Known Centers based in Lebanon
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Year Established: 2003
Short Historical Background
The Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action (CRTD.A) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) officially registered in 2003 and based in Beirut, Lebanon.
Objective
Whether working in Lebanon or across the Arab countries in collaboration with partners in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia, CRTD.A seeks to contribute to inclusive citizenship, social justice and gender equality.
Programs and Activities
CRTD.A has four key program areas:
• Gender and inclusive citizenship
This area features, among other regional campaigns, to reform nationality laws in six Arab countries, and an initiative entitled “Active Citizenship and Gendered Social Entitlements” that seeks
to promote the knowledge and practice of active and inclusive citizenship and the promotion of accountable social and public institutions.
• G and economic rights
CRTD.A has been working at the grassroots and community levels with more than 40 rural women cooperatives and women producers in an initiative known as the Women Economic Empowerment project (WEEP). The program includes a marketing facility for rural women cooperatives entitled Namlyeh, as well as research and policy dialogue on women’s and economic rights in Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco.
• Public participation and leadership
This program is part of an international partnership with the Women Learning Partnership and involves a leadership and political participation training program targeting grassroots women, local organizations, young women, women working in the public sector and NGOs and other community groups.
• Knowledge for social development and right to information This program organizes and implements a training for women on the usage of technology for their own empowerment so as to enable them to access information about their rights as well as build solidarity linkages with other women. This is the Information and Communication and Technology (ICT) for Social Development training program.
Special Concerns
Address
Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action
(CRTD.A)
Museum Square
Karim Salameh Building
P.O. Box 165302
1100 2030 Beirut
Lebanon
phl/fax: (961-1) 616751, 611079, 612924
e-mail: info[a]crtd.org.lb
www.crtda.org.lb; www.lkdg.org; www.weeportal-lb.org
Year Established: 2011
Short Historical Background
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) is an independent, non-profit, and non-governmental center that works to strengthen support for human rights defenders (HRDs) and independent journalists in the states of the Gulf by promoting the role of the media and networking with international organizations. GCHR focuses on Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United
Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Objective
GCHR aims
Programs and Activities
The programs are implemented through the following activities that support and protect human rights defenders in the countries of concern:
Publications
Address
Gulf Centre for Human Rights
Lebanon
ph/fax (961-1) 381475
e-mail: info[a]gc4hr.org
http://gc4hr.org/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/
Gulf-Center-For-Human-Rights/273623332709903
Twitter: @GulfCentre4HR
- Lebanese American University
Year of establishment: 2005
Short historical background
The Institute of Diplomacy and Conflict Transformation (IDCT) is an offshoot of the International Affairs Program of the School of Arts and Sciences in Byblos. IDCT was created in 2005 as part of an effort to incorporate active learning into our curriculums and to contribute more effectively to the issue of peace and stability in a region characterized by protracted and violent conflict
Objectives
IDCT aims
Programs and Activities
IDCT has held the following activities:
Conferences & Workshops
Special Concerns
Human Rights Education, Peacebuilding
Address
The Institute of Diplomacy and Conflict Transformation (IDCT)
Lebanese American University
P.O. Box 36
Byblos, Lebanon
ph (961-9) 547262, ext. 2327
fax (961-9) 547256
e-mail: idct[a]lau.edu.lb
www.lau.edu.lb/academics/centers-institutes/idct/index.ph
Year Established:1997
Short Historical Background
The Institute for Human Rights is a specialized body within the Beirut Bar Association. Headed by the President of the Bar Association, the Institute is run by a member of the Bar Association known for his competence and experience in the field of human rights. The director is appointed for a period of three years by the executive board of the Bar Association.
Objectives
The Institute for Human Rights aims
1. To promote the universal values stated in the Lebanese Constitution and in the United Nations conventions on human rights;
2. To implement the international human rights standards in Lebanon;
3. To work on amending existing laws in compliance with international conventions that Lebanon is a party to or to enact new laws whenever needed in this respect.
Programs and Activities
Training - the Institute offers, in cooperation with international organizations and institutes specialized in human rights, training sessions on the subject of human rights, to all members of the legal, administrative and judicial professions. These sessions include practical training on the implementation of the principles of international conventions on human rights in the internal judicial system; training to study, in a comparative perspective, the judicial practices in other countries; and training sessions to understand the monitoring mechanisms and regulations adopted by human rights treaties in order to promote their implementation.
