GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN THE CONTEXT OF MIGRATION

Eager to tell you about the MOOC  on Gender Based violence in the context of migration!

The course will begin on May 15!

what is a MOOC? a MOOC is Massive Online Open Course , that is offered for free by the Global Campus of Human Rights coordinated by the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC).

The Mooc addresses gender, migration, and Human rights studies. The Lecture I participate in, is related to gender based violence faced by migrants and asylum seeking girls in the MENA region. The Political Sciences Institute (ISP) of Saint Joseph University part of the Arab Master in Democracy and Human Rights,  has worked hard while dedicating a team to gather data, prepare, review, shoot, edit and produce the MOOC on GBV addressed by migrants girls and women in the region.  Examples for this specific lecture are taken from the newest published reports in the region related to GBV and SGBV.  Sexual Exploitation, trafficking  Statelessness, Child Marriage, Schooling and access to education are presented. Also main International Instruments addressing GBV are presented.

The MOOC is a free course of 5 hours per week, for 6 weeks, that is open to “upper year undergraduates; postgraduates; NGO activists and practitioners interested in interdisciplinary human rights, gender equality, women’s empowerment, migration; young lawyers and social scientists; active and motivated citizens from around the world.”

I am very excited to be part of this Global Campus MOOC, and to have prepared the first MOOC addressing GBV and women’s rights in the region. Can’t thank enough the team who helped put all the lecture together (ISP team you rock! )  as well as the friends who helped gather the latest information in a very short deadline. (Special thanks to Ghida, Hayat, Raghda, Zeina, Myriam, and special thanks to Jihad who filmed and edited the lecture ).

Stay tuned  and follow the link to participate and enroll  in the MOOC! https://www.eiuc.org/education/global-campus-mooc-gbv-migration.html 

In solidarity from Lebanon

Let us address GBV in our region and internationally with sustainable solutions!

Rita Chemaly

Screen Shot taken from the Global Campus page https://www.eiuc.org/education/global-campus-mooc-gbv-migration/the-mooc.html  

 

 

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Early marriages in #Lebanon who helps the #bride #child ?

The short movie that appeared on LBCI news, is highlighting again the spur of the early marriages problem in Lebanon.

the fact is that child bride problem has been increasing within the refugee communities in Lebanon first Palestinian and now Syrian.

Many reports have exposed how girls of  less than 12 years old are being sold as child brides in refugee camps in Lebanon in 2013!

(Here are some articles about it Stolen Lives: Lebanon suffers problem of child brides , The Selling of Syria’s Refugee Child Brides, Marriages of shame, Child marriage on rise among Syrian refugees – aid groups , Syrian Refugees: Forced into Marrying off Their Daughters )

The problem is not new, but the stories are increasing with the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing the horrible war in their country , and child marriages are turning out into lucrative business for poor families.

Some religious authorities are part of this shameful act.

here is the link to LBCI report : published in January 2014 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIw_NNBVdr4 and in which the dad talks about a religious man working on marrying his child.

here is the part of the UNICEF (MENA Gender Equality Profile) report that explains Lebanon situation related to child marriages:

Protection from child marriage.

There is no common minimum age of marriage that applies to all young Lebanese women and men as the personal status laws of the different religious denominations define the minimum age. In Lebanon’s third periodic CEDAW report (2006) the marriage ages of girls and boys for 10 different religious groups are listed. All of these religious groups allow girls under the age of 18 to marry. Among Sunni and Shiite Muslims, marriages of girls as young as 9 years old can be licenced given that approval is granted, although it is no longer customary that such young girls marry. Among the Jewish denomination, girls as young as 12.5 years old may  marry, and among the Syrian Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox a girl may be as young as 14 years old when she marries. For boys of most religious groups the marriageable age is 18, although marriages of younger boys can be approved by most of the groups.

it is needless to say, Lebanon has to put a halt to this, and to Forbid Child Marriages, as it is stipulated in Convention on the Right of the child ratified by Lebanon, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women ( CEDAW) also ratified by Lebanon, and other International treaties Lebanon should sign and Ratify such as the Convention on the Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriage  after changing and amending its personal status laws!

Here is a working paper by Unicef too that shed lights on the child marriage problem Child marriage and the law.

Rita Chemaly

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Did Lebanon ratify a treaty or accessed a convention or international protocol

Dears

if you are interested in the status of Lebanon and whether Lebanon has ratified , accessed or signed a treaty, convention, protocol…

please do find attached this great map I found on the United Nations Website (United Nations treaty United Nations treaty collection, direct link, https://treaties.un.org/ , last accessed on January 21 2014.  )

the full treaty name is here, the date of signature or ratification is also featured

Good luck for all the researchers!

Rita Chemaly

LEBANON Treaties signed

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