Al Mustaqbal- 80% of Palestinian students are deprived of universities, November 08 , 2016

اعتبر المشاركون في ورشة العمل الطالبية التي نظمها الفرع الجامعي في اتحاد الشباب الديموقراطي الفلسطيني «أشد» في مخيم مار الياس - بيروت ، ان «التحديات والعراقيل التي تحول دون استكمال مئات الطلاب لمرحلة التعليم الجامعي في لبنان تتمثل في تهرب وكالة «الاونروا» من مسؤوليتها تجاه هؤلاء الطلاب، ولعل اقتصار عدد المنح الجامعية المقدمة هذا العام من الوكالة والتي لم يتجاوز عددها 40 منحة، يؤشر الى استمرار سياسة الاهمال من ادارة «الاونروا» تجاه الطلبة الفلسطينيين«، معتبرين ان «الازمة هذا العام تفاقمت بشكل اكبر مع اعلان صندوق الرئيس عباس عن شروطه الجديدة على الطلاب الذين يحق لهم الافادة من مساعداته، وأهمها أن يكون معدل الطالب في الثانوية العامة فوق 65 في المئة الى جانب ضرورة حصوله على معدل 2.5 من 4 في الدراسة الجامعية، ومن خلال التدقيق في أرقام الطلاب الذين تنطبق عليهم هذه الشروط، يتبين أن عددهم لا يزيد على 160 طالباً من أصل 1500 طالب، ما يعني حرمان أكثر من 80 في المئة من الطلاب الفلسطينيين الجدد الناجحين في الشهادة الثانوية».

ودعا المشاركون « الجهات والمرجعيات الفلسطينية في لبنان الى التحرك السريع لانقاذ مستقبل الطلاب بحيث لم يبق لشبابنا وطلابنا سوى سلاح العلم«. 

وكان تحدث في الورشة رئيس الاتحاد يوسف احمد والمسؤول عن الطلبة الجامعيين الفلسطينيين في بيروت محمود الشولي حيث وجه الطلاب نداء الى «الرئيس عباس وقيادة منظمة التحرير للتحرك من اجل رفع الغبن عن الطلاب والعمل على الغاء الشروط الجديدة التي وضعتها ادارة صندوق محمود عباس«.

Source & Link : Al Mustaqbal

The Daily Star- Lebanese women rally against public school discrimination, September 8 , 2016

BEIRUT: A dozen Lebanese mothers Thursday held a demonstration in Beirut's UNESCO area against the Education Ministry's treatment of children whose fathers are not Lebanese.

Protesters argued that their children should be treated like Lebanese citizens when registering for school "because they are Lebanese born and raised."

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab issued a memo earlier this month ordering registration for Lebanese children to begin Sept. 13, and for non-Lebanese children on Sept. 14.

He also indicated that the number of foreign children at public schools should not exceed 50 percent of the total number of students.

Lebanese law forbids Lebanese women from passing their nationality on to their spouses and children, which has grave consequences for children whose fathers are not Lebanese citizens. Children of such unions are legally viewed as foreigners, even though the majority of them were born in Lebanon.

Supporters of this policy argue that Lebanon’s sectarian balance would change if women are allowed to pass their nationality to their children and spouses.

Many Lebanese women are married to Palestinian refugees, who are mostly Sunni.

But protesters said that the fact that Lebanese students get priority registration at the beginning of each school year is an act of discrimination.

They said that schools haven’t treated their children fairly during registration since the number of Syrian refugees ballooned in Lebanon.

The Lebanese government has made a commitment to educate Syrian refugee children as long as funding is available.

Karima Chebbo, who is responsible for the legal unit at "My nationality is mine and my family’s right” campaign, said that "the matter wasn't born today – it began in 2014."

"Public schools refuse to enroll the kids in accordance with the memo issued by the Education Minister," Chebbo said.

Instead, they are being placed on a waiting list.

Lebanese women have the right to "educate their children in their [mother] country," she continued. It is their "most basic right to register their children in public schools.

Source & Link : The Daily Star

Naharnet- Murder Charge for U.S. Man in Slaying of Lebanese Neighbor, August 24 , 2016

