The New Monthly Webinar Organized by MECC

Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs: We hope that the economic, social and cultural transformations will accumulate in order to form, one day, enough pressure to create a society that follows new rules

The Middle East Council of Churches continues its series of monthly seminars, and held a new webinar on the theme of "Family Planning and Human Dignity", on Thursday 25 May 2023, with the participation of specialists, academicians, and interested attendees in the topic at hand. Noting that this webinar comes within the framework of the “Human Dignity Project” - “Dialogue and Social Cohesion-Social Capital Rehabilitation”, which MECC is implementing consecutively.

The webinar, which was broadcasted live on the MECC Facebook Page, included three interventions, moderated by Dr. Chawki Attieh, who highlighted in his opening speech the concept of family planning and its goals, as well as the issue of human dignity in the context of the webinar’s topic.

The webinar began with a speech delivered by the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, in which he spoke about family planning, community organization, and human dignity, and said, “Studying the reality of the family and its organization’s efforts in a broad sense, are therefore part of the society’ self-awareness through its researchers. How much their ideas and proposals were neglected and how much their achievements and aspirations were ignored, and many societies did not seek to achieve justice for them in view of their importance in organizing the society and improving its conditions.”

Dr. Abs concluded “As a lecturer and researcher in the field of economic sociology, I consider that we are still in a stage - before the social contract, so we see, from time to time, some behaviors worthy of the jungle which cast a shadow on our daily lives and wreaks chaos and corruption in our societies. Social and demographic studies are under estimated in our societies, as it don’t get the chance to be implemented to achieve the desired transformation which is still far from reality. We hope that the economic, social and cultural transformations will accumulate in order to form, one day, enough pressure to create a society that follows new rules.

Then, the first intervention started under the title "Population Policies and Family Planning in Lebanon: Advantages and Disadvantages", with Dr. Mariana Al Khayat Sabouri, Former Director and Current Professor at the Lebanese University, Institute of Social Sciences, Branch 5. She presented a definition of the National Population Document in Lebanon and talked about the human rights in family planning in addition to the advantages of this planning and its benefits to the society, as well as its disadvantages and risks.

The second intervention focused on the title “Family Planning from the Coptic Orthodox Church’s Perspective,” with Reverend Antonios Soubhi Aziz, responsible for health programs at the Diocese of Services and member of the Technical Assistant Committee of the Secretariat of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church. He highlighted the position of the Coptic Orthodox Church on the issue of family planning based on the teachings of the Bible, stressing the importance of raising children and not harming the mother and fetus within the framework of family planning methods, and also presented the document of the Coptic Orthodox Church on family planning.

The third intervention was entitled "The Impact of Population Increase on Economic and Social Rights: The Case of Egypt" with Dr. Ayman Zohry, Expert in Population and Migration Studies. He who highlighted the population situation and family planning in Egypt, and spoke about the high population growth in the country, the imbalance in the geographical distribution of the population, and the low demographic characteristics of citizens regarding many social and economic indicators.

The webinar ended with a session for questions and discussion between the participants. The MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs made an intervention in which he presented his sociological approach to the topic of discussion, and shared his sociological expertise.