Lebanon

Documentary "Paths of Peace: A journey among women, youth and students between Italy and Lebanon for the implementation of the Agenda Women Peace and Security"

Locandina del documentari Percorsi di pace", una donna cammina di fronte a un graffito con la bandiera libanese e la scritta "happy dependence day"

Italian version

Paths of Peace

A journey among women, youth and students between Italy and Lebanon for the implementation of the Agenda "Women Peace and Security"

 

The video documents the experience of the study trip to Lebanon of the students of the Master's Degree Course in "Human Rights and Multi-level Governance" at the University of Padova in September 2022. The main point of interest is the implementation in the Lebanese reality of the International Agenda "Women, Peace and Security" - born in 2000 with the historic Resolution 1325 of the United Nations Security Council - and the similar Agenda "Youth Peace and Security" - developed since 2015 with Resolution 2250 - which recognise the positive contribution of women and young people to peace processes.

The 35-minute documentary collects the testimonies of international organisations, associations and local and national institutions, human rights defenders and advocates who work daily to build a peaceful, solidarity-based and fair Lebanon. It highlights those paths and realities that value the role of women and young people for peace, non-violent conflict transformation, social and gender justice.

The students who participated in the study trip contributed to the drafting of a teaching aid, addressed to teachers who participated in the training course "Women and Youth: New Resources for Peace", aimed at the dissemination of the agendas "Women Peace and Security" and "Youth Peace and Security" in high schools.


Paola

A situation of great hardship and injustice has emerged, a great desire for rebirth, for fighting a system that is fundamentally corrupt and the Lebanese citizens really want to achieve this change.

Ella

Despite really really devastating  circumstances, people still find opportunities to celebrate life, to connect with people across divisions and the strength of human spirit was so present in the meeting that we had with the people who are living there and working there who are trying to tackle the refugee crisis.


The video was produced as part of the project 'Paths of Peace: a journey among women, youth and students between Italy and Lebanon for the implementation of the Women Peace and Security Agenda', promoted by the Human Rights Centre "Antonio Papisca", the UNESCO Chair "Human Rights, Democracy and Peace" and the Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies of the University of Padova and the Civilian Defence Research Centre (Rome), with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) in the framework of the implementation of the 4th National Action Plan (NAP) on "Women, Peace and Security". The initiative was held in cooperation with local partners Permanent Peace Movement (Beirut) and Arab Master's Programme in Democracy and Human Rights (ARMA) / Global Campus of Human Rights (Beirut).


Lebanon is a multi-confessional country in the Middle East inhabited by 6 million people. The diverse religious affiliation of the population, divided into 18 different confessions, has always characterised its history.

After independence from France in 1943, a national pact between the main confessions made it possible to overcome the colonial legacy. In 1975, a bloody civil war began, which lasted until 1990 and still has strong repercussions on Lebanese society today.

More recently, with the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011, around 1.5 million Syrians have entered Lebanon, adding to the 500,000 Palestinian refugees in the country since 1948 and the 18,500 refugees from Ethiopia, Iraq, Sudan and other countries.

In 2019, a new generation of young Lebanese enters the scene, calling for the overcoming of confessionalism, clientelism and corruption, against a backdrop of rampant economic and political crisis.

Duration: 35 minutes

Language: Italian/English

Curated by: Anna Battistin, Lara Campos, Luca Gazzola, Sofia Pieretti, Sofia Sutera

Documents

Keywords

Lebanon human rights Women Peace and Security (WPS)

Paths

Human Rights Centre Opportunities for students MA Degree Programme UNESCO Chair