U.S. prosecutors have charged a Tulsa man with first-degree murder and committing a hate crime in the killing of his Lebanese neighbor -- a culmination of what authorities said was the man's violent feud with the family that spanned several years and included a regular barrage of racial insults and personal confrontations.
Stanley Majors, 61, was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and threatening a violent act in the Aug. 12 fatal shooting of 37-year-old Khalid Jabara. The hate crime charge is a misdemeanor under Oklahoma law and accuses Majors of intimidating and harassing Jabara and his mother, Haifa Jabara, "because of race, color, religion, ancestry and national origin," according to court papers filed Tuesday by prosecutors.
Majors marked at least the 17th case since 2008 where Tulsa County prosecutors filed a hate crime charge, according to court records. The cases include the 2012 Easter weekend shooting deaths of three black residents. Alvin Watts, who is white, and Jake England, who said he was Cherokee Indian, pleaded guilty to the killings in 2013 and were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
"The death of Khalid Jabara is tragic and our sympathies are with his family," Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said in a statement Tuesday. Majors is scheduled for arraignment in district court on Wednesday. An Associated Press message left for Majors' attorney was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Majors spent years in conflict with the Jabara family, often hurling epithets such as "filthy Lebanese," ''dirty Arabs" and "Moo-slems" at his next-door neighbors, authorities said. The Jabaras are actually Christian.
Lebanese emigrants have long been a visible part of the Oklahoma population, with many making their living as merchants, restaurateurs and grocers.
"Our parents raised us to be patriotic Americans, proud of our Lebanese heritage and our community's contributions to our country," said Jabara family spokeswoman Rebecca Abou-Chedid. "In charging Majors with a hate crime in addition to first-degree murder, the district attorney's office is making a much-needed and powerful statement that hatred and violence based on race, color, religion, ancestry and national origin has no place in our society."
Shortly after the charges were filed Tuesday, Muslim Advocates and the Arab American Institute demanded in a coalition letter presented by advocacy, civil rights, community and faith-based groups that Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett direct law enforcement authorities to conduct a "fair and thorough investigation" into Jabara's death.
"In the last year, hate crimes targeting Arabs, Muslims, and those perceived to be either have skyrocketed," Madihha Ahussain, Muslim Advocates staff attorney and lead for the Program to Counter Anti-Muslim Hate, said in the letter. "Unfortunately, there has also been a pattern of law enforcement officials minimizing the possibility that these crimes may be motivated by bigotry, sending a dangerous message that hate violence is not taken seriously."
Officer Jeanne MacKenzie, a Tulsa Police spokeswoman, said Tuesday that her agency investigates every case "to the fullest."
"We don't exclude anything or anybody by race or sexual preference or anything like that," she said.
Bartlett said he has scheduled a meeting with the city's public safety departments and the district attorney's office "to make sure we are doing everything in our power to ensure the safety of our community."
"The city stands by the Jabara family in this time of need and they will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers," the mayor said in a statement.
The alleged abuse between the neighbors escalated to the point where Haifa Jabara obtained a protective order in 2013 that required Majors to stay 300 yards away and prohibited him from possessing any firearms until 2018. Majors also had a 2009 felony conviction from California for threatening a crime with intent to terrorize.
But last year, Majors was accused of plowing his car into Khalid's mother, Haifa Jabara. She suffered a broken shoulder, among other injuries. After Majors struck her, he kept driving, prosecutors said. Officers who stopped him later reported that he was intoxicated. Prosecutors charged majors last September with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, leaving the scene of a collision violating the protective order and public intoxication.
Majors' conflict with the Jabara family also put him at odds with his husband, Stephen Schmauss, who came to befriend Khalid and thought of him as an apprentice, teaching him how to use power tools and computer circuitry. Last week, Schmauss said his husband had killed his "best friend."
Khalid Jabara's slaying drew national attention in the United States, including a mention from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who said her "heart breaks" for Jabara's loved ones.
Schmauss tried to explain Majors' comments, saying his husband is "textbook bipolar" and a diabetic who refuses to take any medication. Schmauss said anything Majors said to the Jabara family was "done under the bipolar situation."
While awaiting trial for assault and battery, a judge freed Majors from jail on $60,000 bond, overruling strong objections by Tulsa County prosecutors, who called him "a substantial risk to the public" and pleaded with the court to set a higher bond of $300,000.
Schmauss, who claims that his cellphone was shattered when Majors fired at least five rounds from a handgun inside the couple's house the day Khalid Jabara was killed, said in an e-mail that he can't attend his husband's arraignment on Wednesday because he is undergoing radiation therapy for cancer.
"My cancer is so painful, requiring me to take strong pain pills that make me sleepy," he said. "I will visit (Majors) on my feel good days in the future.
"I am saddened and may never recover from this event," he said.

Source & Link : Naharnet

The Daily Star- Oklahoma man shoots dead 'filthy Lebanese' neighbor, August 16 , 2016

BEIRUT: An Oklahoma man has shot dead his Lebanese next-door neighbor, weeks after being released on bail from prison for running over the victim's mother, U.S. media reported.

Police say the shooter, 61-year-old Stanley Vernon Majors, had a long-time fixation with his Tulsa neighbors, the Jabara family.

Last Friday, Majors shot dead 37-year-old Khalid Jabara on the victim's porch.

In a report published Tuesday, The Washington Post cited police as saying Jabara was at home speaking on the phone with a member of his family when he stepped outside.

There, he found Majors with a gun he used to kill him.

“This certainly is a tragedy ... but this is not a whodunit,” Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker told the Post.

Jabara had reportedly called police minutes before his murder to notify them that Majors was armed.

The victim's sister, Victoria, wrote on Facebook that police came by the house and told Khalid that "they could do nothing."

Majors has been arrested and will be charged with murder once he is discharged from hospital, the Post cited a police statement as saying.

Last year, Majors mowed down the victim's mother, Haifa, with his car while she was out jogging. He was quickly apprehended and confessed to that crime, but released on bail on May 25.

In a police report after that arrest, one officer wrote that when he pressed Majors over why he ran over Haifa, he remarked that "Mrs. Jabara and her family were filthy Lebanese and they throw gay people off roof tops."

The Jabara family has expressed outrage that he was granted bail.

“He (Majors) repeatedly attacked our ethnicity and perceived religion, making racist comments,” Victoria Jabara wrote on Facebook. “He often called us ‘dirty Arabs,’ ‘filthy Lebanese,’ ‘Aye-rabs,’ and ‘Mooslems.’ ”

The Jabara family is Christian.

