le reali condizioni di vita dei palestinesi dei campi profughi in libano updated settembre2002

beirut 22-9-2002

nel tentativo di chiarire le reali condizioni di vita dei palestinesi in libano, pubblichiamo un contributo prodotto da una NGO che lavora nei campi palestinesi in libano.
per il momento solo in inglese.
grazie
bb




Reality Context

According to UNRWA’ June 2001 figures, registered Palestinian refugees in Lebanon total 382,973. The PLO and the Lebanese government raise this number to around 415,000, allowing roughly a 33,000 UNRWA unregistered refugees. Half of those refugees were Red Cross Registered only before Lebanese authorities agreed to recognize them; the thing that UNRWA hasn’t done yet.
The second half was registered by orders of former Interior Ministers between 1969-1978.
Furthermore, a third category of refugees is unaccounted for by neither UNRWA nor the Lebanese government. This category includes around 15,000 (estimates of popular camp committees) Palestinians who do not have any kind of ID’s and thus denied the right to legal marriage, travel, registering in UNRWA and other institutions, etc. Furthermore they are the targets of the fundamentalism groups and activities.

Historical Background

The status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon has certain intrinsic properties unique to the Lebanese host and that are distinct from situations in other host countries. Historically speaking, Lebanon has been established on the basis of a delicate and sensitive religious/sectarian balance among other things.
Using the sectarian balance as a pretext has led to policies and laws aiming at marginalizing the Palestinian population politically, economically, and socially in order to prevent their integration in the Lebanese mosaic.

Such policies and laws has bred enmity towards Palestinians and severed connections between Lebanese and Palestinian communities. To make things worse, consecutive Lebanese governments have treated the Palestinian file as a security problem rather than a humanitarian crisis. Camps in which the majority of Palestinians live are considered as out-law islands; and refugees are considered as unwelcome guests.

The most disturbing part is the growing trend to race the reasons for the 20-years civil war to the Palestinian presence in Lebanon by magnifying the Palestinian role in that war. Hence the refugees are expected to pay the bill.

Such pressure, when applied on the refugee’s community that was devastated by Israeli invasion, Sabra & Shatila massacres and “Camps War” have all put Palestinians under the threat of a new exodus. This feeling is aggravated by the daily provocative hatred campaigns lunched by some Lebanese politicians and media.

Lebanese Policy

In short, Lebanese authorities’ policies lead to goading Palestinian refugees to destitution making them ready to pack their luggage and leave to the first country that accepts them. Ironically, all Human Rights violations mentioned below are committed by Lebanese authorities under the veil of protecting the national rights of Palestinian refugees – especially the Right of Return. This has manifested itself by several restrictions forced on the refugees’ community:

1-Restrictions on accommodation: the government policy is simply:
- No for rebuilding the 3 Camps destroyed during the civil war
- No for building new camps
- No for enlarging the existing camps
- No for Palestinian ownership of real estate
In practice, this policy has led to prohibiting the entry of building material to Camps in South Lebanon and preventing the repair of war-damaged houses by restricting the repair permits. Violators of this policy have been arrested and brought in front of military courts after venturing and "smuggling" a paint bucket or a cement sac. As a result, refugees live in sub-human standards best depicted by a population density of 18 persons per square meter in Ein El Helweh Camp in South Lebanon.
Such a dense population is also deprived of enough and clean water resources, stable supply of electric power, etc.
The densely populated and under-serviced camps also lack the necessary infrastructure. Absence of sanitation system and garbage collection services, further complicate the environmental status.
In addition, several of the Camps are under the threat of being partially pulled down in order to make way for roads and post-war rebuilding of Beirut. This is one of the causes that have led to the shrinking of UNRWA’s Camp rebuilding aid.
Under such conditions, one can easily imagine the ghetto’s refugees live in when shifting the sight between Palestinian Camps and their neighborhood.



2-Security Restrictions:
Tight security procedures around most of the camps have started in 1986 during and after the Lebanese Amal militia’s war on the camps. However, the status of refugees has recently worsened. Under the veil of presence of "outlawed weapons and persons", all 5 Camps in the south have been put under military siege. Entry and exit is limited to one road and is subject to meticulous military measures. Civilians in some occasions wait foe an hour when they need o enter or exit the camps.

