Other news

The Youth Renaissance Association organized last week in the Joomeh area of Akkar a lecture on the role of Muslim women in society and in married life.  The event was implemented within the framework of the educational programme of the women committee of Dar el Fatwa in North Lebanon. The lecturer, Maha al Fawwal, spoke about the role of Muslim women in their societies and “their duties vis-à-vis their god, themselves and their families according to the Koran which provided guidance about women’s role to ensure a happy and balanced life where women are able to perform all their duties no matter what are their circumstances”.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 21 July 2014

Rola Yaakoob’s family is still awaiting the decision of Accusatory body regarding the appeal it submitted last January 25th in response to the decision of Judge Alaa al-Khatib to release her husband initially accused of killing her.  Although the legal period to respond to such appeal is 15 days, judge Rida Raad of the Tripoli court has not yet responded.
Given the fact that no new developments have taken place since then, Kafa released a statement last Saturday demanding justice for Rola and her family and asking about the difficulties that have made it impossible for judges to address this appeal.  Kafa reiterated its continued support to the case of Rola Yaakoob and further reiterated the questions it had raised as to why the investigation has consistently overlooked hard evidence in this matter. For her part, Rola Yaakoob’s mother asked the judiciary to be fair and address the request for appeal.  She further asked as to the reasons why there were too many discrepancies between the reports of the forensic doctors and the affidavit of Rola’s neighbor’s who had taken her to the hospital.  She reiterated her demand to clarify all matters related to the murder of her daughter and re-confirmed that Rola’s husband caused her death.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal 14 July 2014

The Municipality of Dhoor el Chuwayr – Ayn el Syndyaneh organized last Saturday under the auspices of the Minister of Education a special day for women.  This event was part of the annual festivals and was held with the participation of many associations active in this field.  The event aimed at highlighting the creativity of Lebanese women in various professional sectors as well as their inactive involvement in cultural and social life and their role in educating the new generations. A ceremony was organized for this occasion and included a lecture on women’s involvement in the armed forces and a lecture by the National Commission for Lebanese Women.  Women pioneers were also recognized for their achievements namely late Professor Rania Abou Khair, May Khalil on the women & sports category, Vera Yammine on the women & politics, Maguy bou Ghoson on women and art, Lina Jebran on women & will, Marya Sawaya & Sabah Mouja3ess on women & education, Michline Mouja3ess on women & public affairs, and Hayfa Shedraoui on women & immigration.
Source: Al-Akhbar 14 July 2014

The Daily Star newspaper published a report about the limited participation of Lebanese women in politics, pointing out that while 51 percent of Lebanon’s 3.5 million voters are women, only 20 percent of polling officials are women, according to UNDP’s Lebanese Electoral Assistance Program (LEAP) data, which is working alongside the Interior Ministry to establish more women poll officials for the next Lebanese parliamentary elections scheduled for November 2014.
Richard Chambers, the Chief Technical Adviser at LEAP, said that parties from all across the political spectrum acknowledge the need to include more women in Lebanese politics, but agreeing what steps to take toward that end have proved more difficult. He added that establishing quotas in Lebanon may be a good goal to have, but it is important to work simultaneously toward integrating women in other phases of the electoral process.
For his part, Said Sanadiki, a program adviser for LEAP explained that a number of temporary measures can be implemented to motivate parties to put forward female candidates. Based on that, he pointed out that the his programme is organizing a five-day training course next week, to be attended by representatives from six parties from both political blocs, the March 8 and March 14 groups, in order to address some of these issues, and in order to suggest measures that will be adopted so as to ensure higher female participation in November’s elections.
Source: The Daily Star 8 July 2014

The movement of independent Lebanese women activists issued a statement condemning the continuing discrimination amongst Lebanese women in relation to child custody age.  The statement notes that at a time when civil and rights based campaigns have made headway within a number of religions family courts such as with the Anglican and Greek orthodox churches as well as the Sunni community where steps have been taken to increase child custody age to 12 years, women affiliated to other sects, notably Shiite women, are still suffering in their religious courts who refuse to respond to the campaign for lifting child custody ages within Shiite courts as well as other campaigns seeking equality on this front. The coordinator of this movement, Ruweida Mrooeh called for a positive gesture from the Higher Shia Council to consider lifting child custody age from 8 to 12 years as in the case of other sects especially since the clergy visited by the campaign activists emphasized that Ijtihad is still possible and some texts may be revised so as to secure women’s rights.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 7 July 2014