Source & Link : The Daily Star

L'orient le jour- Une vague d’abus contre des réfugiés syriens, July 19 , 2016

À Rmeiche (Liban-Sud), la police interpelle dans la rue Abou Adnane et sa femme qui emmènent leur bébé chez le médecin. Leur tort ? Être syriens.
Invoquant des raisons de sécurité après de récents attentats-suicide près de la frontière syrienne, plusieurs municipalités libanaises ont imposé des mesures arbitraires à l'encontre des réfugiés syriens : interdiction de circuler le soir, arrestations dans la rue ou encore obligation de nettoyer les espaces publics.
Le Liban accueille plus d'un million de réfugiés syriens ayant fui la guerre dans leur pays – soit environ un quart de sa population. Beaucoup d'entre eux vivent dans des campements de fortune.
Le petit pays a été salué pour sa générosité par plusieurs organisations internationales, mais cette image est ternie par des abus qui refont surface après des attentats revendiqués par des jihadistes venus de Syrie.
« Mon bébé de 15 jours est tombé malade. Nous nous sommes précipités avec ma femme chez le médecin mais la police municipale nous a soumis à un interrogatoire dans la rue », raconte à l'AFP Abou Adnane, un nom d'emprunt.
Les policiers « nous ont suivis et attendus hors de la clinique puis se sont assurés que nous étions bien rentrés chez nous », poursuit-il.
Une autre fois, « des jeunes, ivres, se sont introduits dans une habitation pour réfugiés syriens, les frappant et les insultant », se souvient-il. Au lieu de défendre les Syriens, « la municipalité a expulsé des dizaines d'entre eux ».
Marche antiracisme
La semaine dernière, des photos partagées sur les réseaux sociaux ont montré des policiers de Amchit (caza de Jbeil) retenant des réfugiés après des descentes nocturnes dans leurs lieux de résidence.
Les réseaux sociaux se sont enflammés, avec un appel à manifester à Beyrouth, « contre l'utilisation de la peur pour cultiver le racisme contre les réfugiés syriens dans les médias et les discours politiques ».
La municipalité de Amchit a réfuté ces accusations et affirmé que « la campagne des policiers municipaux répond à une série de mesures prises par les forces de sécurité (...) pour prévenir toute action de groupes terroristes ».
Ces mesures semblent s'être renforcées après les attentats-suicide ayant secoué fin juin le village de Qaa près de la frontière syrienne. Deux Syriens, mais n'ayant pas le statut de réfugiés, ont été inculpés.
À Rmeiche, la municipalité assume également sa fermeté en appelant « les citoyens » à rapporter « toute activité suspecte » parce que, soutient-elle, « la réglementation de la présence syrienne fait partie de (ses) priorités ».
« Il y avait à Rmeiche plus de 1 000 Syriens, une présence qui dépasse notre capacité d'accueil de 6 000 habitants », explique en outre à l'AFP le président municipal Maroun Chebli.
Il a donc pris la décision de permettre uniquement aux Syriens ayant un « garant » parmi les habitants de Rmeich de rester. Aujourd'hui, il ne reste plus qu'« environ 500 réfugiés ».
Cette situation inquiète les organisations de défense des droits de l'homme.
Khairunissa Dhala, spécialiste des réfugiés à Amnesty International, se dit « préoccupée par les informations faisant part de harcèlements et d'abus physiques à l'encontre des réfugiés syriens, y compris des arrestations arbitraires et des expulsions forcées ».
Pour Matthew Saltmarsh, reponsable de la communication au Haut-Commissariat pour les réfugiés (HCR) au Liban, « il est important de se souvenir que les réfugiés syriens au Liban sont à la recherche d'un abri contre la violence dans leur propre pays ».
« Travailler gratuitement »
Dans le village de Kherbet Selm (Liban-Sud), une réfugiée, Oum Louaï, raconte comment « les forces de l'ordre ont effectué une descente dans les maisons de Syriens à 22h30, ont lu les conversations sur les téléphones portables et arrêté tous ceux qui n'avaient pas de papiers en règle ».
Les témoignages sur des pratiques similaires abondent.
Dans un article publié le 14 juillet, le quotidien as-Safir affirme que la municipalité de Tartij au nord de Beyrouth « a obligé les réfugiés à travailler gratuitement pendant un jour pour nettoyer les rues de la localité ».
Dans la ville de Jounieh, également au nord de Beyrouth, Sara Kamel, une employée libanaise, témoigne avoir vu un Syrien se faire battre par des policiers dans la rue. Il passait en moto et ne s'était pas arrêté à leur injonction.
« Il n'avait pas ses papiers ou il avait peur, mais rien ne justifie qu'il se fasse battre ainsi », déplore la jeune femme.


