By The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri called on the country’s young people
to take the lead in abolishing sectarianism in Lebanon and promoting the role
of women in public affairs, in a special Parliament session he chaired Sunday
on the occasion of Universal Children’s Day.
The speaker urged youth to work to realize the demands of Arab
protesters who have ousted their autocratic rulers. “The people want to abolish
sectarianism ... want a modern electoral law ... want to lower the voting age
and increase the participation of youth,” he said, echoing their chants.
He also encouraged them to enhance the role of women in the
political, economic, social and cultural fields.
Universal Children’s Day, celebrated annually on Nov. 20, was
first proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954 to encourage
states to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children.
Dressed in white, 128 students took turns posing questions on
health, social, educational and cultural affairs during the session, which was
organized by the Social Affairs Ministry’s Higher Council for Children.
Berri lamented that democracy “as a way of life” is missing from
school curriculum in Lebanon, and expressed his hope that Education Minister
Hasan Diab would take up the issue.
Berri also called on Parliament’s Women and Children’s Affairs
Committee, Parliament officials in charge of parliamentary development and the
United Nations Development Program to establish a project for middle-school
students to increase their knowledge of parliament and its role.
“I demand the creation of a Web page for children so that they
can always pose their questions [about Parliament] and not only on ...
[certain] occasions,” he said.
In attendance were Prime Minister Najib Mikati, first lady Wafaa
Sleiman, the speaker’s wife Randa, who heads the Lebanese Welfare Association
for the Handicapped, Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour, Foreign Minister
Adnan Mansour, Kesrouan MP Gilbert Zwein, who chairs Parliament’s Women and
Children’s Affairs committee, and other officials.
Mikati told children that he dreamt of being a lawmaker and a
prime minister when he was a child.
“Children, I call on you to dream and to have ambitions so that
you reach your full potential.
“But for a dream to be fulfilled, it needs several elements,
mainly values ... I call on you to adhere to ... honesty and religious and humanitarian
values,” the prime minister added.
Mikati highlighted the importance of education for success.
“Don’t be afraid of taking the hard road because your choices
are clear,” he said.
He also urged children to draw lessons from the mistakes of
current officials and not to give up.
“Lebanon is rich in diversity and coexistence, which we have to
preserve, we have to all cooperate to turn the dream into efforts and
achievement,” he added.
Hanadi, a disabled child, asked the lawmakers and ministers
present when disabled students would be allowed to join their able-bodied peers
at school.
“When a state is built in Lebanon,” Berri answered. For his
part, Abu Faour expressed his hope that a decree stipulating that all schools
be accessible for disabled students would be issued on Dec. 3, which is the
International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Salah Hsaiban, who has cancer, brought up the issue of free
health care for all Lebanese.
“Do you know that my treatment costs $40,000 per year, and that
if it wasn’t for the free treatment at the Children’s Cancer Center ... my
parents would have been forced to deprive my siblings of basic necessities to
afford my treatment?”
Berri replied by saying that the demand was “important” and
needed to be fulfilled.
At the end of
the session, Abu Faour, Mikati, Sleiman and Zwein handed Berri a draft law to
strengthen punishment for child abuse and a second to protect the rights of
homeless children as well as juveniles who commit crimes.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Nov-21/154694-berri-urges-youths-to-abolish-sectarianism.ashx#axzz1eGNODTwV
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