Progress Amid Resistance

278 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICApublic life by creating the appropriate legal environment to strengthen her role in varioussectors, and will lay the foundations for the incorporation of the concept of gender in allfiscal, economic and social policies in line with new international thinking in this respect.”14Third Periodic Report of States Parties: Lebanon, 29.15UN Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR), “Lebanon: Judiciary,”UN Development Programme (UNDP), http://www.undp-pogar.org/countries/theme.aspx?t=9&cid=9.16Third Periodic Report of States Parties: Lebanon, 25.17Human Rights Watch, “Lebanon: Act Now on Steps to Prevent Torture,” news release,November 5, 2008, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/11/05/lebanon-act-now-stepsprevent-torture.18Moghaizel Law Offices, personal communication, February 2009; see also SecondPeriodic Report of States Parties: Lebanon (New York: UN Committee on the Eliminationof Discrimination against Women, February 11, 2005), 48–49, http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/reports.htm.19According to personal communication with lawyer Ikbal Doughan, president of theFamily Rights Network, on March 14, 2009. However, the first woman judge wasnamed public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation in November 2004, which entitledher to an ex officio place as vice president of the Higher Council of the Judiciary. SeeSecond Periodic Report of States Parties: Lebanon, 48.20Third Periodic Report of States Parties: Lebanon, 84.21“Each Lebanese is subject to the laws, regulations and courts of his or her own religiouscommunity. This legislative and judicial pluralism . . . has a constitutional frameworkand roots associated with the establishment and stability of Lebanon as a political entity.Accordingly, this subject is extremely sensitive and linked to the broader political andsocial situation in the country.” Third Periodic Report of States Parties: Lebanon, 11.22Third Periodic Report of States Parties: Lebanon, 17.23The officially recognized religious groups include 4 Muslim and 12 Christian denominations,in addition to the Druze and Jews.24Lebanese NGO Forum, “A Brief Review of the Current State of Violations of Women’sRights in Lebanon,” http://www.lnf.org.lb/windex/brief1.html#a1.25The group, “All for Civil Marriage in Lebanon,” has more than 8,000 members on its“Groups” page and more than 13,000 members on its “Causes” page as of November2009. See the website of All for Civil Marriage in Lebanon on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Civil.Marriage.in.Lebanon.26This draft, in Arabic, can be found at http://www.civil-marriage-lebanon.com/CivilMarriageFeb09Proposal.pdf.27For example, Article 46 of the Armenian Orthodox law and Article 38 of the AssyrianChurch of the East law state: “The man is the head of the family and its representativein law.” The Armenian article also states: “It is the duty of the man to protect hiswife and of the woman to obey her husband.” A 1999 decision by the Supreme DruzeAppeal Court found that “the wife who refuses to reside in the house of her husbandshall be responsible for the consequences to her personal rights.” Third Periodic Reportof States Parties: Lebanon, 89–90.