Seminar and Conference Organizing – since its establishment, the Institute has held periodic seminars and conferences on various issues regarding human rights in Lebanon in particular, and human rights in general. These events are held in Arabic, English, and French, and are attended by participants from Lebanon and abroad.
Research and Publication - the Institute distributes a series of publications including conference proceedings and various human rights materials. These materials range from books to newsletters and are available in Arabic, English, and French. Some of the institute’s works are accessible on its website (http://www.humanrightslebanon.org/index.html).
Publications
Other Information
The Bar Association has a library located at the Courthouse in Beirut that offers various books and other publications on human rights in Arabic, English, and French languages.
Address
Institute for Human Rights
- Beirut Bar Association
Court House Beirut - Lebanon
ph (961) 01422204 /01-422205 ext. 220 or 222 /01-423943
fax (961) 01-423943
e-mail: idh[a]inco.com.lb
www.humanrightslebanon.org/index.html
Year Established: 1973
Short Historical Background
The Lebanese American University founded the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) in 1973. The history of the Institute is closely linked to that of the first women's college in the Middle East, the America Junior College for Women, which was established in 1924 by the Presbyterian Mission. The College, which educated Middle Eastern women for half a century, became coed in 1973. In order to honor the college's unique heritage as the first educational institution for women in the region, the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World was established that same year.
Objectives
IWSAW aims
1) To serve as a catalyst for policy changes regarding the rights of women in the Arab world;
2) To engage in academic research on women in the Arab world;
3) To empower women in the Arab world through development programs and education;
4) To facilitate networking and communication among individuals, groups and institutions concerned with women in the Arab world;
5. To facilitate networking and communication among individuals, groups, and institutions concerned with women in the Arab world;
6. To extend ties with international organizations and universities working on gender issues. IWSAW is in the process of establishing an MA program in Women and Gender Studies (WGST) in the Fall of 2013-2014. Being the most recent and forceful expression of LAU’s legacy as the first institution of higher learning for women in the Arab world, and as a concrete embodiment of LAU’s value of promoting gender equality and inclusiveness, the MA in WGST provides students with quality, interdisciplinary education that integrates gender, along with class, race, religion, culture, ethnicity, and sexualities, as a central category of social and cultural analysis with respect to the Arab world. The MA program in WGST has the added value of being offered at an institution of higher education that is located in the Arab world and where the academic freedom to tackle sensitive issues related to women and gender is unparalleled in the region.
Programs
IWSAW mainly designs and implements development programs aimed at promoting literacy and enhancing social and political awareness. Here are some examples of IWSAW's development programs:
Basic Living Skills - the Basic Living Skills Program is a non-formal integrated educational kit in Arabic geared towards illiterate and semi-literate women in the Arab world, available in both hard and digitized form. Its users are social workers and educators affiliated to non-governmental organizations, governmental institutions and international organizations involved in community development programs.
Empowering Arab Women Through Literacy, 2005 - Empowering Arab Women through Literacy is a series of twelve second-level literacy booklets based on IWSAW's Basic Living Skills Program. Through short stories, it addresses issues such as civic education and conflict control, women's empowerment, violence against women, health, and the environment.
Rehabilitation and Vocational Training Program for Women in Lebanese Prisons - in view of the precarious living conditions of incarcerated women in Lebanon and the overwhelming needs observed and expressed by these women, IWSAW initiated rehabilitation and intensive vocational training programs in the Lebanese women's prisons. Lebanese and non-Lebanese incarcerated women benefited from the program, namely in Tripoli.
Activities
Training - the IWSAW conducts training sessions on the use and implementation of the Basic Living Skills Program. Moreover, IWSAW offers training on the new literacy program throughout Lebanon.
Academic Activities - a variety of women's studies courses are offered at the Lebanese American University through IWSAW. The institute also sponsors research in women related issues.
Event Organizing - IWSAW hosts national, regional, and international conferences, in addition to seminars and workshops related to women's issues. Moreover, the institution hosts special events such as an annual Film Festival (since 2000) and the International Women's Day (since 1998).