Source & Link : L'orient le jour

The Daily Star- Syrian refugees in Baalbek complain of discrimination, July 16 , 2016

BAALBEK, Lebanon: Under the scorching sun, Mohammad, 27, often searches for a job in the district of Baalbek until the late afternoon. A Syrian man from Aleppo with tar-stained teeth, he says the municipality has maintained a curfew on refugees who are languishing in tented settlements in the area. “The problem is we can’t work at night anymore,” said Mohammad, whose full name has not been disclosed for fear of reprisal. “After 7 o’clock I must stay in the camp. The situation used to be relatively better, but now if I leave the camp there will be checkpoints everywhere.”
After a wave of suicide bombers attacked the border village of Al-Qaa on June 27, the governor of Baalbek, Bashir Khodor, imposed what was supposed to be a temporary curfew on Syrian nationals.
Rights groups have said that such measures are part of a greater security plan that frames refugees as first and foremost a threat to national security. And with the Baalbek International Festival fast approaching, many worry that harsher measures might be taken.
In Lebanon, enforcing curfews to monitor the movement of refugees isn’t a new phenomenon and neither are the consequences. A 2014 Human Rights Watch report revealed that at least 45 municipalities imposed a curfew on Syrians, many of which were enforced after clashes broke out between extremist groups and the Lebanese Army in the border village of Arsal.
But while curfews have become a common reaction from municipal authorities after insurgent attacks, such measures have achieved little besides punishing refugees for their displacement while exacerbating tensions in the community.
Wadih Al-Asmar, the president of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights, noted that the practice of imposing curfews is discriminatory regardless of the justifications for it.
“We are not solving our [security] issues by imposing these measures. It’s only increasing tensions,” he told The Daily Star by phone. “Syrians are feeling that they are victims of injustice while Lebanese citizens who might already have aggressive [attitudes toward Syrians] might feel they have some legal impunity to attack them.”
Whether curfews are encouraging local residents to attack Syrians is less of a concern for Mohammad, who said that refugees fear reprisal from security forces more than anyone else. Just last week, 30 Syrian men were detained in Baalbek after their tented settlements were raided in the middle of the night.
“[The Army] thinks we are hiding terrorists and weapons in the camps,” Mohammad and his uncle Ahmad said. “If we had those things then we wouldn’t be here [in Lebanon]. We would be in our country fighting.”
Khodor defended the need to carry out raids in refugee camps before stating that the curfew in Baalbek was lifted two weeks ago, even though many Syrians remain unaware that it’s been removed.
“We know that some terrorists hide in the camps. That’s why we search the [camps] after attacks and occasionally from time to time,” Khodor told The Daily Star over the phone. “We only arrest people without papers. The refugees must understand that we have a fragile country. They must collaborate.”
Due to complicated and expensive residency renewal regulations, over two-thirds of Syrian refugees are estimated to be dwelling without legal status in the country, putting many at risk of violence and detainment from residents and local authorities.
Municipalities have also asked the government to help them establish local police forces in order to combat a perceived increase of criminal activity. The government has often granted their request even though official crime statistics don’t support municipality claims, according to a joint report released by Oxfam and the American University of Beirut last year. Even worse, local police forces haven’t received adequate training to apply the law.
The same report stated that a lack of legal awareness has resulted in some municipalities violating the very laws that they are supposed to uphold. Curfews, for instance, are illegal unless they are endorsed by the Cabinet. That matters little to some locals in Baalbek who said that discriminatory measures against Syrians are retaliation for straining the town’s limited resources.
“How can I like Syrian people when they take my job and kill my people?” said one man in a wheelchair and scruffy beard outside the entrance of the Baalbek Municipality building.
“What [municipalities] are doing to Syrian refugees has more to do with punishing them [for their displacement] than protecting their citizens,” Asmar said.
While raids and curfews remain common throughout the country, they may only succeed in pushing young men further to the fringes of society. Many are harassed by security forces and can’t find any work, fueling a collective sentiment of victimhood and injustice.
Baalbek residents, like those living in other impoverished regions around the country, share a similar feeling. They have shouldered a considerable part of the refugee crisis burden despite suffering from years of government neglect and poverty.
Khodor also emphasized that Lebanon is a fragile country which the international community is relying on to mitigate a crisis of unprecedented magnitude.
While that’s certainly the case, discriminatory policies seem to have only exacerbated a climate of anger while diverting attention away from the roots of extremism.
“We escaped bombings and terrorists to come to [Lebanon],” Mohammad said. “We are a peaceful population and peaceful people. We just want to live in peace.”

Source & Link : The Daily Star

Assafir- Racial discrimination in the Municipality of Amchit against Syrian refugees, July 15 , 2016

سادت أجواء من البلبلة في بلدة عمشيت، صباح أمس، اثر توقيف عناصر من شرطة بلديتها كانوا أقدموا على توقيف مجموعة من اللاجئين السوريين ووجوههم إلى الجدار وأياديهم إلى الخلف، فيما قاموا بتركيع عدد منهم.
وما أن سرى خبر توقيف عناصر الشرطة، حتى نفذ عدد من أهالي البلدة اعتصاما سلميا وهددوا بتصعيد تحركاتهم، قبل أن يطلق سراح عناصر الشرطة.
وكانت النيابة العامة في منطقة جبل لبنان قد أوقفت في وقت متأخر من ليل الأربعاء الخميس الماضي خمسة عناصر من شرطة بلدية عمشيت إثر توقيفهم مجموعة من اللاجئين السوريين، وذلك بعد ان كلف وزير الداخلية نهاد المشنوق قائد منطقة جبل لبنان العميد جهاد الحويك التحقيق في تجاوزات البلدية بحق السوريين.
وسرعان ما ثارت ثائرة أهالي البلدة، ونفذوا مع البلدية اعتصاماً احتجاجياً، فيما قطعوا طريق عمشيت لبعض الوقت عند الساعة الواحدة من بعد الظهر ليتراجعوا عن هذه الخطوة سريعا حفاظاً على سلمية التحرك، قبل ان يتم الافراج عن عناصر الشرطة.
من ناحيته، دافع رئيس بلدية عمشيت طوني عيسى عما فعله عناصر الشرطة، معتبراً أنهم تفاجأوا بوجود أكثر من ثلاثين سورياً في مكان واحد «وهم غير مسلحين، فكان لا بد من تفتيشهم بهذه الطريقة». ونفى عيسى أي شبهة عنصرية عما قامت به البلدية «إذ يبلغ عدد القاطنين السوريين في عمشيت نحو 2800 ولم نتعرض لهم بأي سوء».
وأصدر المشنوق تعميماً الى المحافظين وطلب اليهم ابلاغه الى اتحادات البلديات والبلديات، لاعطاء التعليمات المشدّدة لأجهزة الشرطة، بضرورة التقيّد بالقوانين والأنظمة المرعية، وعدم الإساءة في استعمال السلطة الممنوحة لهم عند التعاطي مع المواطنين أو النازحين السوريين والتعامل معهم بكلّ مهنية وانضباط.
وأوضح مصدر في وزارة الداخلية والبلديات انه بعد التحقيق الذي اجرته فصيلة جبيل، قرر النائب العام الاستئنافي في جبل لبنان القاضي كلود كرم اخلاء سبيلهم.

