A/HRC/31/18/Add.1
56.
The educational system is an important example. The main divide runs
between private and public education. While only 45 per cent of schools in Lebanon
are public, their student intake is even lower than 30 per cent, which accounts for the
large role that private school education plays in Lebanon. The majority of private
schools are run by religious communities, in particular Christian communities. They
generally enjoy a good reputation, but may also charge quite substantial tuition fees.
By contrast, public schools, although free of charge, often have a poorer reputation.
Many of them cater mainly to pupils from economically disadvantaged families.
57.
Private schools usually attract students from various religious communities
(provided that they can afford the fees). Many private Christian schools also have
Muslim students, who in some cases even account for the majority of students
enrolled. This situation reflects and indeed strengthens the general openness
observed in society, and furthermore helps to promote sustainable relationships
between students from diverse denominational backgrounds.
58.
By contrast, public schools in certain regions sometimes have a mainly or
even exclusively one-confessional student population, depending on the specific
location. The educational system thus exacerbates the effects of economic
stratification, depriving some children from poor families of opportunities to develop
a positive experience of religious diversity at school. Given that the socialization
experienced at school plays a major role in shaping a person’s mentality, it is an area
in which structural reforms are urgently needed.
E.
Gender-related issues
59.
Some private schools reportedly apply strict dress codes, which affect mainly
women and girls. Depending on the orientation of the school, these rules can either
prescribe or prohibit the wearing of the Islamic veil, possibly without due respect to
diverse personal expressions of religious identit y. The situation varies from school to
school, however, and no common pattern seems to exist. In this regard, the policies
of public schools are generally more accommodating, although much depends on the
decisions of local headmasters.
60.
Even though women are involved in some interreligious dialogue projects, in
particular those initiated by faith-based civil society organizations, they are often
absent from more traditional settings. The frequent reference to interreligious
“brotherhood” (a term hardly ever questioned) thus inadvertently reflects the
marginalization of women. Their underrepresentation in interreligious dialogue
reflects in addition their generally subordinate position in most (though not all)
religious communities, where most leadership roles continue to be reserved for men.
61.
Religious family laws and courts have become a publicly contested area, in
which the issues of religious freedom and gender-related discrimination largely
overlap (see also paras. 68–74 below). Depending on many complicated details (for
example, confessional registration of one or both spouses), women suffer to different
degrees from discrimination in certain important issues, such as divorce, custody of
children and inheritance. In denominationally mixed marriages, the religious
affiliation of the husband usually determines under which legal regime the marriage
will fall and, consequently, also the religious socialization of the children.
62.
Recently, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community in
Lebanon launched a new public campaign to counter discrimination and social
taboos based on sexuality. The campaign was organized to recall the decision made
in 2013 by the national psychiatric board to remove homosexuality from a list of
15