: Al-Akhbar 1 October 2014

A press conference was convened the day before yesterday by Bobolink to kick off the Pink Stands 4 campaign which seeks to raise awareness on the dangers of breast cancer.  The Press Conference was held with the participation of Professor Naji al Saghir of the Lebanese Association for Breast Cancer Prevention.  The annual agenda of the Campaign was announced as it seeks to raise women's awareness on the importance of carrying out regular medical exams.  Professor Saghir called on women, especially those over forty years, to replace fear by early detection tests starting by carrying out self examinations regularly in addition to a mammography every six months.  He added that the Campaign will cover all areas in Lebanon especially remote areas.  He further noted that the therapy is not expensive and is subsidized by the Ministry of Public Health, and concluded by saying that women have no excuse not to carry out these tests.

Source: Al-Diyar 1 October 2014

Tele-Lumière and Noursat cable TVs will launch tonight a new affiliated TV channel, “Maryam”, a women TV station which will provide women with a platform to express their views.  According to the channel’s programmes director, Sanaa Riachi, Tele Lumiere chose to call this new channel “Maryam” because Maryam is a woman figure in both the Christianity and Islam and is a role model for resilience and for standing up for justice.  She added that the aim of Maryam TV is to raise awareness and knowledge amongst women through providing them with knowledge about their “specificities” and their role, in order to enable them to distinguish between traditions that bind them and true values.  She also added that various cultural aspects will be addressed so as to contribute to a human renaissance in both East and West through women. Riachi, who is expecting positive feedback regarding this initiative, noted that programmes will help women become stronger so that they are able to support themselves, their families and their communities. To be noted that Maryam TV will broadcast throughout the Arab region, in Africa, Europe and the rest of the world on NILESAT 11177

Source: Al-Nahar 1 October 2014

The Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Commission for Human Rights, MP Ghassan Mokhayber, convened a press conference yesterday to announce that he submitted a law petition to regulate the marriage of minors.  This new law petition targets all such marriages contracted in Lebanon and not only marriages contracted by Lebanese.  It seeks to ensure that minors are not being coerced into marriages and will penalize clergy who contract such marriages and parents who facilitate them and ignore the orders of the judge (as the law requires the approval of juvenile court judge to contract such marriage).  The new law requires that the judge hears the minor before a marriage is allowed.  Mokhayber noted that this law petition follows the persistent work of women organizations and had received inputs from experts in the field.  He added that the petition will strengthen individual freedoms since minors who marry are often coerced to do so.

Source: Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar, Al Arabi Al Jadid, 30 September 2014

Following is the full text of the law petition which has been published on the As Safir website.