The Faculty of Business Administration, represented by its Dean, Professor Mohamed Abou El-Naga, and the Faculty of Law and Political Science, represented by its Dean, Professor Mohammad Kassem, at Beirut Arab University, Beirut Campus, organized a symposium on “Workers’ Rights in Lebanon in Light of the Economic Crisis,” with the aim of establishing foundations and standards for realistic and scientific reform of workers’ rights in Lebanon.
It was attended by the Director General of the Ministry of Economy, Dr. Mohammad Abou Haidar, the Head of the Syndicate of Pharmacists in Lebanon, Dr. Joe Salloum, the former Minister of the Ministry of Economy , Dr. Alan Hakim, the President of the General Labor Union, Dr. Bechara Al-Asmar, the Secretary-General of Beirut Arab University, Dr. Omar Houri, the deans of faculties, and an audience of economists, jurists, and students.
After the Lebanese national anthem and the university’s anthem, the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, Dr. Hanadi Taher, spoke about “The beginning of the existence of the economic system with Adam Smith to prove that we cannot build any country or carry out its economy without the presence of workers. The most important part in Lebanon is the part related to the economic crisis. Since its inception, Lebanon has suffered from accumulated crises , and with the development of time, the outlook of workers must differ, as we cannot look at them in the traditional way, especially with the presence of artificial intelligence today.”
The Director General of the Ministry of Economy, Dr. Mohammad Abou Haidar, discussed the reality of workers in Lebanon in light of the current crisis stating , "In order to talk about workers' rights, we have to look at the cause of the economic crisis. There are laws that do not protect consumers, and to develop any plan we need trust, and trust is strengthened by reforms, because reforms attract investments that improve growth and create job opportunities, which contributes to reducing unemployment rate and increasing the standard of living among citizens.
He added: “We must work on precise reforms and re-enact some laws that protect workers’ rights and improve citizens’ purchasing power. Good governance and mechanization of the work of ministries is the beginning of reforms, and digital transformation gives more transparency until we reach the rights of every worker and thus reduce waste in the public sector.” ".
As Assistant Dean of the College of Law and Political Science, Dr. Tala Zein, pointed out, “Respect for human rights is not an option, and in light of all the blatant attacks on human rights and the legitimate questions about the credibility of defending them, this symposium came to confirm that a person’s rights is the principle, and that assault leads to punishment, and condoning punishment does not mean that it is reasonble for us to be stripped of our rights.
The symposium addressed three topics:
The first topic: The Right to Work is Part of Human Rights. Dr. Maya Mansour spoke about the right to work being part of human rights, while the labor activities advisor at the International Labor Organization, Mustafa Saeed, pointed out the role of unions in promoting the worker’s right.
The second topic: Developments and Problems of the Labor and Social Security Law in Lebanon. Member of the Technical Committee of the National Social Security Fund, Dr. Manal Shukr, spoke about the developments and problems of the Social Security Law, then the Lebanese Observatory for the Rights of Employees and Workers, Dr. Ahmed Dirani, spoke about the developments and problems of the Labor Law, and Dr. Anis Bou Diab from the administration of the Economic and Social Council pointed out workers rights in Lebanon from an economic point of view.
As for the third and final topic, it dealt with Applications of Labor Law in Light of the Economic Crisis, where lawyer Karim Nammour - The Legal Agenda - spoke about spending gig workers for economic reasons.
Then the head of the Labor Inspection, Prevention and Safety Department - the government commissioner to the Labor Arbitration Council in Baabda, Ms. Joumana Haymour, spoke about the Labor Arbitration Council and workers’ rights
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