Source & Link : Assafir

The Daily Star - Accomplished women talk about gender parity ,March 2,2016

Ghinwa Obeid| The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Women are now at the forefront in many fields, but the breakthrough wasn’t easy and required perseverance, pioneering women said Tuesday as they highlighted some challenges that still need to be overcome for gender equality. Several leading women took to the stage during a panel of the Women on the Front Lines conference held by the May Chidiac Foundation at Phoenicia Hotel ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8.
“Know that you are a woman, don’t be ashamed of being a woman, but go out to the labor force as a person and a human being and that helps a lot,” said Sausan Ghosheh, director of the United Nations Information Centre – MENA Region, when asked about how she made it to where she is today.
“Proving yourself over and over again, being serious about what you do, and making fun of all the stereotypes they impose on you ... you are a woman but you are also a human being with capacities,” explained Maha Yahya, senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center.
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag, also in attendance, advised women to focus on three things: taking risks, being bold, and trusting one’s instinct.
Yamina Benguigui, acclaimed film director and former french minister responsible for the Francophonie, gave her take. “I am a director, I am of Algerian descent, born in France, I was the first woman of Maghrebi origins in France to become a filmmaker [in the ’80s].” She explained that many themes she wanted to work on at the start where refused. “I was always faced with one sentence ‘no, it is not possible.’ So I tell my team, when you’re faced with this sentence ‘no it is not possible,’ it means: move forward with it.”
“We can all make it,” said keynote speaker Ghada Gebara, where she talked about her impressive rise to become CEO of Optimum Telecom Algeria. “Others will see you based on how you see yourself.”
The panelists tackled a number of issues related to the status of women and their professional role. The representation of women in the political sphere also featured in many of the discussions.
In Lebanon, for example, women aren’t well represented in Parliament, Cabinet or even within the parties themselves.
There has been an ongoing fight to improve this for a number of years, which was addressed by the speakers. They touched on issues of how established political figures are not championing the cause of gender equality enough and in some cases even slowing the process.
This trend was heavily criticized by the panel. In a notable example of this, most Lebanese politicians who had attended the conference left shortly after the event’s opening ceremony and so didn’t witness the in-depth discussions.
Yahya explained that there were different options within the movement for more representation and how to achieve it. However, she highlighted two key areas in Lebanon she saw could make a difference: encouraging established parties to strive for gender parity and creating new parties and coalitions that include women in key positions.
“[We want new parties] That don’t say, ‘Actually it’s not time for women’s issues now, it’s not time to look at women’s rights, it’s not time to talk about the citizenship law, because there are so many important other things happening, there is a conflict in the region ... and therefore it is not time,’” she said. “It is time.”
Yahya told The Daily Star how women have spearheaded many of the recent anti-government civil protests in Lebanon. “Some of perhaps the most articulate voices calling for change were those of women,” she noted, but she underscored the importance of partnerships between men and women for real change.
Kaag highlighted how the upcoming municipal elections, scheduled for May, are a chance for more Lebanese women to enter the political sphere.
“Here is the chance to have a quota for women to go for national elections,” she said.
Kaag also explained that this fight even existed within the U.N. where there’s still a challenge for more representation of women. She said that there were several things needed to secure more representation, including more action from member states.
The attendees, additionally, agreed that women need to be more prominent in decision making within peace building contexts.
In conflict regions, women are still part of society and this consequently makes them part of the solution, the experts underscored.
“We know very well, look at studies ... when you make women part of the solution, things change drastically. If women are part of the peace making process there is a higher chance for the peace to last,” stressed Ghosheh.
When men and women are included together, there is diversification of the skill set, she added.
“The more diversified the skill set is, the smarter the group becomes. The smarter the group becomes the better decisions they make,” Ghosheh explained. “The better decisions made, the better the chances for peace to take place and a peace that can last.”
Copyrights 2016, The Daily Star - All Rights Reserved
02/03/2016
Source&Link : The Daily Star

Al Balad - بالارقام: العلاقة بين الشعب اللبناني والعاملة الاجنبية - February 3, 2016

تظهر الكثير من الأرقام نسبة "انفصام " الشعب اللبناني نحو العلاقة مع العاملات الاجنبيات في المنازل حيث تظهر احدى الدراسات ان %51 من الشعب اللبناني يعتبر ان العاملة المنزلية لا يوثق بها، مع انها تهتم بأطفالهم... 41 % من اللبنانيين يعتبرون ان العاملة المنزلية لديها مشاكل نفسية، مع انها تهتم بأهلهم... 36% من اللبنانيين يعتبرون ان العاملة "غبية" مع انها تستلم تدبير امور المنزل، فيما 27 % يعتبرون ان العاملة غير نظيفة، بالرغم من انها تقوم بالطبخ وتنظيف المنزل... تلك الارقام تنعكس سلباً وممارسات غير انسانية على عاملات جّل ذنبهن انهن يبحثن عن لقمة عيشهن في "المكان الغلط".

