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The civil registry officer of Hermel recorded yesterday the civil marriage contracted in Lebanon by Nidal Darwich and Kholoud Sukkariyeh and after perusing their documents including their official IDs as well as the official endorsement and reference by the Minister of Interior and Municipalities Marwan Charbel (number 2840 and dated 24 April 2013) which allows the couple to record their marriage in the Hermel civil registry.  The couple also submitted the decision of the higher consultative council of the Ministry of Justice (reference 1015 dated 3 April 2013) and their marriage contract endorsed by the public notary.  Following the recording of the marriage, the civil registry officer provided the couple with the official family record indicating that they have contracted a civil marriage in Lebanon.

This is the first civil marriage to have been recorded in Lebanon based on the approval of both the Minister of Interior and Municipalities and the higher consultative council of the Ministry of Justice.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Akhbar 9 May 2013

More than 100 women, and representative of major media outlets in Lebanon participated in the Nationality Campaign General Assembly that was held on January 4th.  The event was organised to review the Campaign's activities, achievements and challenges encountered during 2012, to celebrate the graduation of concerned women from a series of leadership and political participation training workshops organised jointly with the Women Learning Partnership and to plan for the Campaign's activities in 2013.

The General Assembly noted that 2013 calls for stepping up activities and pressure especially in view of the upcoming parliamentary elections.   A small working group with representatives from all the regions was set up to follow-up the planning and implementation of various advocacy actions.

Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Akhbar 5 January 2013

Al-Nahar newspaper published an article on the “Lebanese Women Council” quoting president Jamal Hermes Ghabreel on its role and achievements, while also reflecting the views of women activists. According to Ghabreel, the council’s major role is to act to cleanse the Lebanese legislations from any form of discrimination against women , and to combat violence against women, while ensuring that Lebanon abides with international laws and right conventions so that the women are able to fully practice their rights at all levels; local, regional and international. Furthermore, the council aims at building women’s capacities to get involved in decision making at economic, social, educational and levels.
As for the achievements, Ghabreel pointed out the council’s various historical successes in both legal and development sector which were achieved in collaboration with other associations, while referring to women’s right to vote and run for elections, equality in inheritance between men and women for Christians, in addition to women’s right to choose their nationality after marriage. Currently the council is focusing on drawing plans and strategies for achieving new success in right issues, for putting in place new mechanisms to tackle both rural and urban women issues, and to draw the youth population into support women’s demands.
On the other hand, the president of The National Committee for the Follow up of Women's Issues, Dr. Fahmieh Sharafeddin, criticized the council’s current orientation, and ways of operating, since in her opinion the functioning of the council is based on political and sectarian lines, and because it was no able to boost its membership. She added that the present realities of women in Lebanon call for a radical change in laws and vision so as to challenge patriarchal cultural traditions. Moreover, the president of the Lebanese Democratic Women Gathering, Joumana Merhi, considered that the council’s vision must be broadened to include all human right issues and to achieve full equality between men and women.  Merhi also indicated that the problem lies in the council’s structure and the approach of its members that shun away from tackling personal and family law issues which are largely religiously based.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the Lebanese Women Council was established on the 6th of November 1952, after the merger of the League of Lebanese Women Associations, set up in 1920 with the Lebanese Women Solidarity group, formed in 1947. Currently the council includes 170 recognized women group providing various services such as caring, health, rehabilitation, education, environment, and supporting women’s rights.

Source: Al-Nahar 4 January 2013

Al-Safir newspaper carried a report stating that the Islamic Charee3a Council had put an end last December to the phenomena called “husbands kidnapping their children” A new law amendment was introduced after a request from the Family Rights Network and is now in effect and deals with cases falling during the period between the divorce and issuance of the mother’s custody verdict. The Islamic Council introduced the amendments on D clause of the 22 decree thus now stating: the father or any guardian is forbidden from traveling with minor kids, during the custody period without an official of judicial permission from the mother.
This amendment effectively puts an end to legal complications that appeared after a previous decision to raise the age level of mothers’ custody of girls and boys to 12 years old within the context of Sunni family law. In addition, it brought effective equality between men and women regarding the official authorisation for children before traveling. Nonetheless, this equality is still somewhat limited to the 12 years custody period, since a mother still needs the father’s permission to travel with her kids until they turn 18 years old.
For her part, Iqbal Doughan, president of Family Rights Network, welcomed those amendments despite their limitations, indicating that the network will continue advocating for raising the age limit to 18 years, so that it becomes in line with present regulations in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria.

Source: Al-Safir 4 January 2013