Executive
summary of 2nd report / September 2000
1-
Background
Lebanon is one of the
few Arab countries that ratified, with reservations, on July 24th 1996
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, known as CEDAW.
Since then, Lebanon is bound and committed
to eliminate all forms of discrimination against Lebanese women. Unfortunately,
reality still shows that the process of amending the Lebanese legislation to
bring it into conformity with the principles of CEDAW is still far from being
completed. This is due to the great amount of violations of women’s rights in
both the law and the culture. The latter needs to change in order to meet the
Convention's obligations. It is probably the civil war that lasted more than
fifteen years and the recurrent Israeli aggressions that led to many deep
changes in the social, economic and political structure of the Lebanese society
and have therefore impacted on the advancement of Lebanese women in all fields.
Moreover, it led to a wider gap in the Lebanese society in all areas, and the
outcome has been a negative impact on all development programmes and
activities related to women.
To implement women's rights, as stated in the
Convention, the establishment of official and non-governmental monitoring
mechanisms is essential. Furthermore, the absence of governmental
infrastructures catering to women's needs and rights, assigns to
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) a major role in the implementation of the
Convention. This sector has played a major role in the incitement to ratify the
CEDAW Convention and the follow up of its enforcement in Lebanon. Moreover,
NGOs have made voluntary, continuous and hard efforts to abolish discrimination
against women. By collecting data and developing indicators on women's rights
and reviewing national laws, NGOs help identify the rights violated and the
steps that should be taken to ensure the full implementation of the CEDAW
Convention. Thus, the input of NGOs becomes essential in assessing the state of
women's rights in Lebanon.
In this
perspective, the Lebanese NGO Forum has set up a permanent monitoring mechanism
entitled "Women's Rights Monitor Project"; a network of specialised
NGOs with the purpose of monitoring women's rights and the application of CEDAW
in Lebanon. This network aims at establishing, through the Internet, a set of
baseline data and elaborating a permanent reporting mechanism. This mechanism
consists mainly of producing an online, regularly updated, report on the latest
developments and setbacks concerning the state of women in the country.
2- Participating
NGOs
The following NGOs have already joined the
Women's Rights Monitor network and contributed reports, books, studies,
expertise and findings:
The Lebanese Union for Child Welfare; The
Lebanese Women's Council; The Working Women League in Lebanon; The Lebanese
council to Resist Violence Against Women; The Lebanese Women Democratic
Gathering; The Non-Governmental National Committee for the Follow Up of Women's
Issues Post Beijing; OPAC; The Lebanese Family Planing Association; Caritas;
Dar El Sadaka; René Moawad Foundation; Imam Al Sadr Foundation.
These institutions have a very important
role in making the Convention an instrument of women's empowerment. They also
provide protection, rehabilitation and assistance to Lebanese women. These NGOs
have chosen to collaborate with one another in preparing reports. Thus, their
participation in the reporting process of the "Women's Rights Monitor
Project", illustrates the existence of a concerted voice on the subject of
women's rights in Lebanon.
3- Objectives
This
online report provides extensive information on women's rights and the
implementation of CEDAW in Lebanon.
While it follows the general guidelines of reporting as set by the CEDAW committee, emphasis is essentially
on specific matters that concern Lebanese women. In order to make the case for
both the necessity and the possibility for change, documentation and evidence
are gathered to illustrate each issue. The information available in the report
is based on data and statistics communicated by participating NGOs as well as
legal cases, news clippings, academic research, provisions of national and
local laws and regulations.
Furthermore,
by using an interactive computer programme especially designed for the Women's Rights Monitor Project,
participating NGOs are able to access a centralized database, via the internet,
and enter any relevant information regarding women in Lebanon. All
participating NGOs were required to attend special training sessions on the use
of this programme.
4-
Structure and Content
a)
Structure
The online report includes a preface that gives a brief
introduction on Human Rights and the CEDAW Convention in Lebanon, and a table
of contents that appears as follows:
II- Women in public life
(politics & economics) - articles
7,8,9,13,15
VII- Women in marriage and
family laws - article 16
VIII- Women and violence - articles 6,16
XIII- References
By clicking on the titles, readers will be able
to access the content of a specific section. Each title may include many
sub-titles. The content of each title varies in length depending on the
available information. A listing of sources used is provided at the end of the
report under the title "References".
As we mentioned above the content of
this report is divided according to the general guidelines of reporting set by
the UN CEDAW committee. The report is divided into two main parts related to
the CEDAW Convention and another third general part related to different
subjects on Lebanese women.
Part one
is that of the preamble (section I). It provides some background information
about Lebanon: its constitution, its general political structure, review of the
legal framework concerning the protection of human rights and specifically
woman's rights; in addition to a description of efforts done to implement the
CEDAW Convention on the national and official levels. It also highlights the
major obstacles encountered in the implementation of the Convention by
analyzing the reservations in light of the current law. In addition, this
section includes an overview on the achievements and amendments carried out
before and after Lebanon’s ratification to CEDAW.
Part two
(sections II to IX) provides specific information in relation to each provision
of the Convention. The approach used in this part is to identify the issues,
discuss and prioritize them, and then consider which articles of the convention
apply. The titles include a description of the legislation regarding each issue
and a review to what extent legal provisions in Lebanon are in conformity or in
violation with the provisions of the Convention.
Part three
(sections X to XII) includes general information about Lebanese women. For
example: the Lebanese women in the South and in Beijing +5 and the world march
of women.
5- Conclusion
The Women's Rights Monitor Project has
successfully mobilized local NGOs and helped strengthen their capacity through
training and technical back up. By making this report available to the public
through the Internet and updating the information every three months, it
becomes the first permanent monitoring system on women's rights in Lebanon and
the Middle East.