NGO exhibition of communication material on women’s prisons @ UNESCO

The Rassemblement Democratique des Femmes Libanaise, Dar el Amal, Caritas Liban-Migrants centre and Diakonia jointly organised an exhibition of communication material on women’s prisons within the framework of their project entitled “Reinforcing policies and the practices of human rights in women prisons in Lebanon” which is funded by the European Union.  The event was held the day before yesterday at the UNESCO palace and aimed at mobilizing the media on issues related to women’s prisons as a human rights issue and for the purpose of improving their situation.
The organizing NGOs called for the formation of a higher independent national council for prisons which would include representative of relevant ministries which are entrusted with the provision of services to protect the rights of women prisoners and rehabilitate the,.  The group also called for setting up a national machinery to visit prisons in compliance with Lebanon’s commitment to the UPR (clause 5-81) notably the 16th session for human rights.
The project coordinator at the RDFL, Manar Zeiater, explained the objectives of this activity as well as the training and competition which preceded it to prepare the material.  She noted that a jury, which evaluated and selected the material, included lawyers, judges, journalists and human rights activists.  She also added that the material will be sent to the Ministry of Interior to be exhibited and will be shown in the media and via the project’s website http://www.lebanonprisons.org and social media pages.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal 8 May 2014