عشرات حالات الانتحار التي تسجل سنوياً والتي تنتهي بحضور القوى الأمنية وتفتح تحقيقا ينتهي بالخلاصة التالية "انتحار عاملة" لتقفل القضية هنا دون الرجوع الى الاسباب التي دفعتها الى انهاء حياتها من على شرفة المنزل.

تبدأ رحلة العاملة الاجنبية الى لبنان عبر المكاتب المرخصة المنتشرة على الاراضي اللبنانية والتي يفوق عددها 455 مكتبا والكفيلة بحسب احد اصحاب تلك المكاتب بتغطية عاملات لدولة مثل الصين، فكيف ببلد مثل لبنان والذي لا يفوق عدد سكانه الملايين الخمسة. رحلة الاشغال الشاقة تبدأ في لبنان بعقد عمل لا يعرفن عنه الا القليل، منها ساعات دوام العمل والحق بالإجازة الأسبوعية والحق بالخصوصية وقيمة الراتب المتفق عليه والحق بالاحتفاظ بأوراقها الثبوتية.

رغم ان استقدام عاملة منزل اصبح من الضروريات في ظل المتطلبات المعيشية، ولكن لقدوم العاملة والدخول الى الاسرة سيف ذو حدين. فالواجب اعتبار العاملة موظفة تتقاضى راتبها آخر الشهر، ولكن هذا لا يسمح بأن تحول بعض العائلات العاملة الى (عبدة)، كما يحلو للبعض تسميتها. فبعض العائلات تقوم باصطحاب العاملة في زيارتها الى العائلة لتقوم ايضاً بالعمل في بيوت الاقارب، وفي حال اعترضت يكون عقابها الضرب، او الاهانة. وهنا تبدأ المشاكل مع العائلة.

قوانين خاطئة

وبحسب دراسة وطنية أجرتها الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت بالتعاون مع منظمة "كفى" و"الجمعية الدولية لمكافحة الرقّ"، وبدعم من منظمة العمل الدولية. شملت الدراسة أصحاب العمل في لبنان وتوقّفت عند درجة معرفتهم بالقوانين والنظم الراعية لعلاقة العمل مع عاملات المنازل، وكشفت أيضاً بعض ممارساتهم ومواقفهم تجاههنّ. حيث اظهرت الدراسة ان :

50 % من اللبنانيين/ات يعطون العاملة يوم راحة (وهو من حقّ العاملة بحسب عقد العمل)، و24% منهم فقط يسمحون لها بمغادرة المنزل في يوم العطلة؛ 40% لا يعطون العاملة راتبها الشهري بشكل منتظم (وهو من حقّ العاملة بحسب العقد)، و41% قالوا إنهم دفعوا رواتب الأشهر الثلاثة الأولى لمكتب الاستقدام؛ 50% من أصحاب العمل لا يعرفون تحديداً ماذا تغطّي تكاليف الاستقدام التي يدفعونها للمكاتب الخاصّة (وهم يدفعون أموالاً طائلة في الكثير من الأحيان)؛ 94% منهم يحتجزون جواز سفر العاملة (54% من هؤلاء يعتقدون أنّ ذلك مسموح بحسب عقد العمل، مع العلم أن لا إشارة لهذا الأمر في العقد)؛ و44% من أصحاب العمل يعتقدون أن مدّة العقد 3 سنوات، فيما هي سنة واحدة فقط.

كفى عنفا واستغلالا

استندت الحملة الإعلامية ضمن حملة "كفى عنفا واستغلالا" التي أُطلقت مطلع شهر شباط 2016، إلى أبرز ما ورد في الدراسة من مواقف لأصحاب العمل تجاه عاملات المنازل، خاصّة لجهة ضعف الثقة داخل علاقة العمل (أكثر من نصف أصحاب العمل يعتقدون بدرجات مختلفة أنه لا يمكن الثقة بالعاملة).

ولا يقتصر شكّ أصحاب العمل بالعاملة على الحذر منها وحسب، بل يصل إلى حدّ التشكيك "بنظافتها" (أكثر من ربع أصحاب العمل)، و"ذكائها" و"سلامتها العقلية" (أكثر من ثلث أصحاب العمل).

تُثبت هذه المعطيات مرّة جديدة أن عدداً لافتاً من أصحاب العمل لا يزال يتطلّع إلى العاملات انطلاقاً من أحكام مسبقة وتصوّرات تشوبها العنصريّة والفوقيّة والطبقيّة، مع العلم أنه يتمّ توظيفهنّ بشكل مستمرّ وتسليمهنّ اعمالا كثيرة تتطلّب مسؤولية كبيرة. فأتى الجزء الثاني من كلّ من شعارات الحملة الأربعة ليبيّن التناقض الواضح بين نظرة صاحب العمل اجاه العاملة وما يتوقّعه منها في المقابل.