3-Work Restrictions:
Palestinian refugees cannot work before obtaining a work permit. This permit is subject to the role of "mutual treatment between countries". As a result, Palestinians cannot work in around 73 different professions. Thus much of the qualified workers have to be content with competing with other foreigners for minor jobs, or work without permits and thus be under the mercy of employers.

4-Restrictions on traveling:
Lebanese authorities have cancelled the requirement of "entrance/exit permission" in 1999 – the permission, which meant that any refugee traveling from Lebanon practically had a time restriction on their return, the thing that some refugees viewed as a one-way ticket. Despite it’s canceling, its repercussion continue to exist. Several countries deny visas to refugees fearing the reactivation of the permission procedures.

5-Restrictions on representative bodies:
The Lebanese law denies Palestinians the right to form syndicates and organizations by limiting such a privilege to Lebanese citizens only. This deprives the Palestinians community from practicing its civil rights.

6-Restrictions on having a fair trade:
Palestinian refugees are denied the access to judicial support fund, a financial form of aid offered to Lebanese citizens who cannot afford to hire the services of a lawyer to represent them in front of Lebanese court. In practice, Palestinians who cannot afford it will have either of 2 destinies:
- The refugee would be taken to trail without a lawyer. Thus it is usual that refugees receive maximum verdicts.
- With no lawyer to follow up his/her case, a refugee might spend in detention centers a period of time far more than the expected period, before being put to trail.
However, recent amendments to law of trail limited the maximum pre-trail detention period to 60 days! This welcomed amendment will hopefully benefit refugees who become forgotten in the detention centers.

8-Restriction on Ownership:
A recent addition to restriction was the law passed by the Lebanese Parliament, in May 2001, which deprives Palestinians from owning real estate in Lebanon under the pretext of preventing citizens of unrecognized countries from owning real estate in Lebanon. Ironically, this description fits only Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

The receding role of PLO:

Since its exit from Lebanon in 1982, PLO has systematically closed all of its institutions that used to accommodate and support a lot of refugees. Following Oslo Agreement, the PLO stopped all forms of aid (pensions, academic grants, etc). PLO’s current general trend as noticed by many observers is abandoning the previous "guardian" role and leaving it to UNRWA.
This is sensed from the minute size of budget reallocated (after years of absence) to Palestinians in Lebanon. However, the budget is constantly varying in its value, and is spent in a non-transparent way on the welfare of political advocators of the PLO.
Finally, the Palestinian Authority is preoccupied in establishing a Palestinian state, in negotiations with the Israelis and in the events of Intifada. This leaves too little thought for refugees, especially in Lebanon – where political discord with the Lebanese authorities have been preventing and limiting forms of cooperation.

UNRWA’s shrinking services:

Of the 382,973 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, 11% (42,448 families) are social hardship cases. The highest ratio of UNRWA social hardship cases are in Lebanon (11%), in comparison to 2.6% in Jordan, 7.3% in Syria, 8.6% in Gaza Strip, and 5% in the West Bank (UNRWA’01 report). This is a reflection of the difficult socio-economic conditions, which Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are enduring.

Of all host countries, Palestinians in Lebanon suffer most civil liberty injustice, with 60% of the refugees living below the poverty line (UNRWA’92). Restrictions imposed on Palestinians by the Lebanese government adversely affect their daily lives. For instance, Palestinians’ right of work is almost non-existed as they are banned from practicing 70 professions. This renders around 40% of Palestinians in Lebanon unemployed (UNRWA’95). Unemployment is especially high for women.
A comprehensive survey (Journal of Refugee Studies, oxford, 1997) on 1,501 Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon revealed that only 6.4% of interviewed women were working on regular basis.

The refugees also do not benefit from any public educational and health services. UNRWA and NGOs remain the only services providers for Palestinians in Lebanon. UNRWA’s services have been in steady decline since 1991 due to budgetary deficit. NGOs working with the Palestinian community in Lebanon are also enduring financial difficulties. This has affected both the quality and the quantity of services available to the refugees. Educational opportunities are scarce. Palestinians can have free schooling only through
UNRWA does not have enough secondary schools to absorb the student population. Thus, many students stop their education at the intermediate level. With limited scholarships, very few are able to attend secondary schools and university. Vocational training remains a viable alternative for many refugees.


Recently, in March 2002, the Lebanese Parliament issued a new law increasing the tuition fees for the foreigner students attending the public Lebanese University (of whom, 80% are Palestinian refugees). The Palestinian students will be forced to leave the university and stop their high education.