Research - IWSAW undertakes research on various issues such as the following:
Publications
These documents are accessible online http://www.lau.edu.lb/centers-institutes/iwsaw/books.html
Address
Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World
Lebanese American University
P.O.Box: 13-5053,
Chouran Beirut: 1102 2801, Lebanon
ph (961)-1-791645
e-mail: dima.sensenig[a]lau.edu.lb
Year Established: 2006
Short Historical Background
The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local nonprofit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization based in Beirut. CLDH was created in 2006 by the French-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily), which has been active since 1996 in the struggle against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the impunity of those perpetrating gross human rights violations.
Objectives
CLDH aims to monitor the human rights situation in Lebanon; fight enforced disappearance, impunity, arbitrary detention, torture and racism; and rehabilitate the victims.
Programs and Activities
Other relevant information
CLDH is a founding member of the Euro-Mediterranean Federation against Enforced Disappearance (FEMED), a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Network of Human Rights (REMDH), and a member of the SOS Torture Network of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT). Its rehabilitation center (Centre Nassim) is a member of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture victims (IRCT).
Address
Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH)
Bakhos Building, 7th floor
Mar Youssef Street, Dora,
Beirut, Lebanon
ph/fax (961-01) 24 00 23
e-mail: info[a]cldh-lebanon.org
www.cldh-lebanon.org
www.rightsobserver.org
http://cldhpressreview.blogspot.jp/
https://twitter.com/HumanRightsCLDH
www.facebook.com/CldhLebaneseCenterForHumanRights
Year Established: 1976
Short Historical Background
The Lebanese Democratic Women’s Gathering is a secular nongovernmental women’s organization that works with the democratic forces and represents a part of the advocacy for secular democratic women’s movement, on the basis of international pacts and treaties, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Universal Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in order to promote women’s status and participation and empower them, aiming at achieving full equality between both sexes.
Objectives
The Lebanese Democratic Women’s Gathering aims
1. To foster equality between women and men;
2. To lift all reservations by the Lebanese state on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;
3. To apply all international agreements to ensure equality between the two genders and in order to amend unfair clauses in penal, labor, social security and nationality laws;
4. To involve women in decision-making: within the family, at work, in politics;
5. To protect and promote the culture of women’s rights within human rights;
6. To eliminate violence against women;
7. To interlace and coordinate with women and civil society forces to enhance democracy and equality.
Programs and Activities
The Lebanese Democratic Women’s Gathering undertakes
Special Concerns
Women’s Rights, Gender Equality
Publications
Other relevant information
Address
The Lebanese Democratic Women’s Gathering
Main office - Adlieh - Junction Furn Chebbak
Street Medawar - Dahdah Bldg. (Named Romeo & Juliette)
P.O. Box: 14-5620
Beirut, Lebanon
ph (961-1) 425504
ph/fax 961-1-425503
e-mail: rdfl[a]inco.com.lb
www.rdfl-women.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RDFLNGO
Twitter: @RDFL1
Year Established: 1991
Short Historical Background
The Lebanese Non-Governmental Organization Forum (LNF) was established in July 1991 to coordinate the activities of Lebanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concerned primarily with relief and development (social, health, and educational) issues. The decision to establish the LNF was taken in 1988, in the midst of the Lebanese war, when several NGOs from different communities, religious and secular, agreed that a framework was required to bridge the gap between communities and citizens separated by war.
The LNF has been selected, by ministerial decree, to fill one of the five seats reserved for the most representative NGOs in the Economic and Social Council, which was established to allow participation of the different social and economic sectors in the formulation of the state policy. The LNF is also a member of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA-Geneva), CIVICUS, CIVICUS Arab Network, the Arab NGO Network (Cairo), and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (Copenhagen).
Objectives
The LNF primarily aims to promote specific programs which will help consolidate social cohesion and integration in Lebanon. In order to achieve this, it adopted the following guidelines:
1. It focuses on humanitarian social work, more specifically providing assistance to the needy in emergency situations. Its efforts also involve helping humanitarian associations;
2. It works at upholding the rights of the underprivileged and vulnerable groups;
3. It coordinates, when required, the humanitarian and social efforts of Lebanese NGOs, and acts as a clearing house for information necessary to enhance their operations;
4. It collaborates regularly with state institutions, at times complementing their activities;
5. It cooperates with UN agencies as well as with foreign humanitarian and voluntary organizations, and other associations.