"ما تناقض حالك"

تلك المعطيات تطرح عددا من الأسئلة، اهمها كيف يمكن لصاحب عمل ان يطلب من شخص لا يثق به، أن يهتمّ بأولاده؟ وشخص يَفترِض أن لديه "مشاكل نفسية"، أن يعتني بأهله؟ وشخص "غير نظيف"، أن يحضّر له الطعام؟ وشخص لا يمتلك درجة كافية من الذكاء، أن يدير شؤون منزله؟ اسئلة طرحتها الحملة الاعلامية لتبيان التناقضات ختمتها برسالة "ما تناقض/ي حالك، راجع/ي حالك"، دعت اصحاب العمل الى مراجعة تصوّراتهم وممارساتهم، وتحدّي الموروثات العنصرية والطبقيّة الكامنة وراء الكثير منها، وتصويب بعض من معلوماتهم حول النظم المرعيّة الإجراء التي بيّنت الدراسة أنّ قسماً منهم غير مطّلع على مضامنيها بالدقّة اللازمة. كما أنتجت "كفى" في المرحلة الأولى من الحملة فيلماً توعوياً قصيراً يُظهر بعض الأرقام المتعلّقة بمعلومات أصحاب العمل حول عقد العمل وممارساتهم مع عاملات المنازل، فمثلاً: "ما تناقض/ي حالك. راجع/ي حالك".

 Source & Link : Al Balad 

Al-Hayat - Discrimination against the Syrians, March 31, 2014

"إلى كل حقير عنصري إرحل"، هكذا استُبدلت عبارة :"إلى كل حقير سوري إرحل"، التي كانت مكتوبة على جدار من جدران بيروت، من جانب أحد الناشطين، التي استفزّته العبارة، وقرّر أن يشطبها ويعدّلها كي تليق بـ"لبنانيته". 

وفي 21 آذار (مارس) الجاري، وهو اليوم العالمي لمكافحة التمييز العنصري، أطلق ناشطون لبنانيون على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي، حملة داعمة للاجئين السوريين، تحت عنوان "#لا_للعنصرية"، التي جاءت "رفضاً لكل محاولات التضييق والعنف التي تطاول السوريين، ورفضاً لكل الخطابات السياسيّة العنصريّة، وما يرافقها من تحريض إعلامي"، كما تصف صفحة "الحملة الداعمة للسوريين في وجه العنصرية"، الحملة التي أطلقتها عبر موقع "فايسبوك"، والتي لا تزال تحصد تضامناً واسعاً من جانب اللبنانيين، اليوم.

وشارك، حتى اليوم، حوالي 79 شخصاً في هذه الحملة، عبر مشاركة صورتهم، وهم يحملون ورقة يكتبون عليها رسالتهم إلى العنصريين، أو إلى اللاجئين السوريين، لتعود الصفحة وتنشرها وتشاركتها مع متابعيها، الذين يتجاوز عددهم 10370 متابعاً.

وانتقد بعض الناشطين تصريحات الوزير اللبناني السابق نقولا صحناوي، وزميله في"التيار الوطني الحرّ" المهندس زياد عبس، الأخيرة، اللذين طالبا خلال مؤتمر صحافي، "شحن" السوريين إلى بلادهم، وظهرت الانتقادات في الصور التي أرسلها الناشطون إلى الصفحة.

وكتب سلام كبول: "مرة في واحد سوري. رفع راسي وراسك". أما غسان صالح فكتب: "90 في المئة من بيوتنا عمّروها سوريون! كمّل عنصريتك وفلّ من بيتك". وكتبت ليال حداد نخلة: "اغفروا لنا ما تصنعه عنصرية بعضنا"، أما عمر كبول فكتب: "مرة واحد حمصي انتفض لكرامته قبلِك وقبلَك".

وقالت الناشطة لونا صفوان، في اتصال مع "الحياة": "أحببت المشاركة في هذه الحملة، لإيصال وجهة نظري إلى اللبنانيين والسوريين. فيمكن للوزراء والنواب التعبيرعن وجهة نظرهم من خلال عقد مؤتمرات صحافية، للتحدّث عن اللاجئين السوريين. أما نحن، فليس لدينا منبر، وهذه الحملة هي بمثابة منبرنا". وأضافت لونا: "من الممكن أن ننزل إلى الشارع إذا تصاعد الخطاب العنصري، إذ ستكون هناك حاجة الى ممارسة ضغط معين، ليصبح هناك نوع من الاحترام للاجئين السوريين". 

أما الناشط سلام كبول، فأكّد أن "السبب الأساس في مشاركتي في الردّ على الهجمة العنصرية التي يتعرّض لها اللاجئون السوريون، سواءً كانت من جهات سياسية أو مدنية، والأهمّ الوقوف في وجه بعض الوسائل الإعلامية، التي تتبنى الموضوع، وتساعد في نشره". وأضاف: "من المُعيب التمييز ووضع مجموعة معينة في خانة العنصرة. هذه مشكلة لا تكمن مع اللاجئيين السوريين فقط، بل هي موجودة مع كل الجنسيات العاملة في لبنان". أما في حال استمرار هذا الخطاب، فيؤكد سلام أن "الحملة ليست افتراضية، والتصعيد والمواجهة خياران، واردان دائماً! فالنزول إلى الشارع هو أمر مطروح طبعاً، ولكنه ليس الخيار الأول".