The educational levels of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are declining, as only 61% of school-aged children attend UNRWA primary and preparatory schools as compared to 82% for all Palestinian refugees (Statistical Yearbooks 1989-90, 1993-94, & 1994-95, UNRWA). Since UNRWA offers free educational services, the falling enrolment rates in basic education are school-related rather than economic. UNRWA school premises in Lebanon, lacking essential equipment, remain of poor quality. They have one of the highest classroom occupancy rates Agency-wide (43.8 pupils per classroom).
With the witnessed increase of around 1000 pupils per year, school conditions await further deterioration. Nearly 50% of schools operate on double shifts. It is to be noted that UNRWA runs only 5 KGs (French education) based on donor-funds.

Palestinians in Lebanon have the highest proportion of refugees living in camps, at 56% in comparison to UNRWA's other areas of operations (Jordan 17.8%, Syria 29.2%, West Bank 27%, and Gaza Strip 54.7%). Camps are overcrowded and suffer from poor infrastructure meager housing, and health conditions.


A new discriminatory law against Palestinians in Lebanon was recently passed. Property law (Decree 296) promulgated on May 3, 2001, prohibits any person without a (recognized nationality) from the ownership of property or any person whose act of ownership will contradict the Lebanese constitution in its opposition to (forced resettlement) of Palestinian refugees. This measure is detrimental to Palestinians who do not live in camps and to those who have invested their savings towards purchasing apartments to solve the severe housing shortage inside the camps. Palestinians who have already bought apartments will not be able to transfer their deeds to their children and will be forced to sell them to Lebanese or to any nationality other than Palestinian. Others who are in the process of paying mortgage will no way of recuperating.


Health care services for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are provided by: UNRWA, UNICEF, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and few NGOs.
The 1999 FAFO survey discloses new indicators on child health with nearly one of ten children aged 1-3 years being either malnourished (5%) or undernourished (4%). In relation to adults, FAFO’s findings show frequent chronic illness and psychological distress. One out of five Palestinians in Lebanon suffer from chronic health failure and close to 1 in 10 suffer from a severe problem.

Palestinians in Lebanon cannot benefit from the Lebanese public health sector even if they hold work permits and pay social security. Palestinians rely on UNRWA for hospitalization; UNRWA however provides only partial coverage for hospitalization through contractual arrangements with 11 private hospitals and one mental health institution. Patients make co-payments ranging from 50 to 75 per cent for treatment that can cost between three to ten thousand dollars involving long-term indebtedness for most Palestinian families. Many are unable to secure the additional funds and have to contend with harsh treatment by private hospitals.

UNRWA offers clinics in the camps, but these clinics are unable to meet the daily health needs of the patients one doctor examines per 70 patients per day (sometimes reaching 150 patients) during his 6-hour duty. Relating to doctors working for UNRWA, it is estimated that there is one doctor for every 8000 refugees. The health of Palestinians is also affected by substandard infrastructure almost all Palestinian camps suffer from serious problems relating to quantity, quality, mal-distribution and interrupted water supplies and that the resultant unplanned house connections have increased the risk of water contamination.
Lack of improvements in the sewerage systems have overloaded existing sewers, and have resulted in sewerage overflow on roads and pathways. As for solid wastes, these are dumped in uncovered collection points causing extensive insect and rodent infestation. In addition, camps are overcrowded, with most houses unfit for healthy habitation.

Palestinians in Lebanon have the highest proportion of refugees living in camps, at 56%, in comparison to UNRWA’s other areas of operation (Jordan 17.6%, Syria 28%, West Bank 27% and Gaza 54%). The majority of the remaining refugees live in poor gatherings due to the lack of space inside the camps.

Absence of authorities:

A major problem that faces refugees in Lebanon is the absence of an authority that represents them and treats their needs.
The popular committees in the Camps are far from being democratic or representative. Never the less, Lebanese authorities prohibit the PLO and the Palestinian authority from having any formal representative in Lebanon to manage the conditions of Palestinians. If that were due to a political position, one would expect that the PLO rivals would be recognized as representatives of Palestinian refugees in front of Lebanese authorities. However, this is not the case.
The only authority recognized is an imposed one.
All refugees’ issues are put into the hands of "Departure of Refugees which became recently the Departure of Political and Refugees", a branch of the Lebanese ministry of interior involved in issuing IDs and keeping track of refugees numbers.