Programs and Activities
The NGO Forum directs the following program and projects:
1. The Rights Program
This is formerly known as the "Migration Unit Project", which provides services to and information on vulnerable social groups, including the displaced, refugees, migrant workers, stateless and undocumented persons and, especially, women and children. The project involves:
a) Facilitating access to legal aid services free of charge in close cooperation with the Legal Aid Commission of the Beirut Bar Association;
b) Implementing the Legal Popular Education project for the displaced persons (1997-1998) which discusses their problems and includes the provision of legal aid.
c) Human Rights Information & Documentation:
- Gathering information on vulnerable social groups and disseminating it through bulletins, manuals, and brochures in Arabic, French or English
- Preparing and publishing in-depth studies on matters relating to vulnerable social groups
- Maintaining a specialized library
d) Monitoring legal instruments pertaining to human rights and preparing updated reports on the web for each of these instruments
e) Training of NGO workers on monitoring and reporting
f) Creation of electronic networks (the Women Rights Monitor and the Child Rights Monitor) to monitor the application of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Child Rights Convention (CRC)
g) Regional networking to cooperate on the advancement of human rights in the Middle East: the development of standard models, indicators and other relevant tools
h) Organizing seminars on international human rights conventions affecting vulnerable social groups, and examining their implementation in Lebanon
i) Participating, on an annual basis, in United Nations working committees, to present relevant information as well as recommendations
j) Working to improve the condition of prisoners in the context of the Committee for Coordination and Action for Prisoners (CAP).
2. Women’s Rights Monitor
This project aims at helping NGOs monitor women's rights and implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in Lebanon by establishing a platform for co-ordination that will, at the national and regional levels:
a) Provide information about the Convention and the CEDAW Committee
b) Provide guidelines in view of helping NGOs to write their report to the CEDAW Committee
c) Establish a set of baseline data regarding women's rights in Lebanon in accordance with the guidelines of the CEDAW
d) Elaborate a permanent report regarding women's situation in Lebanon, based on the compiled data
e) Establish a bibliography on the subject of women's rights and facilitate the exchange of information and documentation
f) Provide a mailing list of participating NGOs.
3. Child Rights Monitor
This Project aims at helping NGOs monitor children's rights and implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Lebanon by establishing a platform for coordination that will, at the national and regional levels :
a) Provide information about the Convention and the Committee on the Rights of the Child
b)Provide guidelines in view of helping NGOs write their report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in accordance with article 45 of the Convention
c) Establish a set of baseline data regarding children's rights in Lebanon in accordance with the guidelines of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
d) Elaborate a permanent report regarding children's situation in Lebanon, based on the compiled data
e) Establish a virtual library (bibliography) on the subject of children's rights in order to facilitate the exchange of information and documentation
f) Provide a mailing list of participating NGOs
4. Migration Network
LNF initiated projects to sensitize public opinion and raise the awareness of the Lebanese civil society on the problems facing foreign migrant workers in the country. The projects are part of the Migration Network of LNF which aims to come out with studies and reports, training, legal assistance and monitoring system on the situation of the foreign migrant workers.
Publications
The Rights Program
Ebb ~ Flow - a quarterly Bulletin on refugees, displaced persons, stateless and "undocumented" persons in Lebanon
Women’s Rights Monitor
Child Rights Monitor
Migrant Workers Network
Other Information
The LNF has recently added the Prisoner’s Rights Monitor. Information (in French language) on this new project is available at the LNF website: www.lnf.org.lb
Address
Lebanese Non-Governmental Organization Forum (LNF)
Second Floor, Clémenceau 333 Bldg., Clémenceau Street
Beirut, Lebanon
P.O.Box : 11- 5520 Beirut - Lebanon
ph (961 1) 37 40 40 / 37 40 50
fax (961 1) 37 40 50
e-mail: Infa[a]lnf.org.lb