World Vision Lebanon celebrated
International Women's' Day by hosting a roundtable discussion with 15 women to celebrate progress made on improving women's rights in Lebanon and identify challenges that lie ahead.
Australian Ambassador Lyndall Sachs and the head of Lebanon's General Security department General Dalal Rahbani Ghafari were among the women on the panel, which also included journalists, members of
local NGOs and representatives from the business community.
World Vision Lebanon ADP support manager Ruba Khoury facilitated the discussion and program officer Maya Assaf and Armenian ADP
manager Maggie Daoud participated on the panel.
'We chose a roundtable discussion format to let women from different fields, expertise and cultural backgrounds gather together and share
their experiences and challenges as women in Lebanese society,' said advocacy manager Patricio Cuevas Parra. 'This type of panel is a real contribution to debate, mutual respect and tolerance,
especially in a country so divided along political, historical and religious lines.'
World Vision called special attention to the urgent issue of gender-based violence by developing
questions related to the theme 'Ending Violence Against Women … It's everyone's responsibility'.
'We are very committed to mainstreaming gender into programming and the International
Women Day is a great opportunity to state our commitment,' said Cuevas Parra. 'We have devoted this day to reflect about violence against women because violence keeps women from exercising their human
rights and fundamental freedoms.'
Ambassador Sachs noted that gender-based violence and women's rights are an issue in Australia as well, and offered to share research and information
about initiatives in Australia with Lebanese NGO who work with women.
"This isn't just a family issue, it's a community issue," Sachs told participants, adding that the
government, the family, the medical system, the community and the judicial system each had an important role to play in protecting women and their rights. Staff from the women's organization KAFA
(Enough Violence and Exploitation), lawyers, advertisers and a nun were also at Tuesday's discussion and Dalal Rahbani, the acting director of General Security, noted she herself was an example of
progress on women's rights in Lebanon. Rahbani is the first women to hold her position in Lebanon and she believes possibly the Middle East. "Believe in yourself and say 'I can do it' and
it will happen," said Rahbani.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