والجدير بالذكر أن جمعية "سوا فور سيريا"، أو "سوا من أجل سورية"، تنظم ليل السبت المُقبل حفلة لفرقة "مشروع ليلى" اللبنانية، يعود ريعها إلى اللاجئين السوريين على الأراضي اللبنانية، الذين تهتمّ بهم الجمعية منذ لجوئهم إلى لبنان.

Al-Hayat

The Daily Star - NGO urges end to use of gay tests, August 2 2012

By Emma Gatten

BEIRUT: Human rights lawyers sent an appeal to the Justice Ministry and the Order of Physicians Wednesday urging them to end the practice of conducting anal probes on detainees after 35 men were subjected to the test over the weekend.

The men were detained Saturday after a raid by the Vice Squad on a porn cinema in the Burj Hammoud area of Beirut, and were taken to Hobeish police station in Ras Beirut. Among them was the owner of the cinema. The Vice Squad is a subdivision of the Judicial Police and operates according to judicial orders.

Once in Hobeish, the men underwent physical examinations carried out by physicians, intended to determine homosexuality. Three men were later charged under Article 534, which outlaws “unnatural sexual acts,” after a physician told police he had been able to determine the men were gay.

The owner of the cinema was also charged, as well as another individual who did not have residency papers, according to an ISF source.

Lebanese research organization Legal Agenda, which focuses on legal and public policy issues, issued an open letter to the justice minister Shakib Qortbawi Wednesday, urging him to end the practice of conducting anal probes.

“The continuation of these tests is considered to be a serious violation of the rights of the people who have been forced to undergo them; this is a degrading act that undermines their dignity,” the letter reads.

It argues that the test violates human rights, rights to privacy, as well as the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which Lebanon ratified in 2000. The tests are done with no written permission from the detainees, and are conducted prior to any charge being laid down.

Nadim Houry, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, said the case highlighted two issues, that of the examinations and of article 534.

“Article 534 is a clear violation of rights to privacy, and the right for anyone to live their private lives. The state has no business intervening in the consensual acts of private lives,” he said.

“On the issue of the anal probe examinations, they are first of all inherently degrading, violations of human dignity, and amount to torture in some cases. Clearly when conducted in a police station like Hobeish they’re done in a way to degrade people,” he added. He said the targeting of people in raids like the one that took place Saturday had “the atmosphere of a witch hunt.”

The letter from Legal Agenda also urges the public prosecutor to “stop wasting public money.” Doctors who perform the tests are paid between LL100,000 and LL125,000 by the state for each test.

It is not clear how often these tests take place, although a doctor speaking at a seminar about the topic in May this year said he performed them four or five times a month. Nizar Saghieh, a human rights lawyer and one of the founders of Legal Agenda, said he estimated there were around 10 doctors that perform the examinations.

The tests cannot be relied upon to prove sexuality, another point picked up in the letter to Qortbawi, and a fact that Houry said made the reliance on the tests for prosecution “insane.”

The letter also highlights the fact that the tests are conducted before any charges are laid down, and often with little or no evidence.

Judicial sources previously told The Daily Star that the test should only be carried out if there is clear evidence of homosexual conduct, but Saghieh said this often wasn’t the case.

Saghieh said that during investigation into the topic he had found prosecutors would order the test “on occasions when there is no evidence at all.

“We found that many other times when, if somebody says that you are gay, they [can] arrest you, and then they make the test on you,” he said. “They are violating the principle that everybody is innocent until proven guilty.”

A spokesperson at the ISF said it opposed article 534 and supported action for it to be abolished.

“The ISF supports civil society action that would result in the abolition of the article that penalizes homosexuality,” Colonel Joseph Msalem, a spokesperson for the ISF told The Daily Star Wednesday. “This needs the help of civil society, activists, NGOs and the government. The police do not like to go after these cases and such a sexual act should be a right.”

But Houry said the abolition of 534 should not be a prerequisite for the ending of the physical examinations.

“It’s [an issue] outside of 534,” he said. “Nothing requires these tests to be conducted. It is done completely on the discretion of the public prosecutor.”

Lebanese gay rights NGO Helem said it considered the arrests to be based on an arbitrary law and questioned the role television station MTV has taken in targeting homosexuality, as well as other marginalized groups.

MTV was the first outlet to report the arrests, in a broadcast that used derogatory language toward those arrested.

Helem said it was following the case of the three men along with the aid of lawyers, and hoped to be able to help secure their release.

The Daily Star - Campaign aims to enhance female health staff’s status, July 19 2012

BEIRUT: An awareness campaign aimed at ending discrimination against female health staff in Lebanon was launched under the patronage of the Social Affairs Ministry. The campaign, entitled “In Safe Hands,” is aimed at ending both physical and verbal harassment and other discriminatory treatment experienced by women in the health sector. It is part of a three-and-a-half-year project to enhance the working conditions and status of female medical staff, run by NGO Amel, which hopes to encourage more women to work in the medical field. Research conducted during the project, which was funded by a 793,000-euro ($972,000) grant from the EU, in coordination with Italian NGO CESTAS, revealed that poor investment in women was to the detriment of economic growth.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jul-19/181112-campaign-aims-to-enhance-female-health-staffs-status.ashx#axzz20mFkUNDx