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“Stop the lie!”

Location: Beirut, Lebanon

The Flare network as part of its ongoing campaign Season of Legality organized a one day events in Beirut.

This activity was organized by the Progressive Youth Organization with the presence of members of the FLARE delegation, Lorenzo Bodrero and Michele  Curto . The venue was the American University of Beirut. The topic of the events was “violence against and the trafficking of women”. The Panel was composed of Michele Curto, president of FLARE Network,  Mazen Jaber from Amnesty International and Jean Pierre Katrib from the Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights.

This seminar was preceded by two days of advertising for the “Season of Legality” campaign by distributing the brochures of FLARE as well as interacting with the 7000 students in AUB. The event was covered by the local Lebanese media as well as AUB press. The FLARE delegation had the chance to meet the widow of assassinated journalist Samir Kassir, Jezal Khoury, TV show host  from Al-Arabiya TV,  as well as the former minister of telecommunications MP Marwan Hamade. They also had the chance to visit the Palestinian refugee camp of Bourj al Brajni where they toured the camp and interacted with the local population.

The idea is to follow up on recent reports published by a number of human rights organizations on the abuse and the trafficking of domestic servants and women trafficking for sexual exploitation in Lebanon. The event includes workshops, lectures and marches all geared towards fighting this phenomenon and raising awareness about these abuses and the mafias’ benefits from these activities.

The Mediterranean Sea represents a crucial geographic area for the FLARE Network. Not only it is one of the main routes for the trafficking of human beings towards Europe. In the case of Lebanon, it also represents a country on the frontline for the fight against organized crime. Freedom of information is often jeopardized by violent acts, such as assassination attempts and murders. However, the country, and the capital Beirut shows a courageous attitude towards its citizens and the civil society in general.

 

Jezal Khoury is a journalist and tv host from Al-Arabiya TV. She is the widow of Samir Kassir who was assassinated on June 2 2005 when a bomb planted under his car exploded. Kassir is considered one of the pillars of the Cedar revolution and a human rights and political activist.

He was adamant on spreading democracy in the region and his strong ties with the Syrian opposition and intellectual were among the main rasons for his assassination.

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Marwan Hamadeh is the former minister of telecommunication. Hamadeh was the target of a failed assassination attempt in 2004 which left his bodyguard dead and Hamadeh seriously injured. Hamdeh is member of Walid Joumblatt’s parliamentary bloc.

He is also the uncle of Joubran Tueini a former MP and editor in Chief of the daily An-Nahar newspaper. Tueini was assassinated when a road side bomb targeted his convoy killing him alongside his two bodyguards.