Future workshop in Beirut on women rights and international conventions

The Future Movement Women’s Sector organized last Saturday, in its premises at Kantari in Beirut, a training session on the rights of women as stipulated by international conventions. The holding of the workshop came as a first step towards the organisation of a wider gender-related workshop planned in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation. In this respect, the Sector’s General Coordinator, Afifa Sayyid underlined the importance of raising awareness on various women-related legal concepts, as well as on women’s struggle to eradicate all forms of discrimination or violence against them in order to achieve real equality at all levels. For her part, Jumana Merhi, who facilitated the sessions, stigmatized the reservations by the Lebanese authorities regarding Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Merhi, who is the coordinator of the Arab Institute for Human Rights, also presented various internationally recognised mechanisms that support women’s political participation, and stressed the importance of involvement in political parties and engagement in public affairs as key steps towards reinforcing women’s participation in political life. (Al Mustaqbal, September, 5, 2015)