The Makhzumi Foundation organized for the second year running its Ramadaniat festival at the Biel venue under the auspices of Ms. Randa Nabih Berri and Ms. Lama Tammam Salam.  The bazaar included a number of art work and handcrafts by Lebanese artists and artisans and with the [participation of a large number of pavilions for embassies as well as social organizations. In her opening address, Mai Makhzoumi highlighted that this event aims at helping to forget the latest dramatic events and encourage dialogue and interaction amongst the Lebanese of various religious and social backgrounds through gathering them in the same place and celebrating the Ramadan spirit.  She confirmed that Makhzoumi Foundation will persevere with its social and humanitarian mission.
Ms. Berri also gave a keynote address commending the Makhzoumi Foundation for its efforts to unite the Lebanese in general, and Muslim in particular in a spirit of joy and love.  She also commended the bazaar as a social and cultural experiment and added that the Makhzoumi Foundation offered a space for joint work during these difficult times.

Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Diyar 7 July 2014

RDFL organized in collaboration with the Lebanese Forces women branch a training workshop on strengthening women’s political participation.  The training was held in Meerab and extended over two days and was attended by women from various political parties.  The event included an encounter with the head of the Lebanese Forces, Mr. Samir Geagea who spoke about women’s rights and the importance of women in Lebanese society.  Geagea said that the most important support for women are women themselves, their persistence, their decision making and their initiatives rather than wait on men to give them their rights.  Geagea affirmed the need to support women to enter politics and making more efforts to highlight women’s position and their potentials to take on leading political roles.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 4 July 2014

The Lebanon Central Bank launched at its headquartyers in Hamra last week the “Green Rooftops project” in collaboration with CEDRO-UNDP.  Central Bank issued a statement saying that this pilot initiative was funded by Central Bank and the UNDP which share is actually originated from the Spanish government and channeled via the Lebanon Recovery Fund.  The statement added that a local company designed the green rooftop with the help of international experts.  The rooftop surface total area is 834 square meters and was planted with vegetation that is both aesthetic and creates an isolation which helps decrease energy consumption by 10%,
The governor of the Lebanon Central Bank, Riad Salameh, noted that the Central Bank is seeking to introduce a financing programme which will develop the environmental sector in Lebanon using an economic efficiency approach as this sector can help to create new employment opportunities especially since it represents 2-3% of the total GNP.  Salameh added that this sector will have a direct impact on all other economic sectors notably tourism.  Salameh further added that Lebanon needs to import USD 6 billion worth of energy per year to cover local demand and thus, this project can save up to 10 to 20% of demand, will improve the balance of payments considerably, will also contribute to improving the environment and to reducing health expenditures.

Source: Al-Diyar 3 Juy 2014

The Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace (LFPCP), Diakonia and the Tyre municipality organized a training workshop entitled “women’s participation in local decision making”.  The event was held at the King’s Historical Castle in the city of Tyre.  The workshop extended over 2 days with the participation of 30 women active in civil society.  The programme began by a presentation of the workshop programme by the coordinator Rabih Kays who insisted on the importance of reaching practical and local recommendation which would focus on changing people’s behavior in their daily life and especially in terms of supporting civil peace.  The vice-president of the Tyre municipality, Salah Sabraoui, noted that the municipal council supports all activities that strengthen women’s role as this will have a positive repercussion on society at large.
Source: Al-Nahar 3 July 2014
 

The new law to protect family members from family violence is making its way to implementation.  Yesterday, a first verdict was rendered by the criminal judge in Baabda, Ali Hussein Ftuni, who sentenced Tamara Harissi’s husband with 9 months of imprisonment in addition to a penalty of LBP 20 million in favor of the plaintiff and in compensation for damages incurred.

Tamara Harissi had come to the police station in Ouzai covered in blood following an attack by her husband and deposited a complaint against her husband.  She also complained against him for an attempted murder by her and requesting compensation for damages.

On another related vein, the police arrested yesterday M.A. (born in 1963) from Ras El Nabeh, following a complaint lodged by his wife saying that he allegedly beat hear and threatened her with a weapon.  However, the wife retracted after her husband was arrested.  The latter remains under arrest for possession of illegal arms.

Similarly, the General Directorate of the Internal Social Security announced the arrest of Z.A. (born in 1990), who confessed to killing his older sister S.A (born in 1982- of Lebanese nationality), and following the discovery of the body of the young woman.  After initiating immediate investigation, the intelligence branch arrested the brother of Z.A who first said that he killed his sister by mistake but later confessed to having killed her after seeing a text message on her phone which may have suggested that she did something to “sully her honor”.

(Source: Al- Akhbar and Annahar 2 July  and Al- Akhbar and Assafir 1 July 2014)